Greatest World XV Ever 'Past and Present'

[TRF_Olyy]

God, it must've been sh!te playing against Lomu
"Ah, he's got the ball again - that's 5pts"
"Ah, they've passed to Jonah....5 more pts"

 

[Peat]

The game's moved on and there's now plenty of Lomu-esque wingers, but none I'd take over him if he was fit and available to my team.

 

[ranger]

Lomu was around 18 stone. They were all between 15.7 and 17 stone. When you're talking that much weight, the odd stone doesn't make any difference (Lomu on peak was around 17.8ish). Also Lomu was quick, but he was nowhere near that fast - Caucau & Joe would kill him him in a straight line. Cohen woud comfortably beat him. Visser and Tuilagi would just about gas him while HMS Banahan (so long as he had an extra 100m to get upto speed first!) wouldn't be far behind.

I think the word "********" is appropriate here. Often you see great players overhyped after they retire from top flight sport, this appears to be the opposite.

I also dont see how you can think that 16kg and 4 inches means nothing. Thats the difference between Danny Care and Hosea Gear. Size is only one part of the matter anyway. There will always be big guys around, but i have honestly not seen one with the same pace and raw power. You're having a laugh with that list before, none of them compare for weight AND speed.
You can't see all these highlights of Lomu throwing bodys all over the pitch and attribute it entirely to dark age conditioning and defence training. He was still bunting players flying in 2003!
Force is mass x acceleration, although defenses may have wised up a bit, the main reason you don't see Lomu type domination anymore is because no one of his mass can accelerate as fast as he could.

The closest i have seen in any athlete is Bo Jackson from the NFL. Although he was a fair bit smaller.

 

[Peat]

You do see Jonah Lomu style bodies flying runs.

They normally come from back-rows though.

You don't see it allied to Lomu's levels of agility.

 

[Teh Mite]

You can always rely on Ranger to take a point, twist it, and then use it for some sort of precious rant.

 

[187]

Full name Robert Fruean
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 105 kg (16 st 7 lb)

Not a winger, but really reminded me of Lomu when I saw him in the ITM this season.
Lomu is/was a bit heavier, but is also a few inches taller

Yeah Robbie Fruean was destructive this season. He reminded me of Lomu too, just straight using brute strength to break tackles and run through defenders. He was awesome in the ITM Cup, can't wait to see him lineup in the Super 15.

 

[BigJoe78]

Lomu was one of the greatest backs to the play the game in my lifetime if not the greatest, not only did he have size and speed he also had what Peat mentioned above - Agility and those 3 things in combination made him and his style of play at the time unique.

The agility is often overlooked but just as important, his ability to change direction and accelerate again stopped him being just a big
"go forward run straight tractor" of a player, instead he was something very special
No one had seen that combination in a back before to such an extent

Its hard to conextualize that now in the fully proffesional era were large wingers/centres are common place.

Lomu was a game changer in every sense of the word

 

[187]

Love Sam Owen's vid. Just look at that! How can you even think about comparing today's wingers to THAT.. Wada man.

Anyway, back to the topic. Mine isn't a "Greatest XV" but what XV I would love to see play together, yeah I know, it's mainly SH players. The tight 5 are pretty much the same as everyone else so I've just named the rest.

6. Jerry Collins
7. Richie McCaw / George Smith
8. Pierre Spies / Sammie Vahafolau (he had a blinder one season for Otago)

10. Stephen Larkham / Dan Carter
11. Jonah Lomu / Rupeni Caucaunibuca
12. Sam Tu'itupou / SBW
13. Stirling Mortlock
14. Joe Rokocoko / Brendan Laney haha, he was the man at one point
15. Christian Cullen / Mr Razzle Dazzle, Jason Robinson

 

[ranger]

You can always rely on Ranger to take a point, twist it, and then use it for some sort of precious rant.

Its a gift.

