The Best Rugby Player Of All Time

Eoiny1117

Hey guys. recently i have been thinking about the best rugby player of all time. and i was just wondering about who you thought the best is out of this list????

GerM

Neil Back.

thomond2006

John Hayes, ligind.

Judgement Day

JD has voted.

dodderangler

Dennis hickey
Can't see him there

CatFromHue

I went for Mike Gibson MBE for statistical reasons lol.

At a time when Ireland played only 4 to 6 games a season he managed to get 69 caps!! He also toured with the Lions 5 times and played for the BaaBaas 9 times too!!

Hook would be proud of me :P

Eoiny1117

dodderangler wrote: »

Dennis hickey
Can't see him there

thats because hes not there! couldnt put him in sorry

irishbucsfan

I'm sorry but the best player of all time was not an irishman, as traitorous as it feels pointing that out.

.ak

Hrm, hard to pick. My head says Mike Gibson - he was before my time but I always looked at his games and thought he was what you would aspire to be if you wanted to be a decent centre. There was nothing closer to perfection. But, as I said, it was before my time, so perhaps that's a bit disingenuous. So, for me it's a split between Daniel Carter and Brian O'Driscoll. Perhaps the two greatest rugby players of my generation. Daniel wins on achievement, but Brian wins on all round rugby skill/feeling. Regardless of how people think of BOD now, just imagine what it'll be like remembering him in 2025.

O'Driscoll.

dodderangler

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I'm sorry but the best player of all time was not an irishman, as traitorous as it feels pointing that out.

It's from the persons point of view who they think was the best

thebaz

BOD is /was amazing - but Lomu was on another planet - Jonah Lomu for me , by quite a bit in fact

Fireball07

Obviously when you look at possible greatest players of all time, there are a lot of potential options. Blanco, Lomu, O'Driscoll, Carter...legends of the game and players with huge amounts of skill.

But as you think further, you realise there is only one option. One man stands out...above the rest, a beacon of rugby excellence. All (most) of those players were hugely successful players, all of them capable of playing at international standard. But only one man has taken that to a different level...he could play at "above international standard"...and this was in the waning years of his career. One man. The greatest of them all.

Ronan O'Gara.

FrPhelimYoung

Danie Gerber. Amazing player. But for the apartheid ban he would have gained true worldwide legend status.

(I'm a Paddy by the way with no Saffer connections!)

Morf

Only one Saffer? Can't be right!

Joost van der Westhuizen was one amazing player I saw in my life time.

bamboozle

had to go with Campese, he was incredible to watch, followed closely by BOD & Lomu.

markest

'Buck'

john kinsella

Carlos Spencer for pure genius and flashy play and Conrad Smith deserves a shout.

Ulysses Gaze

Before my time but from what I have seen in terms of highlights, Barry John must be up for consideration.

John Eales as well.

rok

Christian Cullen for me!

totallegend

OK, these threads should be limited people you have seen in your own lifetime, basing your opinion of a player on highlights is a bit ropey because you're only seeing the, well, highlights.

For me, the most gifted player I have ever seen is/was Rupeni Caucau; blinding pace, hard as nails and could do things that 99.99% of players couldn't even dream of.

A horrible waste of talent and if he'd played for the All Blacks instead of Fiji I really think he'd be going down in history as an all-time great.

totallegend

totallegend wrote: »

OK, these threads should be limited people you have seen in your own lifetime, basing your opinion of a player on highlights is a bit ropey because you're only seeing the, well, highlights.

For me, the most gifted player I have ever seen is/was Rupeni Caucau; blinding pace, hard as nails and could do things that 99.99% of players couldn't even dream of.

A horrible waste of talent and if he'd played for the All Blacks instead of Fiji I really think he'd be going down in history as an all-time great.

forgot about him i saw him outrun bod with a belly on him freakish talent

nomunnnofun

Has to be Jonah Lomu IMO. We have all seen BOD/Carter/McCaw and others perform consistently very well for many years but Lomu is the only player I have seen who could actually make y jaw drop with his ability. I know he probably hadn't the rugby smarts of others but he was truly amazing at his peak. I couldn't say that about any other player in my lifetime.

Gracelessly Tom

Simon Webster.

danthefan

I'm not going to vote as I've never seen most of those guys play but Carter is the best I've seen.

Quint2010

Michael Jones for me.

twinytwo

I think the best of the modern game at their peak have to be Carter and Drico.

