Dream Team: Carlo del Fava – Newcastle and Italy lock

1. Tendai Mtawarira – He’s called the ‘Beast’ because he’s an animal on the pitch, capable of making 22 tackles a game but off it he’s the humblest guy.
2. John Smit – He was the captain of the Sharks when I had just come out of school and he really looked after us young guys so maximum respect to John and he is the captain of my team.
3. Carlos Nieto – It’s incredible how low he gets. He was difficult to scrum behind because of that but he is rock solid and I never, ever, saw him go backwards.
4. Bakkies Botha – After you face Bakkies you don’t forget about it in hurry. There are no subtleties to his game, he’s just hard –  the guy you would want on the front line of a battle.
5. Victor Matfield – I played lock alongside Victor for the Barbarians a couple of years ago and he just knows how to deal with people. His lineout skills and all-round experience are immense and with Botha, it’s obviously a tried and tested pairing.
6. Thierry Dusautoir – It was like there were two of him in THAT World Cup quarter final win over New Zealand in 2007 – he made 38 tackles. His technique is absolutely perfect.
7. Julien Bonnaire – Played together at Bourgoin. Has  great skills, a high work rate and has long recorded the best aerobic speed results in the French squad.
8. Sergio Parisse – In 2010, his first game back from a serious ACL knee injury was against South Africa at altitude. He played 80 minutes, scored a try and had a stormer. I regard him one of the best players I’ve ever played with.
9. Alessandro Troncon – Tronky is the life of a team. He’s the first one to put himself on the line, his scarred face shows that, but he also provides quality service.
10. Henry Honiball – One of my childhood heroes. Had great vision for the game. His nickname was ‘The Lem’ – which is ‘The Blade’ in Afrikaans – due to the massive tackles he put in.
11. Sireli Bobo – Has the biggest side step I’ve seen and he would also score so many tries chasing kicks down-field because people don’t see him coming.
12. Jean de Villiers – I’ve played with and against Jean since school and he’s a class player, with a great reading of the game, and a true leader – he captained SA well this summer.
13. Paul Steinmetz – Just seems to have so much time when he has ball in hand and packs an extreme amount of muscle onto a relatively small frame. I’ve never been hit so hard on the tackle bags than when Paul ran at me – and that was from three yards.
14. Tommy Bowe – Tommy was the joker of the Ulster team when I was there. He’s always laughing and you never see him with a grumpy face. Such a smooth mover, he glides rather than runs and has a knack of popping up at the right time with a try.
15. Andrea Masi – He is superb under the high ball. He can attack and tackle and is simply an all-round great player. He’s one of those players who you notice more when he’s not there.