5 greatest Rugby Union players of all time

Rugby is one of the most difficult team sports in the world and continues to attract a lot of fanfare and interest worldwide. Countries like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Ireland, France and Wales are the top rugby-playing nations in the world and have produced some outstanding players throughout the decades.

New Zealand are the most successful rugby nation of all time and have won 3 World Cups and numerous Rugby Championship titles. Naturally, they have produced the maximum number of prodigious rugby talents. Countries like Australia, France, South Africa and Ireland have produced some outstanding players too. Moreover, Rugby consists of specific roles for the players in each of the 15 positions and therefore, it becomes difficult to compare players of different positions.

Still, we have tried to come at a conclusion based upon the performances and the overall impact of the players. A lot of great players like David Campese, Johnny Wilkinson and Bryan Havana had to be left behind while making the list. Still, we hope that this list would satisfy most of the rugby lovers and seem to be acceptable to them. Our list features 3 players from New Zealand, 1 from Australia and 1 from Ireland.

#5 Jonah Lomu (New Zealand)

Jonah Lomu was the first superstar of Rugby and played a major role in popularizing the game worldwide. He starred for the All Blacks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup and became a household name after the tournament. He destroyed England almost single-handedly by scoring four tries against them. He literally ran over Mike Catt while scoring one of those tries and it underlined his immense strength. Lomu used to overpower and outmuscle the opposition players with consummate ease on a regular basis.

The 6 feet 4 inches tall Lomu managed to score 37 tries for New Zealand in only 63 matches in his international career. He also scored a wonderful last-minute try to beat the Wallabies in a crucial Bledisloe cup match. He primarily played as a left winger and although Doug Howlett holds the record of scoring the highest number of tries in rugby internationals, Lomu remains the greatest winger the game has ever seen. He died of a kidney failure at a very young age but has been able to leave behind an incomparable legacy as a player.

#4 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)

Irish fans used to regularly chant in rugby matches, “ In BOD we trust”; BOD standing for Brian O’Driscoll, the greatest outside-centre in the history of the game. O’Driscoll was famous for his diving tackles near his own 22. He also went into attack at times and actually scored 46 tries in his glorious international career. O’Driscoll was a pillar in Irish defence and also managed to provide some crucial final passes to the wingers.

O’Driscoll played in 133 international matches for Ireland in a 15 year-long career and also featured in the British and Irish Lions team on 4 occasions. O’Driscoll won the Six Nations Championship twice with the Irish team and also appeared in 3 world cups. He was also adjudged the best player in the 6 Nations championship on 3 occasions. He had a great club career with Leinster and won the European Cup 3 times with them. Many call him the greatest all-round player of all time.

#3 John Eales (Australia)

John Eales was called “nobody” by the Australian rugby fraternity because “nobody is perfect”! Eales did come close to perfection on the rugby pitch indeed as there was little he could not do on it. He was primarily a lock but was an able ball-carrier and contributed to a lot of tries scored by his team. He also assumed the kicking duties for his team against the All Blacks when Matt Burke, the regular kicker, was finding it difficult to put the ball between the posts and Eales actually managed to convert all the penalty kicks which he took in that match. Needless to say that he was ever dependable on the line-outs.

Eales played in 86 tests for the Wallabies and won the 1999 Rugby World Cup as the Australian captain. He has also won the 1991 world cup with the Wallabies and remains one of the few players to have won 2 World Cups. His international career lasted 10 years and he also had a very good club career with the Queensland Reds. The fact that the medal given to the best Australian rugby player of the year is actually named after him confirms his stature in Australian rugby.

#2 Dan Carter (New Zealand)

Dan Carter is the highest point scorer in international rugby with 1598 points collected from 112 matches. His achievement is immense considering the facts that very few players have been able to score more than 1000 points in rugby and nobody else has crossed the 1400 point mark. Carter is the greatest kicker that the game has seen and also benefitted from playing in a rampant All blacks team which used to get win a lot of penalties from breakdowns.

Carter won 2 World Cups with the All blacks and also featured in 9 Tri-Nations Championship winning teams. He destroyed the Wallabies almost single-handedly in a 15-minute burst in the 2015 World Cup final. His performance in the 2005 test against the Lions quite possibly remains the greatest individual performance ever by any player in Rugby. Apart from his matchless kicking, Carter was also very adept at playing swift passes, was a decent tackler and runner. He is indisputably the greatest fly-half in the history of the game. He also won 3 Super rugby titles with the Canterbury Crusaders in his 12-year long association with them. Moreover, Carter was the recipient of the World Player of the year title on 3 occasions.

#1 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)

It is quite befitting that the McCaw, the only player to have won 2 World cups as captain, is ranked as the greatest player the game has ever seen. He was an openside flanker and remains the benchmark for excellence in breakdowns. He won numerous turnovers in his career and was famous for standing up after tackling a player and snatching the ball at that instance. He was a terror for his opponents in the breakdowns and made sure that the All Blacks always dominated them.

McCaw won the 2011 and 2015 world cups as the captain of the all Blacks. He also played in 148 tests for them in a 14-year long career. McCaw was known for his leadership abilities also and remained a player his teammates looked up to. He also managed to score 27 tries in his international career and had a wonderful club career with the Canterbury Crusaders with whom he won 6 Super rugby titles. He also won 10 Tri-nations titles with the All Blacks and was twice selected as the World Player of the year.

Edited by Amar Anand