Best backline in the world?

TheGoldenAges

According to Sir Clive Woodward these are the best backs in the world






Some strange calls there alright, who would you have as your 9-15 dream team?

Glass Prison 1214

Cooper and Davies in the best backline in the world? lol

In my opinion it is:
Gold 9. Genia 10. Carter 11. Savea 12. Fofana 13. Smith 14. Habana 15. Dagg

Silver 9. Du Preez 10. Sexton 11. Sivivatu 12. de Villiers 13. Tuilagi 14. Bowe 15. Ben Smith

Bronze 9. Kockett 10. Barrett 11. North 12. Giteau 13. BOD 14. Nalaga 15. Halfpenny

Tox56

Some totally bizarre selections from Woodward. Irish bias maybe but Sexton is surely in the top 3 10s in the world, Jonathan Davies is not the best 12 in world rugby, Mike Phillips is not the 3rd best 9 around, Sonny Bill isn't even playing the sport at the moment, Gael Fickou the the 19 year old Toulouse twelve is the 2nd best 13 in the world??

If someone posted those teams on here they'd be ridiculed, how did this man win a World Cup??

mohawk

Tox56 wrote: »

If someone posted those teams on here they'd be ridiculed, how did this man win a World Cup??

He won World Cup because he had a guy who couldn't miss penalty's. They weren't a team renown for their back play iirc.

danthefan

mohawk wrote: »

He won World Cup because he had a guy who couldn't miss penalty's. They weren't a team renown for their back play iirc.

This isn't really true at all tbf, they played some amazing rugby, and they had one of the finest packs of the professional era. Hill/Back/Dallaglio was about as good a backrow as you'll see. They were a brilliant side with class players throughout.

If you look at the RWC final in isolation then yeah, Wilkinson's kicking was decisive, but basically every RWC final has been really tight and cagey.

dtpc191991

Cooper is the strangest one for me.He is far too inconsistant at 10. Occasionally he is world class but then he has absolute nightmares and ends up costing his team games.

irishbucsfan

mohawk wrote: »

He won World Cup because he had a guy who couldn't miss penalty's. They weren't a team renown for their back play iirc.

That's not true really. They were extremely well coached in multiple facets of the game and one of the best organised and most single-minded teams to take the field of the last couple of decades.

.ak

Tox56 wrote: »

Some totally bizarre selections from Woodward. Irish bias maybe but Sexton is surely in the top 3 10s in the world, Jonathan Davies is not the best 12 in world rugby, Mike Phillips is not the 3rd best 9 around, Sonny Bill isn't even playing the sport at the moment, Gael Fickou the the 19 year old Toulouse twelve is the 2nd best 13 in the world??

If someone posted those teams on here they'd be ridiculed, how did this man win a World Cup??

Is Fickou not a 13? The rest I agree with tho yeah, pretty funny stuff.

.ak

If I could pick anyone in the world I'd love to see these guys together

09. Genia
10. Sexton
11. Habanna
12. Williams
13. BOD
14. B. Smith
15. Dagg

Toss up between Sexton and Carter... Carter is obviously number 1, but I'd love to see Sexton in that backline. Same goes for BOD vs C. Smith, and Halfpenny vs Dagg.. well, Dagg just has everything, and can do it at club level too, but I'm a massive Halfpenny fan.

Kayless

Mike Philips haha

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

worst list ever, jesus christ, so many awful selections

Quade Cooper????

Sivivatu not in any of the teams? Corey Jane?!!!!!!

F

Tox56

.ak wrote: »

Is Fickou not a 13? The rest I agree with tho yeah, pretty funny stuff.

I went through Toulouse's last 4-5 games and he was either playing 12, benching, or not playing at all. Not exactly what one would expect of the second best 13 in world rugby...!

