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Picking an Alternative Team of the Decade

South Africa's Cheslin Kolbe. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

World Rugby produced their team of the decade this week, and there are inevitably plenty of world class players that did not make the XV. Picking 15 players from ten years of rugby is a devilish job, but a list like this always raises a few eyebrows given the mass of players who did not make the cut.

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So this is an alternative team of the decade:

15 Israel Folau
Israel Folau’s name may now be associated with his off-field controversy, but it is hard to argue with what he did on it. The fullback scored 37 tries in 73 Tests and took aerial supremacy to another level.

14 Cheslin Kolbe
If Brian O’Driscoll could make the World Rugby team of the decade having retired in 2014, South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe can also be an option despite only making his debut in 2018. England’s Jonny May is a close rival for this spot, but the diminutive Springbok is unique in this era.

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13 Jonathan Davies
Fiji’s Semi Radradra may have burst onto the scene since his move from league in 2017, but for sheer consistency across the decade, it is hard to look beyond Wales’ Jonathan Davies at outside centre.

Jonathan Davies of Wales. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

12 Owen Farrell
No player scored more points last decade in Test rugby than Owen Farrell, who also led England to the 2019 RWC final. Capable of playing at fly-half and inside centre, he proved to be one of the most dependable kickers of the decade. Pushed by Sonny Bill Williams for this spot.

11 Julian Savea
Although Julian Savea’s All Blacks career was fairly short-lived, and he is out of the Test picture at the moment, he was a marvel of the game between 2012-17. Nicknamed “The Bus”, his freakish power helped him score 46 tries in just 54 Tests, including a record-equalling eight at the 2015 RWC.

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10 Beauden Barrett
The 2016 and 2017 World Rugby player of the year Beauden Barrett was kept out of the team of the decade by his All Blacks predecessor Dan Carter.

Beauden Barrett Japan
Two-time World Player of the Year Beauden Barrett. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

9 Aaron Smith
After making his debut in 2012, Aaron Smith started 84 of his next 92 caps throughout the decade in an All Blacks side that had one of their greatest eras of dominance. With laser-like precision and speed to his pass, the 32-year-old still holds the No9 shirt for his country.

8 Kieran Read
A dual RWC winner and the All Blacks’ captain in the 2019 showcase, Kieran Read was the paragon of consistency over the last decade and very unlucky not to make the official team.

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7 Michael Hooper
Australia’s captain Michael Hooper rarely missed a game last decade after making his debut in 2012, and formed a world class back row with David Pocock.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper. (Getty Images/Cameron Spencer)

6 Thierry Dusautoir
Though he may have retired in 2015, the 2011 WR player of the year Thierry Dusautoir produced a man of the match display in the 2011 RWC final, as the tackling machine almost led France to a win. Jerome Kaino and Pieter-Steph du Toit ran the Frenchman close.

5 Alun Wyn Jones
While a contingent of South African locks like Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Eben Etzebeth could make this list, the most capped player in rugby history Alun Wyn Jones deserves this berth. Twice nominated for WR player of the year, the 35-year-old was at the heart of Wales’ greatest moments last decade.

4 Maro Itoje
Despite only making his England debut in 2016, Maro Itoje was nominated twice for WR player of the year, played all three Tests against the All Blacks for the British and Irish Lions in 2017 and made a RWC final.

England Lions Itoje
England and Lions lock Maro Itoje. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

3 Adam Jones
A centurion for Wales, and the British and Irish Lions, Adam Jones may have played his last Test in 2014, but he secured two Six Nations titles, a Lions tour victory and a RWC semi-final in the first half of the decade.

2 Dane Coles
The All Blacks’ Dane Coles revolutionised the role of a hooker last decade, and many others have followed his lead. His mobility is what differentiates him from players from the decade before.

1 Cian Healy
Ever present for Ireland last decade, Cian Healy enjoyed huge success for club and country, and was never far from a world XV each year.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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