An international rugby team of the decade

Roar Guru

16th December, 2009

3623 Reads

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The Crowd

Roar Guru

16th December, 2009

102

3623 Reads

Australia's Berrick Barnes tackles Brian O'Driscoll of Ireland during their rugby union test match in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, June 14, 2008. AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill

Hoy’s recent post about the Wallaby team of the decade sparked a debate in my mind about an equivalent All Black team of the decade. However in my mind there wasn’t a great deal of debate or difficulty in selecting the majority of the team that played from 2003 – 2007.

I changed focus instead to an international team of the decade, which offered wider scope, endless debate and more personal bias, depending upon what part of the world you lived in or came from.

Whenever these exercises have been conducted, there have been some players selected out of position in an effort to squeeze a favourite into the team somewhere.

I’ve resisted the temptation to do this and all players are selected in their specific positions or jerseys that they have played in throughout their career.

I’ve also tried to achieve balance within the team by selecting it with a view to playing an expansive, attacking game as a real coach would, instead of just picking the best players in their position.

As expected, there are a plethora of world-class contenders to select for each position, more so than others. This is my international team of the decade.

15. Chris Latham
14. Doug Howlett
13. Brian O’Driscoll
12. Jean de Villiers
11. Rupeni Caucaunibuca
10. Daniel Carter
9. Fourie du Preez
8. Lawrence Dallaglio
7. Richie McCaw
6. Schalk Burger
5. Victor Matfield
4. Martin Johnson (captain)
3. Carl Hayman
2. Raphael Ibanez
1. Os du Randt

102

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