Your nations worst XV

[Feicarsinn]

14) Anthony Horgan

 

[Conal]

it may only have been ireland a caps but that was still far to close in my books

10 niall o'connor

 

[AfakasiAssasin]

While I appreciate all who have made the sacrifice to play for Samoa...One player who I hope I never see for Manu Samoa is halfback Garrick Cowley. The guy would constantly try these idiotic chip box kicks whenever Samoa had pocession and no matter where they were on the field (Samoa could be 5 meters out from their own try line and hed still go for it :S ). They never came off and it cost Samoas alot of prescious pocession against the tier 1 european Nations during the 2005 November tour . I saw him once more play live when they played an Exhibition game vs the Western Force in 2006 where again he kept doing the same thing. I can only imagine if he were to combine with say...an out of form Fa'atonu Fili as our half back/first five combination..it would be a disaster for Samoa!

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Anthony Horgan is a shoe-in for a position on the wing for Ireland. Possibly the worst performance I've ever seen in a green jersey

 

[nickdnz]

In recent memory the All Blacks v Italy 2009.

1.Crockett (Replaced by Afoa)
2. Flynn
3. Tialata
4. Donnelly
5. Boric
6. Messam
7. Latimer
8. So'oialo (c)
9. Ellis (Replaced by Cowan)
10. Delany (Replaced by Donald)
11. Sivivatu
12. McAlister
13. Ellison
14. Ben Smith
15. Jane (Replaced by Muliaina)

I think that's the weakest team we've fielded in a test match in memory.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Lucky it was against Italy

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Prior to 2008 Bowe woulda been in my Ireland team for his shambolic display against France in Paris in 06

 

[psychic duck]

He was a massive improvement on Mike Phillips when he played for the Ospreys. He's quicker than Phillips (Still slow, but quicker) but has incredible vision. I remeber on debut he put up a brilliant chip for Tommy Bowe when the Viadana winger so much as crept a few inches forward. I liked Ricky.

Januarie was not good for the Ospreys, and he does not have incredible vision.

 

[RAWWeyman]

England in the mid year tests included some wonders

10. Andy Goode
11. Matt Banahan
12. Tom May
13. Dan Hipkiss
14. Mark Cueto
15. Delon Armitage.


Also the end of year tests 2009 when we had Shane Geraghty at 12

 

[dan-the-man]

Any South African team where the Bok team is 90% made up of players from the team that won the Currie Cup or Super Rugby. Soooooo irritating

 

[superprop]

Why not make it the worst 15 players to play for you country instead of an actual XV there's bound to be some good players I mean look at nickdnz's team.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Yeah, unlike an All Blacks line-up with 9 Crusaders... That's tha bomb!!!

 

[Amobokoboko]

In recent memory the All Blacks v Italy 2009.

1.Crockett (Replaced by Afoa)
2. Flynn
3. Tialata
4. Donnelly
5. Boric
6. Messam
7. Latimer
8. So'oialo (c)
9. Ellis (Replaced by Cowan)
10. Delany (Replaced by Donald)
11. Sivivatu
12. McAlister
13. Ellison
14. Ben Smith
15. Jane (Replaced by Muliaina)

I think that's the weakest team we've fielded in a test match in memory.

Doesn't look that bad , before the Blues-Chiefs game, Fitzy was saying that McAlister and Donald were ( in his opinion) the two players who where closest in being DC's back up. Hope McAlister moves from center to the n°10 position.

 

[psychic duck]

Chris Rattue of the New Zealand Herald wrote an article on the worst All Black XV during the reign of Graham Henry

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10720473

this is by Chris Rattue not me, so don't give me abuse for his opinion

Public opinion has not treated the former All Black Shayne Philpott kindly, apparently to the point that he almost sold his test cap.

What on earth is the world coming to?

Philpott wasn't actually that bad, but since we're putting the boot in ... here's a composite All Black team from the Graham Henry era that would be dead certs to lose the World Cup (not that it is ours to lose).

15.) SOSENE ANESI

A one-test non-wonder fullback from 2005. Replaced Daniel Carter in his only test appearance - true story. Flashy, but not flash overall. Injury hasn't helped but goodness knows why the Waratahs signed him when they have enough flakes of their own.

14.) BEN SMITH

The renaissance man according to southerners. Have to take their word for it, since my devotion to Super rugby doesn't often extend to watching the Highlanders. Looked fairly ordinary in his All Black stint compared with the Sivivatus of this world. As for being Ben Smith - All Black wings need handles like Josevata, Hosea, Rico, Rene, Rudi, Cory, Sitiveni, Zac, Israel, Jonah.


