BORDER FORCE...
WE SELECT OUR COMBINED ENGLAND & WALES SIDE OF THE CENTURY...
IT’S a selection meeting that would burn up barrels of midnight oil – with arguments raging possibly through to dawn.
Pick a combined Wales-England team of the century. That was the challenge we set rugby writer MARK ORDERS, with the only certainty being that pretty much everyone will have a different view.
Here’s the outcome of his deliberations...
15. LEIGH HALFPENNY
IT’S hard to imagine anyone has packed more courage into such a compact frame as this guy.
Others, like Liam Williams and Lee Byrne may have boasted more exciting attacking gifts, and Josh Lewsey could also trouble the best defences.
But Halfpenny has been playing Test rugby for more than 11 years and the number of significant mistakes he has made in that time can probably be counted on one hand. His reading of play is exceptional and Warren Gatland named him as the best professional he worked with during his time with Wales.
That’s not an unimpressive endorsement.
Next cab off the rank: Liam Williams.
14. JASON ROBINSON
THE man known as Billy Whizz could easily have lined up at No.15 given his peerless ability to counter-attack.
The rugby league convert had dazzling feet, electric pace and the ability to impose himself on a game. “If you needed a try at a key point in a game, Jason was the man to call on,” said Mark Taylor, who played alongside Robinson at Sale.
If the Englishman’s attacking skills were sensational, he was also a tough nut, physically and mentally.
Anthony Watson and George North have also been outstanding performers for their countries. Next cab off the rank: George North.
13. JONATHAN DAVIES
The temptation would be to name Allan Bateman here and be done with it, but by the time he played his first Test this century the maestro from Maesteg was pushing 35 with his best days behind him.
Mark Taylor, with his outside break and piston-like handoff, is another tempting option, along with half-man, half-cannonball Manu Tuilagi.
Davies has excelled on two Lions tours, however, and been wonderfully reliable for Wales with his organisation skills, gilt-edged quality, intelligent decision-making and ability to neutralise opposition attacks.
Next cab off the rank: Manu Tuilagi.
12. WILL GREENWOOD
THERE are so many good candidates here, including Owen Farrell and Scott Gibbs, but it’s probably fair to say Gibbs was past his best before 2000, while Farrell has long been caught between the fly-half and inside centre roles.
Both of those two could be called leaders, however, with the ability to inspire others.
Gavin Henson also played some superlative Test rugby, while gain-line king Jamie Roberts was crucial to the success of Warren Gatland’s teams over the years.
But it’s a World Cup winner who’s the choice.
Greenwood was a beacon of creativity in the England team that lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003. His craft, passing and speed of thought allowed Jonny Wilkinson to focus on the tackling and kicking. He could also play at 13, but it was at inside centre where Greenwood’s skills were best employed.
Next cab off the rank: Owen Farrell.
11. Shane Williams
Ben Cohen once memorably answered a question about Shane Williams by saying: “Shane who?” after a big England win at Twickenham.
By the end of Williams’ career, the suspicion is he knew the answer.
Cohen was a tank of a player and the modern-day Josh Adams and Jonny May are electric finishers.
But the diminutive Williams was a class apart with his elusive skills, a man who struck repeated blows for Lilliputians the world over.
Next cab off the rank: Ben Cohen
10. JONNY WILKINSON
There have been more creative fly-halves than Wilkinson, but if there’s been a harder-tackling No.10 in the history of the game then, really, the gent in question ought to have let us know about it.
Wilkinson could also kick a ball with deadly accuracy and was metronomic in front of the sticks, with pressure something that was felt by others.
Dan Biggar.
Next cab off the rank: 9. MIKE PHILLIPS
DWAYNE Peel? Terrific. Rob Howley? Ditto. Matt Dawson? A winner.
But let’s go for Mike Phillips, competitor supreme and a player you’d want on your side in the trenches.
Howley’s another who’d played his best rugby for Wales before 2000, while Phillips ousted Peel and stuck around the Test scene longer. He thought he was good, said he was good and was indeed good — very good, with his fitness, brilliance in defence and ability to raise his game when it mattered.
Next cab off the rank: Dwayne Peel.
1. GETHIN JENKINS
THERE’LL be many who find it impossible to look beyond Mako Vunipola, a player with an insatiable appetite for hard work.
But maybe that would do a disservice to Jenkins.
Warren Gatland used to say of him it was like having a coach on the field such was his ability to identify problems during play and come up with potential solutions.
And how good was Jenkins over the ball? As good as many top-drawer No.7s, for sure.
Nor could it have been a pleasant experience to have been on the wrong end of one of his piledriving tackles.
He was a player who added extra dimensions to a prop’s work.
