The Roar’s 50 greatest players in Rugby World Cup history: 40-36

Yep agreed. Hes one of the best eva! Not bad for a QueenslandaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaAAAA! - Better than the lot we've been carting out lately - Oops was referring to coaches not players Anyway JE definitely outscored Lord Richie, and demonstrated a broader skill set that includes a successful captaincy. Though Eales doesn't have a knight / lord / baron. So, I'm not sure Lord Richie as #1 is as clear cut as many here are touting. And that's not considering other contenders.

Yeah that is what I am hoping too. It just means read plays tighter and the tight five need to physically front up. My only concern is that we may be short on a bit of grunt when we need to tighten it up and settle things. Retallick is good, but cant shoulder the burden on his own. Been really pleased to see Tuipulotu step up to his potential recently and play the physical game we know he is capable of. And yeah Ardie like Cane have high work rates, no doubt and the way he keeps running and driving in the tackle is very impressive :happy: As you say the dynamic of the forwards if they get it right by switching players roles as the situation dictates can make them formidable. The flip side is they don't get it right, they can be vulnerable - Perth should be a good reminder of what that looks like.

Good post - and I agree on almost everything you have written except I think Ardie Savea will be one of the players of the WC even out of position...notice in attack how he and Read swap positions 2 out of three times? And holy crap he has some leg drive....

Yes agree totally, I think Crotty is known for being the defensive general and without question one of the best in the game but he is no slouch in the pace department – sure not serious gas – but no slouch – but his positional nous in attack is every bit as good as that of his D…He has actually set up and scored a significant amount of tries for the AB’s for someone who is known as D-Guru, but Crotty has some of the best vision in attack and skill at drawing players out of their line to set others up that I have seen in the current world game – Actually I think the depth they have at 12 and 13 in one player better than the last world cup even if the Nonu/Smith combo was the best in the world in 2015. ALB has been outstanding this season and “Mullet” is the nearest thing NZ has to a Conrad Smith. But i would have SBW at 12 and Crotty at 13 to start but SBW may be the bench option because of the impact he provides against tired defenses.

I believe he scored just 2 tries from 86 test matches? Higher scoring rate than almost all outside backs? Didn't he score 173 points over his test career? Folau scored more than that in lest tests (and doesn't kick goals). I'm not saying he's not one of the best. But he's definitely not a try scorer.

Check again! – He scores tries, penalties, conversions. – Assists, breakdown steals, LO wins, LO steals – and a bunch of other things only a lock can do Also, hes the highest: – scoring forward ever – Average points per game for a test forward And higher scoring rate than almost all outside backs, including the modern ABs. But not all. Not as many tries as other forwards. But as they say… Nobody is perfect.

Eales wasn’t one of them though

OK, so we are pretty much on the same page. Back to McCaw, the thing I was most worried about with his departure was in the last 20mins, where his accuracy and leadership is absolutely without peer. The number of times I have seen the forwards hanging off rucks and then McCaw sees a half chance and he’s in. The forwards smash in and the ball coming back to the opposition is either under extreme pressure and slowed down or its turn-over. Consequently the B’s have been able to steal many games in the last moments. I think Read has stepped up, but he isn’t McCaw. For example if McCaw had been playing I don’t think the Perth result would have happened. He is a once in a life-time player and captain and in my view is virtually unreplaceable if you take into account the whole package that was McCaw. I tend to rank players on the points they are worth, whether it be in saving them or getting them. Doesn’t mean they need to score them, but what I feel we would lose by not having them. For example I felt Lomu was worth at least 2 tries per game, so even if he gave up a try he was still an absolute machine. McCaw saved games and won games through both his play and leadership. I take Kronfield as another example… he scored a fewon the back of Jonah’s runs, but I don’t rather that so much as most running loosies could do as well… I think Hooper is on par with Kronfied… but a running 7 like Jones easily surpasses them both. The problem with Pocock and McCaw head to head is Pocock does not have either McCaws versatility or leadership skills, but when it comes pilfering the difference is daylight. The weakness for Pocock compared to McCaw (outside of the obvious leadership set) is McCaws ability to change how he contributed in various passages of play, whether it be linking either in the forwards or out wider or just disrupting opposition plays. But then you compare McCaw to Jones, Jones ability to run and link is also daylight compared to McCaw and as a defensive weapon and a jumper at the back of the line-out, the original iceman was killer. But then McCaw had much more impact at the ruck than Jones and before Pocock rocked up was the best there was. Another small point is that the AB’s put a plan in place to nullify the Pooper (left right combination), by playing less to Pocock and more to where Hooper was defending, knowing that compared to McCaw he was a lightweight at ruck time. For me two sevens has never been a particularly balanced approach. Right now Ardie / Cane leaves the AB’s a bit short on real grunt in the rucks and mauls, but short of other options I understand why they have gone for this.. but this is an area teams like the Bok will definitely target. Whether they are good enough to take advantage is another thing. In summary, while I think comparing players is fun.. I think the best 7’s in the game are not head-to-head but can and do offer totally different strengths and for me to just get to see such players perform at the top of their game is enough pleasure in and of itself… without any need to rank them.

Quade?

Any half decent guy near a goal line can score a 5 pointer. WBs have plenty of forwards / pretend forwards who do that

Lord Richie?

This should read ‘my former coach’

Agree with that Peter but I’m bettting that invisible ‘talismanic influence’ will be a factor in the judges minds, and Richie will win this show due to the degree of difficulty (broken foot) factor amongst other things.

The tennis scenes in Wimbledon are the more cringeworthy things I’ve ever seen – except for my former coach, Alun Jones (who once got a set off Nadal at the US Open), who has a cameo.

Yeah probably so. Unlike other sports rugby is a hard one to stage.

Let's hope so, Fox. As you say, whenever he plays he still demands that oppositions have a specific plan to counter his offloading potential. Was very encouraged by Crotty's return too. If they both stay healthy they will push each other very hard for the starting position.

Imagine how fast he could have gone without the wind drag from his hair?!?

Yeah 3 very different losses. 03 was ‘standard’- we weren’t good enough. 07 became a bad fan noise about refereeing where in my books we just got a inept Wayne Barnes, who seemed to revel in his new found popularity for some years after it. Both teams were robbed that day of basic refereeing incompetence. But in todays world, good officiating would have brought the try back being obviously and clearly forward out of the hands in the same movement to the try. All things being equal after that, ABs ahead on points. But, it is what it is. Other sides fans need to go through that to understand it, France some may say did in 2011. 1999 was out there in crazy land. That was a side going into a second half with massive belief in their own abilities with practically zero grounds for it. Who beats the Abs from 14 down at half time, and by 12? I’ve yet to find one. A complete and weird out there one off with perfect timing- a knockout.

Yeah Lomu had the French Fullback basically letting him run past him. From memory the All Blacks were up 24-10 and then all of a sudden the game changed. I was probably more gutted then and also in 2003 than 2007 even though that was the All Blacks worst World Cup result.

Damn straight. I’ve said it before on here, and I say it again... In Shag we trust, for one last time.