ADAM AND GETHIN MISS OUT, PRICEY IS IN PROP CHART
ONE was renowned the world over for his love of scrummaging and the other for his longevity on the international stage and titanic efforts in the loose.
Yet Welsh prop stars Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins are overlooked when England and Lions No. 10 Stuart Barnes picked and ranked his top-10 front-rowers of all time.
The two Welsh front-row greats do get a mention in dispatches alongside Georgian Davit Zirakashvili, Springboks star Tendai Mtawarira, England’s Mako Vunipola and Irish tighthead Tadhg Furlong as the ‘desperately unlucky’ ones to miss out in an article on the Sunday Times website.
The respected pundit and newspaper columnist did find room for one Welshman in his line-up with Lions colossus Graham Price making it at No. 4 in Barnes’ list.
Price became the most distinguished prop in world rugby during one of Wales’ most successful eras.
He was the bedrock of the great Welsh pack of the 1970s.
He won 41 caps for his country and his 12 consecutive Test starts for the Lions remains a record for a prop forward.
Price had a fearsome reputation as a thinking scrummager but was also ahead of his time with his mobility, scoring a stunning try against France in Paris during his debut in 1975 after sprinting 80 metres in support of winger JJ Williams before scooping up the ball and plunging over the line.
Barnes wrote of grizzled Welsh prop Price: “How far did the Welsh tight-head go for that try in Paris in 1975?
“Price wasn’t reputedly the nastiest of props but he was hard. Broken jaws couldn’t stop him, as Australia would discover.
“Mobile when props were expected to be solid lumps, the Pontypool man played 12 Tests for the Lions, 41 times for Wales.
“A proud third of the famous “Pooler” front row nicknamed Viet Gwent.”
Beating Price to the top three spots was Argentina’s Enrique Rodriguez in first place, with French tough nut Robert Paparemborde in second and Scotsman Ian ‘Mighty Mouse’ McLauchlan third.
Barnes said of Rodriguez: “A legend of the game.
“Equally destructive anywhere across the front row, he was central to some of the most famous pushover tries when he played for his country of birth, Argentina. But it was his move to Australia that cements his place in the prop’s pantheon.”
STUART BARNES’ TOP-10 PROPS OF ALL TIME RANKED: Enrique Rodriguez (Argentina); 2 Robert Paparemborde (France); 3 Ian McLauchlan (Scotland); 4 Graham Price (Wales); 5 Tom Smith (Scotland), 6 Os du Randt (South Africa); 7 Carl Hayman (New Zealand); 8 Jason Leonard (England); 9 Fran Cotton (England); 10 David Sole (Scotland). 1
■ The British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa next summer will go ahead as planned despite the uncertainty over the global calendar and potential clash with the Tokyo Olympics.
■ World Rugby is set for a crucial vote tomorrow over the global calendar and remainder of the 2020 international season.
■ Amid the uncertainty over where Test rugby is heading due to financial meltdown of the game in the coronavirus shutdown, preparations for the Lions’ eightgame tour have been on hold since March.
■ One option would be pushing the Lions tour back from its JulyAugust schedule to later in 2021, but the reported official confirmation is expected next week that the original dates for the eight-match trip will remain as they are.
■ And they add ticket and travel packages for the tour will go on sale next month.