DREAMTEAM

WILL GENIA, THE FORMER AUSTRALIA, QUEENSLAND REDS, MELBOURNE REBELS, STADE FRANCAIS AND KINTETSU LINERS SCRUM-HALF, SELECTS THE BEST HE HAS PLAYED WITH OR AGAINST…

1. Gurthrö Steenkamp – I remember playing against him and thinking he was a hell of a player. He was a huge body but could still move really well around the field. Brilliant work ethic, carried hard and anchored a dominant Springbok scrum.

2. Keven Mealamu – There are a few names you could pick but Kevy was unbelievable. Tough in the trenches, a real leader and someone who connected really well between the forwards and backs. He had great soft skills as well and was such an influential player for New Zealand.

3. Cian Healy – When I first played against him, I remember thinking northern hemisphere props looked like weightlifters compared to southern hemisphere props. He looked engineered in a gym. But he backed it up as well. He anchored a successful Irish scrum for years and had unbelievable longevity at the top.

4. Bakkies Botha – One of the best I ever played against. Massive engine, dynamic in tight spaces and in the open field, and he played right on the edge. He brought aggression and physicality every single game for the Boks.

5. Victor Matfield – Absolute technician and tactician in the lineout. A real leader too for South Africa. You could see how much he galvanised teams and controlled games through his understanding of the set-piece.

6. Jerome Kaino – I don’t think he gets spoken about enough when people discuss those great All Blacks sides. He was an enforcer, a brilliant athlete and someone who could dominate both the tight exchanges and wider channels.

7. Richie McCaw – Probably the best player I played against. The thing about Richie was there wasn’t one standout skill, he was just an eight out of ten at absolutely everything. Then you add in his competitiveness and engine and that’s what made him great. He elevated everyone around him.

8. David Pocock – I had to fit Pocock in somewhere. Whenever you looked across the sheds and saw him pulling his boots on, you knew you had a chance because e of the influence he had on contests. At the breakdown he was unbelievable, but he was also a great leader for the Wallabies who galvanised teams through his actions.

9. Fourie du Preez – He changed the game for scrum-halves. Before him, nines were mainly distributors, but Fourie was a complete playmaker. Run, pass, kick, counter-attack – he controlled every part of the game for South Africa. Honestly, he was probably the Dupont before Dupont.

10. Quade Cooper – The easy answer would be Dan Carter, but I have to pick Quade because of what we built together. I wouldn’t have Cooper Du Preez thing he did was off the cuff, but there was so much thought and purpose behind it all. He saw the game differently to everyone else.

11. Bryan Habana – Everyone talks about his speed, but his anticipation and awareness were elite. He always put himself in the right positions for intercepts or second touches and understood time and space as well as anyone.

12. Ma’a Nonu – For me there’s only one. He was elite at everything – running, passing and kicking. His influ-ence on those World Cup-winning All Blacks

Habana teams was enormous, and was un belivably difficult to defend against

13. Jonathan Davies – I was a huge fan. Such a strong carrier, very good defensively and a massive attacking threat for Wales. His ability to beat defenders one-on-one and create space was elite.

14. Digby Ioane – One of the best I played with. Work-rate was insane and he impacted both sides of the ball. He was always hunting work, always looking for the ball and he’d still be making cover tackles 40m away after creating a line-break himself.

15. Israel Folau – One of the best to ever play for Australia. He could do things that most players simply couldn’t. In the air he was unstoppable and he could completely change games on his own. When you saw him in the changing room you felt like you had a genuine chance of winning.