The greatest: 20-11
20 Luke McAlister
Age: 25
Position: Centre
Club: Sale Sharks
Country: New Zealand
Probably the most surprising Kiwi to fly the nest after the 2007 World Cup given his relatively tender years. Most people would put their mortgage on McAlister waltzing back into the All Blacks side if he went home tomorrow. He runs like a steam train, kicks like a mule and has the ability to put players into space with the timing of a Swiss clock. Charlie Hodgson must have thought all his Christmases had come at once when McAlister pitched up at Edgeley Park and added some much needed defensive steel to the midfield. The chances are he’ll be back in black by 2011.
19 Paul O’Connell
Age: 30
Position: Second Row
Province: Munster
Country: Ireland
When people start mentioning you in the same sentence as superheroes you know you’ve arrived. According to Irish fans, when the Incredible Hulk gets angry he turns into Paul O’Connell. And, apparently, Superman wears Paul O’Connell pyjamas. Superhuman he is not, but the flame-haired Munsterman comes mighty close when on form. His importance to Ireland sometimes supercedes Brian O’Driscoll’s. He was criticised for muted displays on the last Lions tour but came back to his best to lead Munster to two out of the last three Heineken Cups. If he’s not first choice lock next summer in South Africa we’ll eat our Paul O’Connell underpants.
18 Vilimoni Delasau
Age: 31
Position: Wing
Club: US Montauban
Country: Fiji
Too much northern hemisphere press, after Wales fell to Fiji in Nantes in the pool stages of the World Cup, focused on how Gareth Jenkins’ team had shot themselves in the foot. They played sevens against the sevens kings, the line went. They got what was coming to them. Well, true. But no matter what Wales did that day, Fiji still had to have the beating of them. That they did, and in such blisteringly memorable fashion, was in large part down to the efforts of Vilimoni Delasau. The 6ft 4in wing stood head, shoulders and dreadlocks above the rest that day, and then again against South Africa in the quarter-finals. His try against Wales, kicking and chasing and touching down, was breathtaking; against the Boks he did the same again as his team fell, gloriously, just short. Check him out on YouTube, where he can be seen in the yellow of former club AS Clermont Auvergne ripping apart Auch on his own.
17 Fourie du Preez
Age: 26
Position: Scrum-half
Franchise: Bulls
Country: South Africa
During the 2007 World Cup du Preez earned the right to call himself the best No.9 in the business with his scintillating displays that drove the Boks on to the Webb Ellis Cup. Injury has seen him in and out of the national side ever since. But, fit and well, there may still be no-one to touch his deadeyed box kicking and tactical acumen at the base of the scrum. Behind a pack as big as South Africa’s and with a player as good as du Preez snapping at their heels, the Boks’ World Cup No.10 Butch James couldn’t have wished for a better platform on which to release the likes of Bryan Habana. What makes him special as a player, let alone a No.9, is his natural sense of timing that has seen him make countless crucial cover tackles – reminiscent of George Gregan - and the name Gareth Edwards has cropped up more than once in reference to the shy Blue Bull. Praise indeed.
16 Stirling Mortlock
Age: 31
Position: Centre
Franchise: Brumbies
Country: Australia
If England had a player like Stirling Mortlock he wouldn’t just have his name inked on to the team sheet before anyone else’s, he’d have it chipped into it with a hammer and chisel. In November, Mortlock reaffirmed his status as one of the most reliable, sturdy, inspirational characters in world rugby with another outstanding display of three-quarter play that saw him explode over England’s gainline at will, handle the wet ball as if it were a Ming vase and belt over a penalty from nigh on 50 metres. In the best part of 80 caps, it’s difficult to remember him ever having had a shocker, his physicality making him a daunting opponent.
15 Pierre Spies
Age: 23
Position: No.8
Franchise: Bulls
Country: South Africa
Billed as the future prototype No.8, Spies is a freakishly athletic player who has also lined up at flanker and wing for club and country. He has pace to burn and has been timed running the 100 metres in 10.7 seconds – not bad for a man who stands 6ft 4ins and weighs in at 17st 4lbs. He made his debut during the 49-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia in 2006 and while that was a tough baptism of fire, he was influential in leading the Springboks to wins over the Wallabies and New Zealand in the same tournament. He was a certainty for South Africa’s World Cup squad before withdrawing from the tournament due to blood clots on his lungs. The 23-year-old was sidelined until June when he made his international return against Wales. A dynamic runner with explosive pace off the base of the scrum, Spies has all the
attributes to become one of the game’s modern greats.
14 George Smith
Age: 28
Position: Flanker
Franchise: Brumbies
Country: Australia
Nuisance. Pest. Disruptive force. Those are just some of the words that have been used to describe Smith, who has established himself as one of world rugby’s elite open-side flankers. The world’s most capped flanker, Smith doesn’t get the plaudits of Richie McCaw, but he has earned a fearsome reputation around rucks and mauls and turns over a huge amount of ball. A brilliant destroyer of opposition attacks, Smith makes a living out of slowing sides down and snuffing out their opportunities. In attack, he possesses the ball-handling skills of a back and defensively he is a damaging tackler, as you would expect from a man of Tongan descent. It feels Like Smith has been around forever. But at the age of 28 he is likely to still be around
for the 2011 World Cup.
13 Ma’a Nonu
Age: 26
Position: Centre
Franchise: Hurricanes
Country: New Zealand
He may tempt some opponents to crack jokes at his expense given that he has blond-streaked dreadlocks and a penchant for wearing eye-liner on the pitch, but few are laughing by the time New Zealand centre Ma’a Nonu has ripped through their defence, as England can testify this season. Nonu was left out of Graham Henry’s 2007 World Cup squad and has played ever since as though deeply stung by the omission, re-establishing himself as the No.1 choice for the black No.13 shirt. The world’s most improved player this year, the 26-year-old powerhouse has been in the form of his life, his strong running and love for the physical battles makes him a focal point of the All Black attack and a hard man to stop with first-up tackles.
12 Mike Blair
Age: 27
Position: Scrum-half
Region: Edinburgh
Country: Scotland
There are two barometers by which to judge Blair’s standing in the world game at present. The first is to consider that he is the first Scottish player since the award began to have made the shortlist for the IRB Player of the Year. The second is to survey the names he has been overhauling this year to become No.1 contender for the Lions scrum-half Test jersey in South Africa next summer. Dwayne Peel, Mike Phillips, Harry Ellis, Eoin Reddan, Danny Care. They have all had their supporters for the shirt, but most of them have become Blairites. Many, in fact would choose the Scotsman as their Lions skipper. He has led Scotland almost single-handedly at times.
11 Jean de Villiers
Age: 27
Position: Centre
Franchise: Stormers
Country: South Africa
While he is equally at home on the wing, it is at centre that South Africa’s Player of the Year in 2009 Jean de Villiers has established himself as one of the world’s elite performers, combining creativity with fluid running in the midfield. Injuries have been a regular companion for de Villiers, who has been a standout performer for the Stormers in the Super 14. He entered the 2007 World Cup nursing a rib injury and returned home before the knockout stages having suffered a torn bicep against Samoa. A wonderful reader of the game, de Villiers has a knack for turning matches on their head with key interceptions. Just ask James Hook.