Next cab off the rank: Mako Vunipola.
2. JAMIE GEORGE
He’s been part of one of the great club teams of all time in Saracens and was the starting Lions hooker in all three Tests in New Zealand. George can scrummage, hit his line-out targets with unerring accuracy and is busy, busy, busy around the field.
Ken Owens is not far behind as a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘quit’ and brings huge emotion to every performance.
Then there are Steve Thompson and Matthew Rees. A tight call, then, but George just takes it. Next cab off the rank: Ken Owens.
3. ADAM JONES
It’s easy to overlook how important Jones was to Wales’ first three Grand Slams of this century. But he started in 14 out the 15 games and was an ever-present when they won the Six Nations title again in 2013.
At one point he was right up there among the best scrummaging tightheads in world rugby, with at least one respected specialist identifying him as the key to the Lions’ success in Australia in 2013.
Phil Vickery was outstanding for
England and Kyle Sinckler is the new man on the block, a player who combines decent scrummaging with a hunger for work in the loose.
Next cab off the rank: Kyle Sinckler.
4. MARTIN JOHNSON
AN old-school warrior who never took a backward step, Johnson intimidated opponents and led from the front. The suspicion was had he been a bodyguard bullets would simply have bounced off him.
Maybe in the modern era he would have attracted the attention of the citing commissioners a shade too often. Perhaps he would have had a season ticket to disciplinary gatherings.
But he was about a lot more than just a mastery of the dark arts.
The 6ft 7in Johnson was also a leader who took responsibility and packed a big presence at the front of the line.
Luke Charteris.
Next cab off the rank: 5. ALUN WYN JONES
A YouTube contributor writes of the timeless quality of John Denver’s song, Take Me Home, Country Roads: “1971, what a great song; 2019, what a great song; 4007, what a great song.”
Much the same could be said of Alun Wyn Jones.
“2010, what a great player; 2020, what a great player; 4020, what a great player he was.”
Others may record more impressive figures in certain areas. But with his iron-hard mental strength, his leadership, his galvanising effect on others, his tireless work around the field, his tractor-like scrummaging and his ability to keep adding to his game,
Jones has to feature.
“The best player that the northern hemisphere has produced in the 21st century,” wrote Will Greenwood of him last year. Let’s leave it at that.
Next cab off the rank: Maro Itoje.
6. RICHARD HILL
MEMORIES are still sharp of Richard Hill pretty much beating the Ospreys on one leg on a snowy Sunday lunchtime game in Watford a dozen years ago. He had been carrying a bump and there was an argument that he shouldn’t have been on the pitch, yet he delivered one of the greatest performances of his career.
A couple of months later he had officially retired. But what a career.
Maybe he was England’s most important player during their World Cup-winning campaign of 2003. Unsung by some, but not by those around him. Colin Charvis, too, was outstanding on the Test scene.
Next cab off the rank: Colin Charvis.
7. JUSTIN TIPURIC
IT’S a three-cornered scrap between the Welsh trio of Tipuric, Sam Warburton and Martyn Williams – take your pick, as any of them would deliver.
Warburton was unshakeable over the ball and a rock-solid defender, while Williams could also compete at the breakdown against the best out there and was ultra-creative.
But maybe Tipuric is Warburton and Williams rolled into one: a world-class defender who’s a master at holding people up in the tackle and also devastatingly effective with ball in hand.
Tom Curry and Sam Underhill are also high-class operators.
But, from here, it’s Tipuric, a complete seven with extraordinary skills in both attack and defence. “If he wore a black jersey rather than a red one more people would be eulogising him,” said Lawrence Dallaglio recently.
Quite. Next cab off the rank: Sam Warburton.
8. LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO
TAULUPE Faletau, Billy Vunipola, Scott Quinnell, Ryan Jones or Lawrence Dallaglio, anyone?
Arguably, Faletau at his best is the most complete No.8, but he’s lost close on three years of his Test career to injuries. Alcatraz wouldn’t have been able to hold Quinnell because the walls wouldn’t have been thick enough to stop him on the charge, with much the same able to be said of Vunipola.
Remember how good Ryan Jones was, too, in the early years of the Warren Gatland era.
Then there’s Dallaglio. Dallaglio had an aura about him and a resolve and confidence that inspired others. No challenge ever seemed beyond him. He just seemed to have a presence. That he was one of English rugby’s all-time greats isn’t in doubt.
Taulupe Faletau.
Next cab off the rank: COACH: WARREN GATLAND
Yes, Sir Clive Woodward won a World Cup and received a knighthood.
But what Gatland did over a prolonged period with Wales, against a backdrop of raging uncertainty at regional level, was even more extraordinary.