Kiwi_knock

I would go:

Gold: 9. Genia, 10. Carter, 11. Habana, 12. De Villiers, 13. C Smith, 14. B Smith, 15. Dagg

Silver: 9. A Smith, 10. Sexton, 11. Savea, 12. Fofana, 13. BOD, 14. Folau, 15. Halfpenny

Bronze: 9. Du Preez, 10. Barrett, 11. North, 12. Nonu, 13. Tuilagi, 14. Sivivatu, 15. Delon Armitage Le Roux

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

9 Genia
10 Sexton
11 Habana
12 Fofana
13 Smith
14 Sivivatu
15 Daag]

Silver:

9 Smith
10 Carter
11 Savea
12 De Villiers
13 BOD
14 B Smith
15 Delon Armitage

Bronze:

9 Murray
10 Flood (curveball)
11 North
12 SBW
13 Izzy F
14 Bowe
15 Halfpenny

matthew8

Gold
9. Genia
10. Carter
11. Habana
12. Fofana
13. Smith
14. Smith
15. Dagg

Silver
9. Smith
10. Sexton
11. Savea
12. Nonu
13. AAC
14. Le Roux
15. Halfpenny

Bronze
9. Du Preez
10. Steyn
11. Jane
12. JDV
13. BOD
14. Sivivatu
15. Folau

Sport101

Sorry, I know this is an Irish site, and I'm a Leinster fan, but there's no chance Sexton is better than Carter, sorry.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Sport101 wrote: »

Sorry, I know this is an Irish site, and I'm a Leinster fan, but there's no chance Sexton is better than Carter, sorry.

I really don't think there's a huge gap. I'd have Sexton in my team because he's a lot more consistent in terms of his fitness, he's younger and a better defender

In attack Carter edges it but not by a whole pile

I think opinion on Sexton will change across the world once he plays under Schmidt internationally

Swiwi.

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

According to Sir Clive Woodward these are the best backs in the world






Some strange calls there alright, who would you have as your 9-15 dream team?

Stand up comedy stuff. Some bizarre calls there. No doubt Stephen Jones helped write it. Just need to look for Tom Shanklin somewhere in the mix to confirm my suspicions.

Fireball07

Is there any real argument that Fofana-Smith aren't the 2 best centres in the world. Fofana is so much better than Davies it's not even funny.


Phillips is so good, he's been kicked out of his club. Genia, Kockott, Du Preez, Pienaar, Murray, Youngs, Care, Parra, Machenaud, Laidlaw, Fotuali'i, Matawalu, Aaron Smith, Doussain are all better than him, and that's just off the top of my head.

Swiwi.

Fireball07 wrote: »

Is there any real argument that Fofana-Smith aren't the 2 best centres in the world. Fofana is so much better than Davies it's not even funny.


Phillips is so good, he's been kicked out of his club. Genia, Kockott, Du Preez, Pienaar, Murray, Youngs, Care, Parra, Machenaud, Laidlaw, Fotuali'i, Matawalu, Aaron Smith, Doussain are all better than him, and that's just off the top of my head.

JdV might have something to say about that....as would I. JdV was outstanding in the 4N.

Fireball07

Swiwi. wrote: »

JdV might have something to say about that....as would I. JdV was outstanding in the 4N.

JdV is class.....and I suppose he's a different type of player to Fofana, but I just love watching Fofana play, he just oozes class.

Howard Juneau

I would have Jean De Villiers ahead of Fofana every day

TheGoldenAges

I couldn't pick a best backline in a lot of positions. There isn't much between most of the best back players in the world, really it comes down to form when the players are chosen.

awec

I'd have Dan Carter over Cooper every day of the week.

thomond2006

9. Mike Phillips
10. Danny Cipriani
11. Liam Williams
12. Gavin Henson
13. AN Other
14. Chris Ashton
15. Delon Armitage

Awesome.

Howard Juneau

thomond2006 wrote: »

9. Mike Phillips
10. Danny Cipriani
11. Liam Williams
12. Gavin Henson
13. AN Other
14. Chris Ashton
15. Delon Armitage

Awesome.

BOD should fit right in there :P

19543261

Howard Juneau wrote: »

I would have Jean De Villiers ahead of Fofana every day

How often do you see Fofana play? I'm not having a go at you at all, genuinely wondering.

Howard Juneau

19543261 wrote: »

How often do you see Fofana play? I'm not having a go at you at all, genuinely wondering.

I'm not saying Fofana isn't a very good player, he's a physical freak but JDV is the best inside centre I've seen over the last 10 years. Of course, it's only my opinion, feel free to disagree.

