Rugby World Cup 2015: Ranking Top Forwards in Group Stage

Eight of the sport's finest teams will line up in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup 2015 this weekend, but it's a necessary evil that the end of the pool stage also sees some of the world's best forwards take their leave.

It's only natural that we tend to associate the brightest talents with the most successful sides, but in a competition involving an initial pool of more than 600 players, elite quality isn't limited to those outfits that progress.

As we'll discuss in the slides ahead, some of the most impressive individual pack assets won't be featuring in the final eight, but they did enough in the first round to showcase their candidacy as a first-class forward.

England's shock pool exit means they aren't represented in our top 15, while New Zealand have relied heavily on their backs to do damage among a Pool C lineup that's barely made their pack sweat.

Results alone only count for so much when assessing individual performances, and we crunch the facts, figures and one-man responsibilities involved in ranking the pool stage's top 15 forward stars.

15. Renaldo Bothma

The Sharks are already fully aware of the player they've got their hands on after Namibia's Renaldo Bothma made 15 Super Rugby appearances in his maiden campaign in Natal this year, a momentum he carried through to the World Cup.

Rugby union writer Brendan Gallagher gave the back-rower high praise indeed when he proclaimed Bothma was even good enough to represent South Africa, his country of birth, after impressing so much in Pool C.

The man who famously had "SMASH" emblazoned across his forearm wrapping throughout his tournament promoted exactly that style of play, particularly in his starts against Tonga and Georgia.

14. Davit Zirakashvili

It was a running theme of this World Cup that matchups between minnow nations often produced the tensest drama, and the same could be said for Georgia's 17-16 win over Namibia, in which Davit Zirakashvili earned his 53rd and last cap for his country.

The tighthead prop takes his leave of international rugby with a reputation that regards him as one of the best in the world at what he does intact, and what he does best is win scrums en masse (Georgia only lost two of their own feeds in four games).

It's common knowledge Georgia's backs aren't up to much, but a hefty foundation of forwards—with Zirakashvili at their spearhead—helped the Europeans finish third in Pool C and qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup as a result.

13. Mihai Macovei

Romania No. 8 Mihai Macovei was at the heart of his country's masterminded comeback victory over Canada in Week 3, scoring both his team's tries in the space of 21 minutes to pull off the World Cup's biggest revival.

That was the last input the back-rower would have at the competition, though, after a citing meant he missed the climactic Pool D face-off against Italy; but who's to say it couldn't have ended closer than 32-22 in the Azzurri's favour were Macovei present?

Macovei also topped his team's tackling charts against France and Ireland, registering an incredible 21 hits against the latter.

12. Scott Sio

Scott Sio made his first start for Australia in August of this year, but by the start of the World Cup, he had firmly dethroned James Slipper from the loosehead perch and started all four of the Wallabies' pool games.

He was the only player in Michael Cheika's squad to do so, and if Mario Ledesma's scrummaging impact looks to have benefited the pack as a whole, Sio has benefited majorly on the individual level.

The Wallabies' scrum has been the best of the tournament so far, but Sio has been active around the park, too, and was described as "world-class" by ex-Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher for his input in the 15-6 win over Wales.

11. Sam Warburton

Sam Warburton has had arguably the most difficult job of any Wales captain at a World Cup, forced to uplift a squad coping without a host of its best players into somehow mustering a real threat on the crown.

And yet a win over hosts England has seen the flanker guide his side to a quarter-final opposite South Africa, and Warburton remains adamant the tournament can still be theirs, per Mike Greenaway of the New Zealand Herald:

"

The last time we played the Boks we beat them [in Cardiff last November] and we should have beaten them in Nelspruit [the teams played each other three times last year, twice in South Africa in June]. Why would we think we can't beat them again?

There is no easy way to win a World Cup and we have always accepted that we are going to have to beat the best teams to do it. That has not changed. We are down that we lost a game we should have won but the talk soon changed to taking on the Boks, a team we know how to beat after playing them a lot last year.

"

Warburton finds himself amid some of the greatest flanker competition in international rugby, but he has rarely given ammunition to those who feel Dan Lydiate or Justin Tipuric should have his starting place.

He and hooker Scott Baldwin are the only Welsh forwards to have started every pool game, and Warburton's fitness has again been shown to be of otherworldly proportions, missing just 20 minutes of his team's campaign thus far.

The captain has also made 37 tackles across his four outings, more than any other Welsh player.

10. Alun-Wyn Jones

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

We live in an age when stats and number-crunching is such a critical part of assessing a player's impact that figures like Alun-Wyn Jones seem all the rarer, those unique individuals whose mere presence can boost a team.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat Australia in Week 4, but the Ospreys marvel has nevertheless been peerless, earning his 93rd cap to become his nation's most seasoned lock ever, a deserved accolade for a most consistent performer.

Any dominion the Welsh have enjoyed at the lineout has come largely thanks to Jones' influence, and like Paul O'Connell so often does for Ireland, his galvanising effect has rejuvenated an injury-plagued squad.

9. Francois Louw

Although compatriots Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen still lie ahead of him in the score count, Francois Louw's three tries have put him in contention for major plaudits as the highest-scoring forward still in the tournament.

