Dan Carter, World Rugby Player of the Year 2015
Gregor Paul selects his World XV for 2015 which features 6 All Blacks, 3 Australians and Argentinians, and 1 Fijian, Georgian and Scotsman — and nobody from South Africa, England, Ireland, Wales or France.
15 Ben Smith (New Zealand):
Ben from all accounts had an outrageously good season. He captained the Highlanders to the most unlikely Super Rugby title and then inspired the All Blacks to a World Cup victory. His aerial skills and footwork are unbelievable.
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper(Australia):
Ashley-Cooper is the Wallaby version of Smith. He’s a superb all-round footballer who continually does the right thing. Has pace, footwork, awareness and the ability to covert half-chances. Was deadly at the World Cup.
13 Mark Bennett (Scotland):
A rugged, tough ball runner with innate timing. Picked off the intercept try in the World Cup quarter-final that should have sunk Australia and contributed some big tackling and deft passing.
12 Ma’a Nonu (New Zealand):
Ended his All Black career in the best possible way. Most direct and destructive midfielder world rugby has known. And yet he’s more than bash and dash – throws a cracking long pass, has soft hands and a clever short kicking game.
11 Juan Imhoff (Argentina):
He found his best form at the World Cup and it was impressive. He’s got natural predatory instincts and the pace and power to make good on them. Scored a try against Ireland that was hugely under-appreciated – his timing, decision making and skill were all first class.
10 Dan Carter(New Zealand):
The old class returned once he had the confidence in his body. Vintage Carter. No one else could have snapped those critical goals, or kicked as accurately under pressure as he did. Ten years after he beat the Lions with his running game, he won a World Cup with his kicking game.
9 Aaron Smith (New Zealand):
Was electric for much of Super Rugby and while his passing and running were the headline acts, his kicking game developed into a world-class component of his armoury. Does anyone in the game have a better step?
8 Mamuka Gorgodze (Georgia):
This dude played only 45 minutes against the All Blacks at the World Cup and he was the official man of the match. He’s huge, agile, smashes people off the ball and, despite being the size of a house, motors around and keeps up with the ball.
7 Richie McCaw (New Zealand):
The old master played as well as ever and while some of his Aussie backrow mates won rave reviews, neither David Pocock nor Michael Hooper offered the same range of skills and overall influence as McCaw. He cleaned them both up in the World Cup final.
6 David Pocock (Australia):
He was shown up in the World Cup final for having only the one trick, but it is a magnificent skill he has. No one is as effective at the breakdown as Pocock and his ability to win as much ball as he did had a major impact on the World Cup.
5 Leone Nakarawa (Fiji):
The big Fijian showed an incredible ability to offload and yet not shirk his core roles. He won lineout ball, tackled like a loose forward and carried the ball like an outside back. Was named as the Pacific Island Players’ Association Player of the Year.
4 Sam Whitelock(New Zealand):
The more he played, the better he got. Was a towering force at the lineout and took some critical steals in the World Cup semifinal win over South Africa. What impressed most about him, though, was his tackle count. Whitelock racks up the same sort of numbers as the best loose forwards and he’s also become a world-class ball carrier.
3 Ramiro Herrera (Argentina):
Anchored an impressive Pumas scrum and also thumped about. A huge man but he wasn’t in any way lumbering. Gave the Argentines an air of intimidation.
2 Agustin Creevy (Argentina):
The Pumas captain is a late convert to the hooking role and there is still much of the loose forward about him. He gave Argentina much of their go-forward and added a sparkle to their play with his clever offloads. Threw well at the lineout and got his body into great positions over the tackled ball.
1 Scott Sio (Australia):
A strong, agile, mobile prop with the technical ability and skills to hold his own in the set piece and yet play a meaningful role elsewhere. The Wallabies haven’t had a player likes this for decades.
nzherald
Hash gets his 50. Good stuff.
@Tassies what do you think,will we get to that 430 follow-on target?It would be something incredible if the Proteas did it.Reminds me of MS Dhoni and how he used to want under performing players to stay in his team saying they could play themselves into form,I guess that’s not bad a motto to live by considering the circumstances our batsmen find themselves in right now.Geoffrey Boycott on test match special said he don’t think our boys will get the follow-on target,let alone passing the Pommies total.Maybe he’ll come back and call it “an unprecedented turn of events” on TMS should we do both.
@ nortie: the point, Nortie, is they don’t live here. Somewhat more expensive to pay the rest where they come from.
Chuffed for Hash – now to kick on.
provincefan wrote:
I think it matters little who bowled… The qustion should be what is the succession plan? parnell, merchant, beuran hendricks etc have just fallen througg the cracks or cant break through.
Parnel specifically has been a player that has received more investment than possibly any cricketer we have ever had and it never paid off.
It looks like we target certain players from school or u19 cricket rather than creating a harsh competetive first class environment like India, Australia and England.
But it is pretty scary when we rarely have players that can stand out above the rest of our domestic players for longer than a season.
Alma looking very comfortable now
Well done Amla
More and more it looks like Dale and Vernon will retire after this series… So this appears to be our main bowling attack except Abott for Morris…
Ouch.
This pitch is fast proving that it wasn’t the incompetence of our bowlers, but that it was Stokes day. Anderson, etc. have shown nothing special or better than our bowlers dished up. Yes, we didn’t have our best bowlers on show, but I don’t believe that that should deflect from a brilliant batting performance. If Amla or AB goes on to do something similar, will we be saying the same thing? I think not.
@ provincefan: Lets hope highly opinionated Geoffrey is forced to eat his words. If Hash and AB can stay put and build a measured long partnership, we’re one step towards that rebuild everyone is talking about. If they don’t, we’re done. There is no Ben Stokes waiting in the stands for us sadly. De Kok’s got plenty of talent but Ben Stokes he ain’t. Reminded me a bit of Adrian Kuiper in his prime.
