In our new Top 20 feature, Brendan Gallagher ranks the players who would battle on while battered and bruised in the fight to win.
Check out Part One of our feature in case you missed it, as Brendan continues his list by picking another Springboks lock after Eben Etzebeth at No.16.
15 Bakkies Botha – South Africa
Textbook South African hard case, scrummaging powerhouse and enforcer from the High Veldt who dished it out remorselessly but in fairness took it without complaint. He finished his mighty career just before the TMOs started getting really hot which is probably just as well, but for a decade or so was the perfect foil for the much more law-abiding, athletic lineout ace Victor Matfield. Botha stepped over the line – not least with his crude wipeout of Adam Jones in the Lions series in 2009 – but off the pitch he was an affable enthusiast and made loads of friends. Hugely successful wherever he played – the Bulls, Toulon and the Boks.
14 Norm Hadley – Canada
Alas left us a couple of years ago, ‘Storman Norman' was a major 20 stone specimen who liked the rough stuff and was a go-to hard case in that extremely impressive Canada pack circa 1991. After joining Wasps famously sent two hooligans packing when they started terrorising older commuters on the London Underground. Had a distressing death after suffering from suspected Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and associated depression for many years. Died in Japan in March 2016 with the Tokyo medical examiner deciding the cause of death was an overdose of pentobarbital.
13 Kevin Skinner – New Zealand
Renowned Kiwi enforcer from Dunedin who also won the New Zealand heavyweight boxing Championship in 1947. Had retired in 1954 after equalling Maurice Brownlie's then record of 61 appearances for the All Blacks but was sensationally recalled for the last two Tests in the epic Boks series of 1956 with it poised at 1-1. Sorted out troublesome Springbok props Chris Koch and Jaap Bekker in double quick time with haymakers on his return and New Zealand went on to win the series 3-1.
12 Wayne Shelford – New Zealand
Played all his rugby with massive intensity and moved around the field like a Sherman tank, shunting people out of his way or stopping them dead in their tracks if they were in possession. The first player to really ramp up the haka as it reflected his own approach to proceedings. The moment he is remembered for mainly came against a vengeful France in Nantes in 1986 when they raked him cruelly in a ruck and sliced his scrotum sack open. But did he come off? Never. Not until his All Blacks side had beaten the French.
11 Fran Cotton – England
Cotton, with one notable exception, never went looking for trouble but he could look after himself supremely well and was not somebody you would want to cross on a rugby pitch. Was naturally hard and durable and was a key man in two famous provincial wins over New Zealand for the North West and North, helped England to Test wins in Auckland and Johannesburg, the Lions to a series win in South Africa when, whisper it quietly, even the Boks appeared a little nervous of Fran. And the one time he started the nonsense? When he kicked a shocked Richard Paparemborde in the chest in Paris in 1980. He rightly got pinged – in fact he should have been sent off – but it set the tone for a famous England win.
BRENDAN GALLAGHER