TheGoldenAges

thomond2006 wrote: »

9. Mike Phillips
10. Danny Cipriani
11. Liam Williams
12. Gavin Henson
13. James O'Connor
14. Chris Ashton
15. Delon Armitage

Awesome.

Fixed

WorldRugby99

still think habanas cruelly underrated at the moment-been exceptionally dangerous past year at international level. No mention of cruden at 10 either-top player too.Genia who i think has been the best SH past few years is having a bad run of form for first time really.(not helped by his forwards mind)

Re sexton-seems to divide some opinions.In ireland hes rated as exceptional,brilliant etc,but if you talk to many fans outside ireland,i guess there is still the view that he has only occasionally brought that superb leinster form to the national jersey and has rarely dominated a big game v say nz or safrica.
Take the lions tour-i thought sexton was pretty mediocre-but was that just due to gatlands tactics and not having the kicking tee? I guess we are all looking forward to seeing how sexton fares under schmidt and if he can finally bring the best out of him in the irish shirt.

pickarooney

He must watch a lot of Currie Cup games (and shag-all else) to rate Johan Goosen so highly.

Woody1997

pickarooney wrote: »

He must watch a lot of Currie Cup games (and shag-all else) to rate Johan Goosen so highly.

I'm surprised to see delon armitage floating about on a couple of teams there. He's ok but has always been a bit temperamental. Absolutely shocking call to put Goosen in those back lines, IMO not as good as sexton or maybe even cruden. J Davies isn't a touch on Fofana or JDV. I'd also have Corey Jane in there along with Savea ahead of North. Definitely no fickou, I mean he's a talented guy with a lot of potential but no where near some of the other centres in the world.

Clearlier

WorldRugby99 wrote: »

Re sexton-seems to divide some opinions.In ireland hes rated as exceptional,brilliant etc,but if you talk to many fans outside ireland,i guess there is still the view that he has only occasionally brought that superb leinster form to the national jersey and has rarely dominated a big game v say nz or safrica.
Take the lions tour-i thought sexton was pretty mediocre-but was that just due to gatlands tactics and not having the kicking tee? I guess we are all looking forward to seeing how sexton fares under schmidt and if he can finally bring the best out of him in the irish shirt.

With Sexton playing in France and Schmidt new to the Irish job I don't reckon we'll see the best of Sexton or the Irish team before the next world cup. We'll see glimpses I expect but I don't think that there's any chance of it coming together until the team get an extended period of training time together and Sexton is fresh. The 6 nations will help obviously but we'll probably need to wait another year.

One of the big things that Schmidt brought to Leinster was an improvement in passing. It's a basic but he brought it to another level. There are signs already that Leinster are losing that skill. I expect that it will take time to embed in the Irish team hence why I think that the next world cup is when we'll see Sexton and Ireland start to flourish.

Hagz

Gold
9. Will Genia
10. Dan Carter
11. Bryan Habana
12. Sonny Bill Williams (although he's not playing at the moment so Wesley Fofana)
13. Conrad Smith
14. Cory Jane
15. Israel Dagg

Silver
9. Aaron Smith
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. George North
12. Ma'a Nonu
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Israel Folau
15. Kurtley Beale

Bronze
9. Fourie du Preez
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Julian Savea
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Adam Ashley Cooper
14. Willie Le Roux
15. Jared Payne

shuffol

Hagz wrote: »

Gold
9. Will Genia
10. Dan Carter
11. Bryan Habana
12. Sonny Bill Williams (although he's not playing at the moment so Wesley Fofana)
13. Conrad Smith
14. Cory Jane
15. Israel Dagg

Silver
9. Aaron Smith
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. George North
12. Ma'a Nonu
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Israel Folau
15. Kurtley Beale

Bronze
9. Fourie du Preez
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Julian Savea
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Adam Ashley Cooper
14. Willie Le Roux
15. Jared Payne

Ehhh Ben Smith.

schools rugby

Gold
9. Smith
10. Carter
11. Savea
12. De Villiers
13. Conrad Smith
14. Bryan Habana
15. Folau

Silver
9. Genia
10. Sexton
11. North
12. Fofana
13. BOD
14. Ben Smith
15. Dagg

Bronze
9. Fourie Du Preez
10. Cruden
11. Sivivatu
12. Nonu
13. Adam Ashley Cooper
14. Bowe
15. Halfpenny