McCaw, Carter tipped for player of decade showdown
Seven All Blacks have made the 16 finalists for World Rugby’s player of the decade.
With 2020 on the horizon, the sport’s governing body is looking to honour the best player of the last decade and it’s hard to go past an All Black winning it given the team’s dominance during that period.
Fans votes will decide the winner and it will be done via a unique head-to-head system that looks like pitting good mates and All Blacks superstars Richie McCaw and Dan Carter for the final award.
They are on either side of the draw and appear to be on a collision course for the accolade.
The first round match-ups have been revealed on Instagram and fans will decide who goes through to the next round.
First-five Carter, a two-time winner of World Rugby’s player of the year award in the 2010s, and his All Blacks halfback, Aaron Smith, are up against each other.
On the same side of the draw Ma’a Nonu takes on Springboks try machine Bryan Habana, New Zealand’s Beauden Barrett lines out against Wallabies halfback Will Genia, and Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton is up against England’s Owen Farrell.
The other half of the draw sees flanker McCaw take on South
African prop Tendai ‘‘Beast’’ Mtawarira, All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick goes against Italy’s back row star Sergio Parisse, recently retired All Blacks captain Kieran Read is pitted against Welsh flanker Sam Warburton, and Wallabies flanker David Pocock is matched against Welsh lock Alun-Wyn Jones.
Word Cup winners dominate the contenders with the All Blacks winning the 2011 and 2015 tournaments and the Springboks taking this year’s title.