 

[candybum]

I've read somewhere, possibly someones biography, that Lomu had the fastest 40m sprint time during his years in the ALl Blacks (or maybe in the 7's squad) that's quite remarkable considering players like Cullen and Umaga (winger days) in the team.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Lomu was one of the greatest backs to the play the game in my lifetime if not the greatest, not only did he have size and speed he also had what Peat mentioned above - Agility and those 3 things in combination made him and his style of play at the time unique.

The agility is often overlooked but just as important, his ability to change direction and accelerate again stopped him being just a big
"go forward run straight tractor" of a player, instead he was something very special
No one had seen that combination in a back before to such an extent

Its hard to conextualize that now in the fully proffesional era were large wingers/centres are common place.

Lomu was a game changer in every sense of the word

Definitely not. As a wing he doesn't have the highest try scoring ratio; nowhere near and that's not subjective. Nor can anyone claim him to have a wide skillset; kicking, distribution, defense etc.

Yes, he was something special but personally I wouldn't have him in a best ever 15.

 

[BigJoe78]

but what about the impact he had on the game?
Also just looking at his tries scored (37 in 64 internationals, 15 in a world cup which is still a record) doesnt take into account the sheer pressure he put on teams just by being on the pitch and that created space and impacted defences

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Definitely not. As a wing he doesn't have the highest try scoring ratio; nowhere near and that's not subjective. Nor can anyone claim him to have a wide skillset; kicking, distribution, defense etc.

Yes, he was something special but personally I wouldn't have him in a best ever 15.

So whats your best ever 15?

 

[Draggs]

So whats your best ever 15?

1-15, George North.

 

[nickdnz]

Definitely not. As a wing he doesn't have the highest try scoring ratio; nowhere near and that's not subjective. Nor can anyone claim him to have a wide skillset; kicking, distribution, defense etc.

Yes, he was something special but personally I wouldn't have him in a best ever 15.

37 test tries in 63 tests, is better than Bryan Habana's 38 tries in 68 tests or Joost van der Westhuizen's 38 tries in 81 tests. In fact the only people who scored that many tries or over, in similar period, are Jeff Wilson (44 tries in 60 tests), Christian Cullen (46 tries in 58 tests), Doug Howlett (49 tries in 62 tests) and Shane Williams (53 tries in 79 tests). You'd have to rule out David Campese on the same rule, as he scored 64 tries in 101 tests.

So in otherwords the best winger of all time would be someone like Tonderai Chavhana (6 tries in 4 tests) or Jongi Nokwe (5 tries in 4 tests), as Ratio of tries to tests is a fair and balanced way of measuring the players worth. Never mind that Lomu has scored the most number of tries in a World Cup (15), or that he has been the difference in many games. Out of interest who is your choice of left winger?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Out of interest who is your choice of left winger?

Daisuke Ohata

 

[BevelBob]

I'm picking my team based on how effective each player was against opposition from their own era, otherwise everyone would be from the last couple of years.

15. JPR Williams
14. John Kirwan
13. Danie Gerber
12. Tim Horan
11. Jonah Lomu
10. Dan Carter
9. Terry Holmes
1. Os Durandt
2. Sean Fitzpatrick
3. Jeff Probyn
4. Bakkies Botha
5. John Eales
6. Mike Teague
7. Michael Jones
8. Dean Richards

 

[nickdnz]

Holy old thread Batman!

 

[Peat]

Holy old thread Batman!

In fairness, as thread necromancy goes, that's a pretty sweet team.

 

[Jbobo]

1. Os Du Randt
2. S. Fitzpatrick
3. J. Leonard
4.V. Matfield
5. C. Meads
6. J. Collins
7. R. McCaw
8. S. Quinnell
9. G. Edwards
10. D. Carter
11. Jonah Lomu
12. SBW
13. BOD
14. S. Williams
15. JPR Williams

16. D. Dominguez
17. T. Umaga
18. G. Gregan
19. K. Wood
20. P. Montgomery
21. D Campese
22. M. Johnson

Just a quick list of a team i'd love to see play together. Really subjective business this world xv malarkey, so probably showed a little bias towards my home nation on a few 50/50 choices.

Edit: Ignore the fact that the positions may be wrong and that there is no cover for 1-3