APPENDIX B
I played 74 games for Wales and was lucky enough to line up alongside and against some fabulous players in that time. These are the best of them.
First, the best Wales XV, plus replacements, of my time in the red jersey. I reckon this lot would be a match for pretty much anybody.
15 Leigh Halfpenny. Pence had everything. He ran great lines at pace, he tackled well and his handling was sublime. But most of all, his kicking was almost flawless. Having a kicker like Pence is invaluable for any captain, as it means you have a banker three points every time the opposition concede a penalty within range. In fact, some teams we played against changed their tactics purely because of Pence, choosing to compete less at the breakdown for fear of being pinged. There were games we won almost exclusively because of him.
14 George North. He’s been around so long that it’s easy to forget that he’s still relatively young. To score a brace of tries aged 18 against South Africa, light up the World Cup aged 19 and score the greatest individual try in Lions history aged 21 all show what a prodigious talent he was, and remains. Pace, power, hunger – he’s got the lot.
13 Jonathan Davies. The greatest players do it for the Lions above all, and Foxy’s been immense on two Lions tours. He was player of the series in 2017 and wasn’t that far off it four years before (when he played two of the three Tests out of position). Even at aged 16, word was getting round about him, a kid from the Scarlets who was just smashing every fitness test going. You don’t realise how good he is until you play with him.
12 Jamie Roberts. For a man who started top-flight rugby in the back three, Jamie didn’t just adjust fast to playing 12; for a while he was the best 12 in the world. Most players slow down slightly when they take the ball into contact – it’s a human reaction. Jamie was the only person I played with who actually ran harder into contact. His handling and footballing skills were very underrated, and his reading of the game as defensive captain was excellent. He’d be a very good defensive coach if the medical career doesn’t work out …
11 Shane Williams. Even in training, aged 33, he was putting other wingers to shame. Shane was one of those rare players who always looked as though he’d do something whenever he had the ball, who always had the crowd rising. He was lightning quick, his sidestep was absurdly good, and when he popped up as first receiver he could conjure play from nothing. And in a game that can often seem all about size, he was proof that the little guy can still rule the roost.
10 Stephen Jones. A century of caps is testament to his skill and longevity. He was the ultimate cool head and pair of safe hands, experienced and calm, and understood the game so well (as is evident from the way he’s gone about his coaching job at the Scarlets). He was also deceptively strong. Once while playing in a Blues–Scarlets match, I had the ball and saw that he was flanked by a couple of props. I’ll run over the weedy 10, I thought. He hit me damn hard! I thought twice before trying that again.
9 Mike Phillips. As with Jamie, there were times when he was the world’s best in his position. Insanely competitive, he played more like a ninth forward at times, keeping opposition back rows honest all afternoon long. A big-match player – the greater the occasion, the better he performed. Yes, he could be arrogant, but that’s what you want in a scrum-half. He was also one of the funniest guys I ever played with, sometimes walking hunched over and explaining to anyone who asked that he had a bad back from carrying this team for so long.
1 Gethin Jenkins (c). One of the easiest picks in this team. Gethin could do everything: scrummage, tackle, carry, breakdown work. One of the fiercest competitors out there, and also one of the canniest. His reading of the game was so good that it was like having a coach on the pitch with you.
2 Matthew Rees. The competition for the hooker berth on a Lions tour is always really fierce, so for Matthew to play all three Tests and start two of them in 2009 shows you how good he was. He was big enough to play back row, and a warrior from the old school, the kind of guy who never took a backward step and just got on with things.
3 Adam Jones. Super strong at the height of his powers. A consistently dominant force in the scrum, which – given that the tighthead prop is the cornerstone of any scrum – made him such an important part of our successes. His going off so early in the 2011 semi had at least as much of an influence on the game as my red card.
4 Bradley Davies. One of the most amazing athletes I ever played with. He could offload from the back of his hand, drop goals from the halfway line and sidestep like a Fijian – all of this encased in the body of an international lock. His lineout understanding was world class. Were it not for his atrocious luck with injuries, and the fact that he peaked between Lions tours, he’d have been a starting Lion for sure.
5 Alun Wyn Jones. As much of a shoe-in as Gethin. Big and durable – way more than 100 caps in a very attritional position – he hardly ever has a bad game, and as a captain he’s been inspirational to players and fans alike. A pretty much unanimous choice for 2019 Six Nations Player of the Tournament.
6 Dan Lydiate. The uniqueness and effectiveness of his chop tackle made him one of the few players to single-handedly revolutionise defensive systems. A freak, in the nicest possible way. Coaches would come specially to watch his gym sessions as he lifted such huge weights.
7 Martyn Williams. The hardest decision in this XV, because Justin Tipuric is such a talented player, but Martyn just shades the openside berth. He won man of the match so often when Wales were doing well that sometimes the award seemed almost routine. People forget quite how good he was. My childhood hero, and every bit as great a bloke as he was a player.
8 Toby Faletau. The best all-round player I played with. He has so much ability and talent, more I think than he even appreciates. He doesn’t know how good he is. He can do everything. He was almost uncoachable, because he was always in the right place at the right time. He could easily have played 13 at international level.
If I had to pick one example of his absurd talent, it was against England in 2015. We had a scrum that England disrupted, shoving us backwards and wheeling at the same time. Toby dipped his hand between the second row’s feet, plucked the ball out against the drive and the wheel, beat three players and offloaded to Rhys Webb for the try – in other words, turned an overload into an overlap. I can’t think of another player in world rugby, not even Read or Parisse, who could have done that.
Subs:
16 Richard Hibbard. One of the most physical players out there. He was always on the physio’s bench as he constantly wrecked himself, flying into every contact like a rocket. A great bloke to have around any team.
17 Paul James. A strong scrummager, an experienced operator and a tackler almost as good as Lyds on his day.
18 Samson Lee. So strong that he could hold a scrum even aged 20. An Achilles injury halted his progress for a while, but he’s back now and his ball-carrying has vastly improved.
19 Luke Charteris. Best defensive lineout player I ever played with – his long octopus arms could control a lineout maul on their own. A superfit guy with a great engine; when you consider that at 6 ft 10 it’s a long way down to the deck and up again, and when you consider that hitting 40 rucks a game is good going, his figure of 57 against Samoa in the 2011 World Cup is very impressive.
20 Justin Tipuric. The fittest and most skilful forward of my time. Like Toby, he could have played 13 at international level, and there’s not an outside centre who wouldn’t have been proud of his running line and dummy to set up Cuthie for the winning try against England in 2013. A lot more physical than people give him credit for, too.
21 Rhys Webb. An old-school 9: cheeky, gobby, sniping, and will sell you a dummy every game. Lost years to injuries, so would have been even better than he is. If this was just about hair and skin, he’d be first name on the teamsheet.
22 Liam Williams. Can cover all positions in the back three. Great all-round ability, and an annoyingly good natural sportsman; you just have to watch him playing tennis or golf to see how good his hand-eye co-ordination is.
23 James Hook. Deservedly popular with the fans; always used to get a huge cheer when he came off the bench. A mercurial talent who could play 10, 12, 13 and 15. As a 10 he tended towards the Carlos Spencer end of things sometimes, where Gats often preferred a more conservative Jonny Wilkinson style.