The five Wales aces who make it into PRO14 dream team
FIVE Welsh players have been included in the PRO14’s Ultimate XV – but there is no place for one of the biggest names of the lot.
Some might demand a stewards’ inquiry as to why triple Grand Slammer and Lions Test man Gethin Jenkins failed to win selection in the team chosen via a public vote online. Instead, the No. 1 spot goes to the far less celebrated Dave Kilcoyne, of Munster – a fine player, indeed, but Jenkins can lay claim to having been truly exceptional.
Plenty of others who have represented the regions over the years may also feel a shade hard done-by, including Liam Williams, Leigh Byrne and Leigh Halfpenny.
But Shane Williams, Ken Owens, Adam Jones Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric do make the cut.
Tommy Bowe, the Irishman who hit a peak during his time at
the Ospreys between 2008 and 2012, is also in the all-star line-up.
Williams must have been one of the easiest picks of the lot with the wing contributing often spectacularly during the Ospreys’ golden era between 2003 and 2012.
“He won four PRO12 titles and his last-minute score against Leinster to clinch the 2012 final 31-30 was typical of a man addicted to the extraordinary,” runs a writeup on the league’s official site.
The redoubtable Owens packs down with the two Jones boys, Adam and Alun Wyn, in the front five, with Paul O’Connell and Kilcoyne completing the unit.
There was a brutally tough selection in the back row with three authentic Wales greats in the mix in Martyn Williams, Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric.
The place went to Tipuric, with some online expressing the view that Warburton’s most memorable deeds were often seen in the red of Wales and the Lions.
The PRO14 call Tipuric “one of the most highly skilled forwards in the world game”.
Big Welsh names to miss out include Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Stephen Jones, Ryan Jones, Dan Biggar, Mike Phillips and Rhys Webb, as well as the aforementioned Jenkins, Liam Williams, Byrne and Halfpenny.
Regional imports such as Regan King, Xavier Rush, Filo Tiatia and Jerry Collins also failed to make into the team.
Jonathan Davies lost out to his old Lions sparring partner Brian O’Driscoll, despite the Irishman not exactly overdoing his appearances in the league, averaging fewer than seven games a season over 13 campaigns with Leinster.
There again, maybe it’s not so much the number of matches a player plays as the quality of his performances that count.
And on that score, O’Driscoll’s selection is a tough one to dispute, with the great centre often playing as well for his province as he did for his country.
Jenkins? Cardiff Blues supporters propelled him into their Ultimate XV with a landslide that saw him claim 96 percent of the vote at loose-head prop. But it was Kilcoyne who took the verdict in the overall league XV.
As good as the Munsterman is – and he is resolutely solid and consistent – the news that he’s edged out Jenkins will leave some in Wales shaking their heads.
Of Alun Wyn Jones, featuring alongside O’Connell, the PRO14 say: “Cut from the same indefatigable cloth as his Irish partner in the engine room, Alun Wyn Jones has been named in a record six Dream Teams since 2006-07.
“His list of achievements after a stellar 14-year career is remarkable.”