@ MacroPolo: cupboards pretty bare isn’t it.
Good day of cricket. Brilliant by Stokes and Bairstow, and a brilliant rear guard action by AB and Hash. Lets hope they go on tomorrow and save this match.
Well done England. Made for some exciting stuff.
3rd day’s will be decisive whether we can hold out for a draw or not. This is test match cricket folks!
Cheers all. Good couple of lounge about days, enjoyed it. Catch up tomorrow with the cricket in the back ground.
@ Just For Kicks:
Great minds think alike!
164 @ Just For Kicks:
Cheers Kickers… have a good one!
If we look at the best scenario, things(the future) don’t look as bad as some of us make out.
An in-form Cook is drafted into the side to open with Elgar. That has a promising look about it and they could stick around for a few years.
Hash returns to form. He can play for a few years still.
AB does not retire and follows Hash at 4 and is persuaded to stick around.
Roussouw is drafted into the Test side and bats at 5.
De Kok at 6.
Vernon recovers/doesn’t retire and plays the allrounder role and bats 7.
Dale recovers/doesn’t retire yet and bats at 8.
Morris/Abbot/Morkel/Ramada fight for the No 9 spot but Ramada is groomed for the future.
Piedt at 10(he’s young and is the future)
Morne at 11
A much better balanced team if present injuries allow.
Dale
@ Just For Kicks: yup. And thanks for the company and some interesting perspectives. Chat tomorrow evening. cheers
@ IAAS: this is a good batting strip as we’ve seen. There are two great batsmen at the crease. It’s certainly possible to achieve a draw. Big ask but definitely possible. cheers IAAS and everyone
169 @ Tassies:
Cheers Tasse!
I thought I’d post this just in case a Pommie might get the urge to mock me…
South Africa vs England at The Oval,Jul 19-23,2012
GC Smith* b Bresnan 131
AN Petersen lbw b Anderson 0
HM Amla not out 311
JH Kallis not out 182
Total(2 wickets dec;189 overs;803 mins)637(3.37 runs per over).
England Bowling
JM Anderson 0/116
SCJ Broad 0/118
GP Swann 0/151
TT Bresnan 1/140
South Africa won by an innings and 12 runs…
Cricket… Funny old game!
2 @ Puma:
If you ever need someone to keep an eye on it i.e. go and stay in it for a weekend every now and then just let me know. On a more serious note hope you have someone reliable keeping an eye on it for you and that it is not in an area that is being flooded at the moment, been quite nasty for a while for many folk all the floods.
Hi Puma all the best to you hope you are doing well. Saw a little while ago you had posted here that you have bought a place in bonnie Scotland, congratulations
172 @ Blue Bird:
Morning Carol. Great to catch up with you again. Hope you had a great Christmas and all the very best for 2016.
Your cricket team doing well out ther. But have to say and not making excuses we have a sub-standard team now. Not the great team we had just a year and a half back. Anyhow good luck to England as the totally dominated our very poor team and so they should so our selectors can be fired. 🙂
Enjoying watching the Barmy Army having fun so many of them out there and brurning themselves into crisps.. Hahaha. All the saffas no best and sitting in the shade… 🙂
Very hot in Umhlanga as well 33 today and very humid.
Are you still riding your bike or just sticking to your running now? Whichever keep up the fittness just dont iver do the running remember the knees! Hahaha.
Cheers Carol and have a good day.
167&168 @ Tassies:
Hi Tassies to put things into context, as you say it seems like they are playing on a featherbed for the batsmen (740 runs for the loss of only 8 wickets in two days of play and 2 of those wickets run outs) and if England were without Anderson, Broad and Woakes it would be interesting to see how they managed as a bowling unit, as this is nearest comparison I can make with the likes of Steyn Philander and Abbott out. I know Woakes is not playing in this game but see the first two as nearest comparison to Steyn and Philander while Woakes is the backup to me in pretty much the same manor as Abbott, didn’t want to go overboard and say what if Finn was out too. Still don’t know why Cook and Tahir were not picked for this game, winning the toss is always a lottery but could be handy to have had two spinners bowling late in the game unless you think the wicket is not going to deteriorate.
Ben Stokes: “”Cookie [captain Alastair Cook] sent a message out when we were 600, saying: ‘630 or do you want to go on for 300?’
“I said it doesn’t really matter because I’m just trying to hit every ball for six anyway.”
173 @ Bullscot:
Howzit bud. Hope you had a great Christmas and all the very best for the New Year.
Yes finally done it. For years was thinking of getting a holiday place in Spain. Just pleased I never as Scotland is like my 2nd home. Love the place and truly enjoy the people there been going there for 35 years now. Have so many friends that I have known for that long time they come here almost every year and another coming in 4 weeks time. So it made sense to buy in a place i hvw many friends and a country I enjoy so much. Got a lovely place in Inverness. Great investment too. Will spend 3 to 4 months there each year. And if this country falls apart I have a place now over there. As you can slowly see we deteriorating here so fst in SA. Such a shame as I realy enjoy where
I live its thr only thing that keeps me here is this great place live in. Like a Village of its own…. Hahaha
Enjoy your day.
89 @ IAAS:
Hi IAAS yes it is very sad, so young, had read about it earlier in the day but that was the first chance I took to post about it.
Sorry for typos againjust can never get used to a touch screen. Drive me nuts… Haha.
Damn wrote a long post to Jfk and Marco will have to re type it later. Just deleted it by mistake. Will come back later to say what I typed ther. Need to dash now catch up later.
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