The 12th installment of my Greatest Ever series is here!
In this series I will look at the greatest talents to grace various sports. This time I continue to look at Rugby Union, and, following my "Top Five No. 8s of All Time", I will look at the top five players ever to play at Scrum Half.
As the main link between the forwards and the backs, scrum halves are rarely out of the game for long. They are there at every scrum, line-out, ruck and maul, either commanding their forwards to pick and drive, or flinging the ball out to start a move in the backs.
So, without further ado, lets get into the list:
5. Matt Dawson (ENG) - England's most capped scrum-half, Matt Dawson is one of only two players (the other is Lawrence Dallaglio) to have won World Cups in both the 15 and 7-a-side forms of Rugby Union.
The 2003 World Cup was the highlight of his 77 England caps, as he made the pass from which Jonny Wilkinson scored the winning drop-goal in the final. His famous sniping runs and intelligent rugby brain won him seven British and Irish Lions caps over three tours.
His 16 tries for England make him their ninth highest try scorer of all time.
4. Nick Farr-Jones (AUS) - Australia captain for four years, Nick Farr-Jones led his country to success in the 1991 World Cup, and victory over both New Zealand and South Africa in 1992.
He played 63 test matches for the Wallabies, 36 of which were as captain, and scored nine tries. His partnership with Michael Lynagh was formidable and they once held the world record half-back combination of 47 tests played together.
3. George Gregan (AUS) - With 139 Australia appearances to his name, George Gregan is the most capped player in international rugby history. He has also played more matches as captain of Australia than any other player, passing John Eales' total back in 2006.
Gregan has shared a fantastic half-back relationship with Stephen Larkham, bypassing Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh's record of 47 tests and going on to win 79 test caps together. This remains a record today.
Since 1994, Gregan had been an almost automatic pick for Australia, helping his team to Rugby World Cup success in 1999, as well as a final in 2003.
6 comments Last one added about 1 month ago — Leave a Comment
John Gates 10 months ago
Catchpole really deserves to be in there, and one who was probably better than all of them, but who only played one test, Steve Merrick. Refused to become a professional because he already owned a profitable business..!
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Gareth Payne about 1 month ago
Hi John, Merrick actually played 2 tests that series, and if Joh Eales had had of passed him the ball after making a break in the 2nd half, he would have scored and the Wallabies would have won the Bledisloe Cup! I actually played with him in the Singleton side that he was plucked out of that year. And I will agree that he probably would have been one of the best halfbacks the world had seen, but alas the quiet life in Singleton and a permanent job in the coal mines was too good.
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Barney 10 months ago
Ken Catchpol, Danie Craven and Sid Going all came a very close sixth. But Merrick? If he only played one test we can't judge how good he was on the international stage, which is why he isn't on this list.
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Andrew McNair 10 months ago
Having lived in SA for so long it was good to see Joost so high on your list.
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illya mclellan 10 months ago
Id put Justin Marshall ahead of Matt Dawson any day.
But the biggest crime of your list is putting Sid Going who was at the time that Edwards played, his greatest rival, in sixth place. Ask an older fan about him, highly respected by Lions players and supporters alike, the guy is a legend over here, considered the one of the great All blacks of last century.
Sid Going would be second to Gareth Edwards easily outclassing Van der Westhuizen, Gregan, Farr-jones and definitely Dawson who was good but in no way great, unless you are English.
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Manfred UdeC 9 months ago
Where is Marshall ????????
He has to be in this ranking, cause in every game between 1995 and 2005 he always was there
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