Major teams: Lourdes Country: France Test span: 1945-55 Test caps: 51 (51 starts) Test points: 144 (9T, 27C, 15P, 6DG) French rugby suffered an inferiority complex as international rugby’s ‘also-rans’…
Rugby World
The greatest blindsides of all time: Ian Kirkpatrick
Major teams: Poverty Bay, Canterbury Country: New Zealand Test span: 1967-77 New Zealand caps: 39 (38 starts) Test points: 57 (16T) When he emerged in the mid-1960s, flankers usually played…
The greatest blindsides of all time: Alan Whetton
Major teams: Auckland Country: New Zealand Test span: 1984-91 Test caps: 35 (31 starts) Test points: 40 (10T) He was a mainstay at blindside for the All Blacks in the…
The greatest blindsides of all time: Jerry Collins
Major teams: Wellington, Hurricanes, Ospreys, Toulon Country: New Zealand Test span: 2001-07 Test caps: 48 (42 starts) Test points: 25 (5T) There are back-rows who have been capped more, players…
The greatest blindsides of all time: Roger Uttley
Major teams: Fylde, Gosforth, Wasps Country: England Test span: 1973-80 England caps: 23 (23 starts) Lions caps: 4 (4 starts) Test points: 12 (3T) He was a granite-like forward who…
The greatest blindsides of all time: John Jeffrey
Major teams: Kelso Country: Scotland Test span: 1984-91 Scotland caps: 40 (40 starts) Test points: 44 (11T) Ceaselessly circling the breakdown, ruthlessly attacking on the counter or nibbling at…
The greatest No 8s of all time: Wayne Shelford
Major teams: North Harbour, Northampton Country: New Zealand Test span: 1986-90 New Zealand caps: 22 (22 starts) Test points: 20 (5T) When debates rage over the hardest men to…
Zinzan Brooke
How many forwards are best remembered for kicking a drop-goal? Not many, but the extraordinary kick Zinzan Brooke slotted from almost 50m out during New Zealand’s 1995 World Cup semi-final…
Mervyn Davies
Mervyn Davies, who passed away in 2012, will be remembered as a Wales and Lions legend for what he achieved during the Seventies. Had his career not finished so abruptly…
Pat Lam
Though Auckland-born, Pat Lam is of Samoan descent and is revered on the rugby-mad island. Not only as a teak-tough No 8 who could offload, carry hard and drive attackers…