Call it the Engelbert Humperdinck effect. Do you think Sonny Bill Williams would be Sonny Bill Williams if he wasn't Sonny Bill Williams? Come on. Try Benny Boy Smith-Wesson and just watch your career take off.

13.) ANTHONY TUITAVAKE

Part of a near All Black disaster at Munster in his one All Black centre appearance. Little Toot played for North Harbour, which says a lot, and had a loyal army of supporters. Great to watch and would tear Uruguay and co to bits but you winced at the prospect of him running into the Stirling Mortlocks of the rugby world and there were always better wing prospects about.

12.) MA'A NONU

Struggling to get near the form he displays on the tricky-dicky TV advert. Many of us are big fans of his game but not his rugby brain. Nonu is the bloke most likely to give away the losing World Cup final penalty in front of the sticks in the last second while looking confused. Of course, he might also have won the game for the All Blacks by then, or maybe not. Doesn't really deserve to be in this lineup, but he is topical and I needed a big-name signing.

11.) LELIA MASAGA

Faster than a speeding bullet ... but not exactly a gun. Still has fans waiting for the second coming. Once ran into a lamppost and broke his collarbone - which sneaks him in here just ahead of Scott "Bubbles" Hamilton.

10.) STEPHEN DONALD

A mandatory choice. This team would have no credibility without the Waiuku Wonder. Donald proves that society can't function without someone to pick on all the time. If he had never made the All Blacks, he might have been regarded as unlucky. The Give Deon Muir a Shot Committee would have held rallies in the Hamilton Town Square, or at least met at the Chartwell Cobb and Co to bemoan Donald's fate. Interesting to ponder what it is like to dream of becoming an All Black only to be given a right good kicking once you get there ... Philpott's auction ruction has provided one answer to that.

9.) KEVIN SENIO

Huh? Did he win a reality TV series or something?

8.) SIONE LAUAKI (C)

The sky was the limit for this enormous unit, but unfortunately his head was in the clouds.

7.) STEVEN BATES

Bates replaced Richie McCaw in his only test, in Rome. Not the greatest career move.

6.) ANGUS MACDONALD

All Black No 1061. Played against Scotland and never played again. Could be the first time the Scots have ended an opponent's rugby career.

5.) KEVIN O'NEILL

You think I'm making this up. Check the Rugby Almanack.

4.) ROSS FILIPO

Definitely better than O'Neill.

3.) JOHN SCHWALGER

Graham Henry should be sent a "please explain" note for picking Schwalger. Has anyone come close to working this out. Mind you, Schwalger isn't the only member of the dodgy All Black prop department. In hindsight, Campbell Johnstone and co look even worse, now that Owen "Real Deal" Franks has turned up. The selectors were bound to get one right some day.

2.) ALED DE MALMANCHE

Oops, another Chief. His lineout throwing is an exceedingly long work in progress.

1.) NEEMIA TIALATA

Could be world class. Should be. There have been worse All Black props in the Henry reign but none who fall so short of potential. Can be a very scary monster, especially on Twitter.

before you give Rattue stick, please think about what you're going to post, think of a worse All Black than he has selected and say why he's worse, or why the All Black he's chosen is better than the one he's chosen

and remember this is the All Blacks and not many poor players play for them, this team could still possibly win the 6N

One thing I would suggest is for him to find room for Tom Willis, who hasn't really been great during his spell in Wales at least, Sam Tuitupou should be in there for Nonu also

 

[Sneaki]

before you give Rattue stick, please think about what you're going to post, think of a worse All Black than he has selected and say why he's worse, or why the All Black he's chosen is better than the one he's chosen

and remember this is the All Blacks and not many poor players play for them, this team could still possibly win the 6N

One thing I would suggest is for him to find room for Tom Willis, who hasn't really been great during his spell in Wales at least, Sam Tuitupou should be in there for Nonu also

I don't really think Smith, Nonu or Masaga should be there, replaced with Scott Hamilton (picked because he was a Crusader), Tuitupou (not as good as he was for the Blues) and Rene Ranger (scored one try and did nothing else, and I think he had twice as many tests as Masaga ).

