No Alun Wyn? This team’s not fit to print

CASTING an eye over World Rugby’s peculiar “team of the decade” selection, it is tempting to advise the non-governing governing body not to give up the day job.

But as it doesn’t really have a day job, such a suggestion would make this column almost as wrong, if not quite, as the NGGB is in choosing Brian O’Driscoll and Conor Murray among the starriest turns of the 2010s. And that would never do.

A sighting of O’Driscoll was something to treasure throughout the 2000s – only Tana Umaga of New Zealand threatened his supremacy in the No.13 shirt – but leaving aside the odd command performance, there was a lot less to see in the years leading into his retirement in 2014. Conrad Smith? Jonathan Davies? They’re the real contenders.

As for the scrum-half spot, Murray is a distant fourth, at best, behind the three favourites for the shirt: Aaron Smith, Aaron Smith and Aaron Smith.

By way of reinforcing the general point, the NGGB found no room for Alun Wyn Jones in the second row. Truly, our belief is comprehensively beggared.