Dream Team: Greig Tonks – London Irish fly-half

1. Alasdair Dickinson – One of the hardest working players I’ve come across and he always delivers whether that’s for Edinburgh or Scotland.
2. Ross Ford – Like Alasdair, he’s an incredible athlete. He plays close to 30 games a year and always performs. Very resilient and I’ve got a lot of respect for them.
3. Soane Tonga’uhia – He was a key player for Northampton when we had that Heineken Cup run back in 2011. Incredible machine who dominates scrums but he’s also very skilful in the loose.
4. Paul O’Connell – I played against him a few times and I was on the receiving end of his dominant Munster pack. A big character who’s had a great career.
5. Grant Gilchrist – He hasn’t been lucky with injuries recently but he’s definitely one for the future at Edinurgh. Set piece, tackling, hitting the breakdown, he has it all.
6. Samu Manoa – He was inexperienced playing club rugby in America before joining Northampton. He was thrown in the deep end but he was outstanding and delivered every week.
7. Hendre Fourie – I came up against him when I was 18 and on loan at Nottingham. We played Leeds and he was everywhere. I’d never seen anyone control the breakdown like he did.
8. Ofisa Treviranus – The London Irish and Samoa star is one of the most skilful but also explosive back rowers in the world in my opinion.
9. Ruan Pienaar – I played against him a few times when I was at Edinburgh and he often was the man of the match controlling the game brilliantly for Ulster and kicking his goals.
10. Dan Biggar – One of the in-form fly-halves in world rugby who always plays well for Wales or the Ospreys. Does the basics very well and he’s not afraid of getting stuck in either.
11. Alesana Tuilagi – Coming through the Leicester academy he was one of the most dangerous wingers in the Premiership. Incredibly big and almost impossible to stop.
12. Matt Scott – Gloucester are very lucky to have him and hopefully the Premiership will get to see the best of him. A very powerful and dangerous player.
13. George Pisi – The best outside centre in Northampton for many years now and the first name on the team sheet. Always adds x-factor to the back line.
14. Chris Ashton – He was scoring tries for fun when I was at Northampton. He was the top winger in theworld at the time.
15. Stuart Hogg – The best full-back in the world right now. He’s dangerous in attack and can kick the ball a long way. Great to see him named Player of the Six Nations.