It's a bit vague though, are players who were given one or two tests considered bad because they never got another chance in the team? Chris Rattue is a joke anyway to be honest, he just writes whatever headlines will make the paper sell (ie 'Nonu in the worst ever XV...') and his opinion is mostly irrelevant. What's Nonu doing in this team? I could've sworn every other weak this guy is *****ing about how SBW shouldn't be boxing, is overrated etc, then the next week Nonu is the worst AB in the last 6 or 7 years? I hate how people seem to think Nonu is useless now and forget who it was that set up the match winning try in Soweto last year, and has probably been one of the most consistent AB's since after the last RWC.

 

[Darwin]

I wondered if someone was going to bring up this article. Rattue has zero credibility to me - you would think someone who would claim to be a 'rugby journalist' would know the difference between a loosehead prop and a tighthead prop, but Rattue clearly fails this basic test. Tialata is generally a tighthead prop (3) (though he can play loosehead), while John Schwalger is generally a loosehead prop (1) (though can play tighthead), yet Rattue does not seem to realise this and has them around the wrong way. All he would have had to do is watch a single Hurricanes match to see Tialata in the 3 jersey and Schwalger in 1 jersey, but it appears he doesn't actually watch the Hurricanes. He freely admits he doesn't watch the Highlanders, but still has no problem forming opinions on their players!
*rant over*

Anyways....I'm not going to make a list myself, as it think it's very hard to judge how good a player is if they have only been given one or two games for the AB's. I'm sure you could justify putting almost any player who has played less than a 5 games for AB's on the list....

Players that obviously shouldn't be on the list:
Ben Smith,Ma'a Nonu, Nemia Tialata.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What's his beef with Hamilton?
Didn't see him in an All Blacks shirt, did he do terribly?

 

[Darwin]

What's his beef with Hamilton?
Didn't see him in an All Blacks shirt, did he do terribly?

Hamilton was solid (at best) for the AB's. The majority of NZer's don't think he should have been selected for the AB's in the first place (apart from those wearing a red and black eye patch...)

 

[Feicarsinn]

I thought I'd do a 'worst Irish team of the 00's.' I'm gonna do it off the top of my head, so any omissions would be appreciated.

1) Bryan Young - Never good enough. Hardly ML standard. I cringed every time he got on the pitch. Let's forget about him and move on.

2) Frankie Sheehan - Actually quite a useful player, but we were strong at hooker in the 00's . Worse than Wood, Byrne, Flannery and Best so gets it by default. Also, a bloody awful pundit

3) Tony Buckley - Can't scrummage, won't scrummage. Good in the loose, but that's like having a lock who is 4'6 but is a mean kicker. Thank god he's off to Sale. Hopefully it's out of sight, out of mind.

4) Gary Longwell - Meh, not international standard, simple as. Neil Francis seems to think he was only picked to keep Ulster fans happy. Maybe, or maybe not, but I wouldn't have had him in a green shirt regardless.

5) Mick O'Driscoll - As one of my brother's mates says, he's like that embarrassing uncle you don't want to come around for Christmas. I reckon he must be one of the most hated Irish players of the last decade.

6) Neil Best - Had a decent spell, but he was far from a top operator. He wouldn't get a look in these days

7) Niall Ronan - Too lightweight for international rugby. An out an out seven, but he only got picked due to about a million injuries. Most Munster folk would tell you that he isn't good enough for a Heineken Cup 23.

8) Roger Wilson - This is harsh. Wilson is a good player, but he wasn't nearly as good as he is now when he got his cap. He still wouldn't be near my WC squad mind.

9) Guy Easterby - I never liked Guy. It was a toss up between him and TO'L, but I think I'm getting a bit Leinster Biased, so there you go.

10) Jeremy Staunton - Next please.

11) Brian Carney - Another ill-fated league convert. Never did anything in Union, yet miraculously got himself on the plane for the world cup. Pathetic.

12) Kieran Lewis - It makes me happy to think that a player of this calibre wouldn't get a look in at Leinster, Munster or Ulster these days. Poo.

13) Barry Murphy - I never got what the big deal was with this guy. All he did in my mind was score one good try against Sale. Sure he got unlucky with injury, but he wasn't good enough to play for the national team.

14) Anthony Horgan - Worst performance ever.

15) Gavin Duffy - I have nothing against Gav, he's actually quite a good player. He was the worst footballer to occupy the 15 shirt though. We were fairly blessed in this position throughout the decade. Dempsey, Murphy and Kearney were all very good.

Opinions?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

3) Tony Buckley - Can't scrummage, won't scrummage. Good in the loose, but that's like having a lock who is 4'6 but is a mean kicker. Thank god he's off to Sale. Hopefully it's out of sight, out of mind.