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15. Gavin Hastings.
Held the Scottish team together for many years and have to have a token Scot in
here somewhere
Honourable mentions: JPR Williams (great Sideburns), Fergie McCormick (only
because he shouted us some beer at his pub once).
14. Bryan Williams.
Tree trunks for legs, awesome in full flight
Honourable mentions: Ieuan Evans (because of my welsh ancestry)
11. Jonah Lomu.
Who can forget him steamrolling Pom defenders, would probably still be playing
at top level if not for his health concerns
Honourable mentions: Inga the Winger (still playing somewhere in the UK??),
Grant Batty (will he coach the Reds?)
13. Joe Stanley.
Came to test Rugby quite late at 29 years but certainly made an impact while he
was there.
Honourable mentions: Stu Robertson, Frank Bunce.
12. Walter Little.
Bunce and Little were probably my favourite centre combination
Honourable mentions: Warwick Taylor, Victor Simpson
10. Barry John.
Also had to have a token Welshman. Made the Welsh and Lions team strong over
several years, good sidestep, awesome kicker, great combination with him and
Gareth Edwards.
Honourable mentions: Wayne Smith (for the try that lifted the Ranfurly Shield
off Wellington in 1983)
9. Sid Going Going Going Gone!! Plenty of darting runs from the base of the
scrum beating defenders
Honourable mentions: Gareth Edwards (another famous try scorer, the BaaBaas V
the All Blacks, 1974-5 thereabouts), David Kirk.
8. Zinzan Brooke.
Could do anything, even dropped goals. How is he after colliding with the
footpath in Spain a few weeks ago?
Honourable Mentions: Buck Shelford, Murray Mexted, Gary Seear (for the 50m
Penalty)
7. Michael Jones.
Should have played many more games but due to injury and shifting some tests to
Sundays
Honourable mentions: Josh Kronfeld, Graham Mourie
6. Mike Brewer.
In and out of the team due to injury mainly for nearly a decade, nearly made
captain
Honourable mentions: Don Hayes, Ian Kirkpatrick.
5 Colin Meads.
First saw him on my 8th Birthday, 1971 v the lions, just a legend. Just as well
they didn’t have (legal) lifting in the lineout in those days, I don’t think
anyone could have.
Honourable mentions: Frank Oliver, Willie John McBride (my token Irishman and
his battles with Meads were awe inspiring – they probably shared many beers
afterwards too I reckon)
4. Ian Jones.
Played a huge number of games for the All Blacks, vaguely remember shaking his
hand in Cardiff in the early hours of the morning in 1993, he scored a try that
day too.
Honourable mentions: Gary Whetton
3 Billie Bush.
Hard as nails and from Belfast
Honourable mentions: Olo Brown
2. Sean Fitzpatrick.
All round good bloke and any hooker who can score tries on the wing deserves to
be in my team
Honourable mentions: Andy Dalton, Phil Kearns (my token man in yellow and fitzy
and him enjoyed taking the piss out of each other)
1.Craig Dowd.
Could play on either side of the scrum and again played a huge number of tests/
Honourable mentions: Richard Loe
Coach. Alex Wyllie
Couldn’t fit him in as a player so will go on his outstanding coaching record
with Glenmark, Canterbury, All Blacks, Argentina and quite a few others. My
favourite memory of Grizz was welcoming the Canterbury team back to Christchurch
airport after their Ranfurly Shield win in 1983 and there was Grizz in the
carpark at the toll gate holding it up yelling “they're our supporters, let them
out for free”!!
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