15. Serge Blanco. The guy was a joy to watch, sublime running skills. Shadows: Christian Cullen, Andre Joubert

14. David Campese. Pure class, we'll forget about THAT pass v the Lions in '89. Shadows: Ntamack (spell?), Ben Tune

13. Phillipe Sella. A gifted ball runner, great to watch. Shadows: Andrew Slack, Gary Ella

12. Tim Horan. One of the greatest, if not THE greatest 12 ever. Shadows: Walter Little, Thomas Castainede (spell?)

11. Doug Howlett. I like wingers who have high work rates and can set their team-mates up for tries as well as score themselves. Shadows: Rupeni, Jonah

10. Mark Ellla. There was a saying when he played - he touched the ball once in a movement and anything could happen, twice and his team would score, three times and he would score. Shadow: Henry Honniball, Dan Carter, Steve Larkham.

9. Fabien Galthie (the French half at the last WC - his name escapes me at the moment). A good passing game and he often moved one space out to 1st five to give his team a different point of attack. Shadows: Joost, Augustin Pichot, NFJ.

8. Zinzan Brooke. The guy was class. Shadows: Buck Shelford

7. Richie McCaw. What is it with NZ and opensides, every 7 years they seem to bring out a new and improved openside better than the last who was possibly the best ever? Will be interesting to see who turns up that is a better openside than McCaw though. Shadows: Josh Kronfeld, George Smith, David Wilson

6. Michael Jones. My favourite player of all time, whether at open or blindside. Shadows: Simon Poidevin

5. John Eales. The best lock I have seen play. Ruled the lineouts for 10 years. Shadows: Ian Jones, Victor Matfield

4. Martin Johnson. Just a pure hard bastard, perfect foil for Eales. Shadows: Dan Vickerman, Abdel Benazzi

3. Olo Brown. Only became a prop later on in my own rugby career and was assured he was the guy to get tapes of if I wanted to make a go of it in my new position. Shadows: Carl Hayman, Matt Ryan.

2. Keith Wood. The guy seemed to be everywhere at once and did his positional skills with aplomb at the same time. Shadows: Fitzy, Kearns, Michael Foley

1. Richard Loe. I know, a very strange selection for an Aussie to make but I think every team needs a nasty bastard in it and he was the nastiest of the lot. Shadows: Os DuRandt. Tony Woodcock, Dan Crowley.