Lomu was good but not great. Running over players does not make a rugby player. He was an ingma at the time. The Saffers sorted him out though. Howlett,Wilson, Rokocoko and Cullen had vastly superiour AB careers to him.

Going back so many awesome players to actually pick the best of all time.

twinytwo

Graysen Wailing Pacemaker wrote: »

forgot about him i saw him outrun bod with a belly on him freakish talent

Bod had an infection that day, shouldnt even have been playing was puking all over the pitch.

twinytwo

totallegend wrote: »

OK, these threads should be limited people you have seen in your own lifetime, basing your opinion of a player on highlights is a bit ropey because you're only seeing the, well, highlights.

For me, the most gifted player I have ever seen is/was Rupeni Caucau; blinding pace, hard as nails and could do things that 99.99% of players couldn't even dream of.

A horrible waste of talent and if he'd played for the All Blacks instead of Fiji I really think he'd be going down in history as an all-time great.

He was fat,lazy and totally uncommited to rugby. But i agree had he had his head screwed on correctly he would have possibly been the best ever. Even at the size of a truck he had pace,balance and a step the likes of which iv never seen on anyone else.

Tombo2001

I wonder how many Kiwis would put BOD or Mike Gibson or any other Irish player in their top 20.

.ak

I'd say a fair few. BOD has always been renowned outside of Ireland. Gibson too. Having said that, I wonder if any the current generation Kiwi's know who Gibson is....

Teferi

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I wonder how many Kiwis would put BOD or Mike Gibson or any other Irish player in their top 20.

If Brian O'Driscoll was from New Zealand then he would definitely be in any Kiwis Top 20, however as he is Irish they will just about begrudgingly say that he is the best Irish rugby player.

Most kiwis hold bod in very high regard had a kiwi tell me he thought he was the greatest non kiwi ever and a top 5 player of all time over the summer

Teferi

Graysen Wailing Pacemaker wrote: »

Most kiwis hold bod in very high regard had a kiwi tell me he thought he was the greatest non kiwi ever and a top 5 player of all time over the summer

In bold is my point exactly. If a rugby player isn't kiwi he can never be truly great.

Tombo2001

Get the same thing in soccer or in any other sport. We regard George Best as one of the best soccer players ever, I'd say the average Ukrainian or Uruguyan soccer fan barely knows who he is. British press always choose British moments as the greatest moments in sporting history.

I'm not saying BOD is not one of the greatest, or indeed the greatest.

But I just think that having Irish players on a list voted for by Irish people is going to be biased. Can I say that BOD was better than Tim Horan? How many times did I see Tim Horan play, or any of you for that matter.

So I think its more interesting if you choose your best non-Irish players of all time. Its pretty clear to me that BOD is the greatest Irish player ever, but where he ranks in the international pantheon is not for me to say.

Teferi

Teferi wrote: »

Graysen Wailing Pacemaker wrote: »

Most kiwis hold bod in very high regard had a kiwi tell me he thought he was the greatest non kiwi ever and a top 5 player of all time over the summer

In bold is my point exactly. If a rugby player isn't kiwi he can never be truly great.

Yes but if they regard him as the greatest non kiwi that counts for a lot also nz are entitled to feel that way although theyve bottled it at world cups they've been consistently the best team in the world there's been times where you could pick the best players from the rest of the world put them on a team and nz would win

Grimebox

I've only been following rugby for around the past 5 years. My choice here is very limited. Have to go for Dan Carter as the number 10 position is often a hotly contested and he has owned that jersey for a long, long time.

.ak wrote: »

I'd say a fair few. BOD has always been renowned outside of Ireland. Gibson too. Having said that, I wonder if any the current generation Kiwi's know who Gibson is....

I don't know who Gibson is.

Heroditas

Tombo2001 wrote: »

But I just think that having Irish players on a list voted for by Irish people is going to be biased. Can I say that BOD was better than Tim Horan? How many times did I see Tim Horan play, or any of you for that matter.

I saw Tim Horan play plenty of times.
Completely different player to BOD but I still think BOD is a better player, simply because of the overall effect he has on his fellow team mates.

prospect

If you put all the above players on one team.......



Sean O'Brien would take them all.




I voted Campese.

.ak

Grimebox wrote: »

I don't know who Gibson is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDNBjoel4s

SaulGoodman

"Tyrone Howe" did you get on the lions?