Although he didn't add to that try tally against Samoa, Louw was a breakdown fiend in that outing—as he so regularly is—but has brought about a very clinical attacking edge in four pool-stage starts.

8. Scott Fardy

A lot of Wallabies talk coming into the World Cup related to the back-row tandem of Michael Hooper and David Pocock, but with the latter shifting to No. 8, Scott Fardy has been fantastic at blind side.

If not for his tide-turning 13 tackles in the win over Wales, Australia's gates might have been breached, and Wales flanker Justin Tipuric was right to suggest Fardy "doesn't get enough credit," per talkSPORT's Andrew McKenna.

7. Michael Leitch

No player made more carries throughout the Rugby World Cup 2015 pool stage than Japan captain Michael Leitch (60), a man who took great pride in marshalling his side to a third-place finish in Pool B.

Many would feel aggrieved at becoming the first nation to win three pool fixtures and not advance to the quarter-finals, but Leitch seems only too far above such bickering and lets his displays do the talking.

The New Zealand-born back-rower also made 51 tackles in four pool matches, the second-highest total of any player, and a calming influence in defence and attack helped steady a terrific Japanese pack performance.

6. Taulupe Faletau

Great players come and go, but Wales No. 8 Taulupe Faletau has continued to play his role as one of the most reliable players in his position this World Cup—a critically loyal member of Warren Gatland's lineup.

The Newport Gwent Dragons star has been picked out as one of the World Cup's best players in general by Premiership Rugby's Paul Morgan, a player whose personal standards never drop, no matter whether the rest of his side's might.

Faletau sat out the opening demolition of Uruguay but has since started each pool game to finish the first round with 33 tackles—an average of 11 tackles per game—and his 54 carrying metres in the win over England was second only to Liam Williams among team-mates.

5. Iain Henderson

Ireland breathed a unified sigh of sadness as Paul O'Connell lay on the Millennium Stadium turf this past Sunday, suffering a hamstring injury that has all but brought a premature end to his international career.

But the veteran's tragic exit placed an early call-to-arms upon Ulster's Iain Henderson, a man who has gradually climbed his way to emerging star under coach Joe Schmidt but is now the real deal.

His one-try performance against Canada earlier in the competition was impressive, and while critics will say "that was only Canada," his France display was an entirely different matter altogether.

Henderson made two turnovers and beat four defenders in that match, not to mention claiming some pivotal yards around the fringes of the breakdown, going a long way to validating the claims hailing him as O'Connell's long-term successor.

4. Leone Nakarawa

It was unfortunate that Fiji's early finish to the pool stage also meant Leone Nakarawa's dazzling World Cup input was limited to just a handful of matches—a solemn goodbye to one of the most rounded players in action.

The Glasgow Warriors lock summarises Fijian rugby to a tee—a hulking frame combined with a staggering amount of speed for someone who stands 6'6" tall, and not to mention arguably his best asset—his handling.

Rugby World Cup reported that at the time of Fiji's last pool game against Uruguay, Nakarawa led the tournament in offloads (10) and turnovers made (nine), which is exactly the kind of attack/defence balance one would expect of the star.

3. Sean O'Brien

Michael Corcoran of RTE confirmed on Tuesday that Sean O'Brien had been cited for a punch on France lock Pascal Pape this past Sunday, a disciplinary move that could all but end the flanker's World Cup.

But if that is the case, O'Brien accepts the suspension knowing that his pool-stage performances were of a typically world-class standard, ending with a Man of the Match display against Les Bleus.

That was the kind of team-binding and boosting display that fans will talk about for an age, where he made a match-high 21 carries, 34 metres and two turnovers.

It was similar to his scoring display in the opener against Canada, except this was of all the more importance, and if O'Brien plays no further part in the competition, he at least knows he had a massive hand in thrusting his side into the quarters.

2. Mamuka Gorgodze

It's almost tradition for a World Cup to produce the most unassuming of heroes, most likely from one of the minnow nations, and this year saw Georgia captain Mamuka Gorgodze earn widespread praise for his one-man army displays.

The man they dubbed "Gorgodzilla" earned the title for a reason after all, and it was largely thanks to the No. 8 Georgia had that extra touch of class across the park, something that was severely needed.

From the 24 tackles he made in the opening win over Tonga to the five turnovers recorded in the curtain-call victory over Namibia, Gorgodze was a constant menace to his opponents, and Georgia can only pray they produce more talents of his quality.

1. David Pocock

Supporters of Wales and England may not see it this way, but the rugby community can only be glad to see a player of David Pocock's quality back fully fit and performing to his finest on a World Cup stage after two knee reconstructions.

Since scoring two tries in Australia's opener against Fiji, his on-the-ball impact has simmered somewhat, but the work rate he displays week in, week out, simply isn't matched easily.

Coach Cheika was buoyed to hear Pocock had somehow escaped citation for a knee on Wales' Scott Baldwin, but the Daily Telegraph has reported a calf injury still makes him a doubt for the quarter-final clash with Scotland, per Fox Sports.

Pocock is tapered aggression fitted into a bodybuilder's physique, and the back-row icon appears to be making up for lost time in leading the best pack of the competition so far by example.

All statistics come courtesy of ESPN Scrum.