JRant

Brad Thorne anyone?
NRL titles,
State of Origin titles,
Rugby League RWC winners medal,
Super rugby titles,
HEC title,
RWC title,
Born winner

Quint2010

.ak wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDNBjoel4s

If they are the highlights from Mike Gibson's career I would have BOD over him any day. In fact I thought Ollie Campbell was the best out player I had seen in an irish jersey before BOD.

CatFromHue

While Thorn has won a pile of honours I wouldn't class him in the same league as some of the other guys. He was good while he was playing Union but some of the other guys were always good for years playing union. Michael Jones and Colin Meads would have about the same amount of caps as Thorn but they played in a different era when teams didn't play as much. Then you have Carter and McCaw who are all time greats.

I see Lomu is on the list but he is probably better regarded outside NZ than inside. He wouldn't be on many Kiwi's top 10 All Blacks.

.ak

Quint2010 wrote: »

If they are the highlights from Mike Gibson's career I would have BOD over him any day. In fact I thought Ollie Campbell was the best out player I had seen in an irish jersey before BOD.

They're not the best highlights, but he's described well in that video. He was far ahead of his time imo.

CatFromHue

Quint2010 wrote: »

If they are the highlights from Mike Gibson's career I would have BOD over him any day. In fact I thought Ollie Campbell was the best out player I had seen in an irish jersey before BOD.

I'd say they're more highlights of one of Gibsons games than his career. He was capped between 1964 and 1979 for Ireland and I don't know how many of those games would have televised. If they were I'd imagine their buried deep in RTE's archives now. Just from that clip it's Bill McLaren talking so that's probably a BBC production.

RoundBox11

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I wonder how many Kiwis would put BOD or Mike Gibson or any other Irish player in their top 20.

From my experience, not many. I'm sure most would acknowledge BOD as the best irish player of all time, but they don't seem to rate us very highly in the first place. I highly doubt many NZ rugby fans nowadays have even heard of Mike Gibson.

I would imagine a top 20 list in the average Kiwi mind would be littered with All Blacks and the rest would be mainly Springboks and Ozzies. Purely down to the fact that they don't have very much exposure to NH rugby and don't really rate it either. Similar to the fact that i have very little exposure to SH rugby and like to think our NH players could take theirs if we were to play our best vs their best. Thats always how the average rugby fan's mind is going to work tho i suppose.

I definitely wouldn't have Lomu as the number one. As somebody mentioned earlier, his dominance was almost solely down to his physical stature and speed. I wouldn't have considered him one of the most skillful players. That said, he would be in my top 20.

Tombo2001

RoundBox11 wrote: »

and like to think our NH players could take theirs if we were to play our best vs their best. .

Wouldnt be a massive rugby fan, but I've long since given up on the notion that any Irish team might compete consistently aganst SH teams....

In August internationals in Lansdowne maybe......

The fact is that NZ, Aus and SA have been far and away the best national teams over the history of rugby union; and I dont think a Kiwi could be criticized for thinking that, and by extension for thinking that the best players have come from those countries.

yeraulone

did somebody say gavin henson?

Tox56

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Wouldnt be a massive rugby fan, but I've long since given up on the notion that any Irish team might compete consistently aganst SH teams....

In August internationals in Lansdowne maybe......

The fact is that NZ, Aus and SA have been far and away the best national teams over the history of rugby union; and I dont think a Kiwi could be criticized for thinking that, and by extension for thinking that the best players have come from those countries.

The notion that a country like Ireland could not produce one of the best of all time solely because the nation as a whole doesn't have a great history is ridiculous

From what I've seen though they (the Kiwi's) do have a lot of time for BOD

CatFromHue

Tox56 wrote: »

From what I've seen though they (the Kiwi's) do have a lot of time for BOD

I think they do but not sure how highly they rate him at the very top level. Even after the last game in NZ in June the interviewer at the end did seem to like BOD.

I think Conrad Smith put it best when he said/implied that he rated BOD but whenever the two teams play Ireland are under the kosh so it's hard for BOD to shine.

kilnamanagh

Can only go on the players I've seen in my lifetime so I went for McCaw, great captain, super player and phenomenal open side, for all the criticism he comes under for his style of play he does what every other 7 wishes they could do, and get away with. Just looking at the list it strikes me that it could be endless, Frik du Preez is considered one of the all time great Saffers while Jack Kyle isn't just highly regarded in Ireland but his reputation still lives on in Australia & New Zealand after the 1950 Lions tour and they aren't on the list. You could even go back to Ernie Crawford and further back to William Webb Ellis who was supposedly pretty handy at the game.......jeez I sound like George Hook!