Your team of the decade

[Bada-Bing!]

Mine is:
https://ranked-list-images.files.bb...cade-19-af6ea37b1ee0c65bbdadbd5f56b39afc.html

Choose yours and post up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/50840365

Notable absences because it is a British centric website. So please feel free to select PSTD at blindside, Vermeulen at 8, Dusautior at 6/7 any others from smaller nations not considered.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Terrible options in a few positions there.

Beast, Creevy, Furlong, Etzebeth, Retallick, Kaino, McCaw, Parisse, Smith, Carter, Nacewa, Nonu, Smith, Smith, Dagg.

Very hard on a bunch of 10s, locks and flankers*, not so competitive elsewhere. Wing was probably the hardest to pick because there aren't really any standouts, there were definitely higher peaks than those two (Savea, Milner Skidder, North, Reiko, Kolbe and Stockdale) but no one was anywhere near as consistent for a long period of time.

10s - Sexton, Barrett, Farrell
Locks - AWJ, Whitelock, Itoje, POC
Backrows - Read, SOB, Pocock, PSTD, Vermuelan

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

found the Stephen Jones team
1. Jenkins, 2. Hibbard, 3. Jones, 4. AWJ, 5. Evans, 6. Lydiate, 7. Warburton, 8. Faletau
9. Phillips, 10. Bigger, 11. North, 12. Roberts, 13. Davis, 14. Williams, 15. Halfpenny

 

[bushytop]

found the Stephen Jones team
1. Jenkins, 2. Hibbard, 3. Jones, 4. AWJ, 5. Evans, 6. Lydiate, 7. Warburton, 8. Faletau
9. Phillips, 10. Bigger, 11. North, 12. Roberts, 13. Davis, 14. Williams, 15. Halfpenny

You give Stephen Jones far too much credit

 

[BPM]

It's pretty hard to find players who were consistently good across the decade. As The Alpha Bro said, a player like Julian Savea was unplayable for a 2-3 year stretch and then fell off a cliff, or the George North of today is half the player he was earlier in the decade.

As much as it pains me to say, it's almost impossible to look past the Kiwis. I've had to be slightly creative, but due to a lack of wingers that we're consistently good over the decade, I'd move Ben Smith to wing (where he did play pretty often) to accommodate Beauden Barrett at 15:

1. T. Mtawarira (SA)
2. D. Coles (NZ)
3. O. Franks (NZ)
4. A. Jones (Wal)
5. B. Retallick (NZ)
6. J. Kaino (NZ)
7. R. McCaw (NZ)
8. K. Read (NZ)
9. A. Smith (NZ)
10. D. Carter (NZ)
11. B. Habana (SA)
12. M. Nonu (NZ)
13. C. Smith (NZ)
14. B. Smith (NZ)
15. B. Barrett (NZ)

The players most unlucky to miss out for me would be David Pocock and Paul O'Connell.

Even though I wanted to include an English player somewhere, there wasn't really a contender ....

 

[FrenchFan]

My team of the decade is Toulouse

1.Christian Califano
2.William Servat
3.Claude Portolan
4.Fabien Pelous
5.Hugues Miorin
6. Thierry Dusautoir
7.Sylvain Dispagne
8.Albert Cigagna
9.Antoine Dupont
10.Romain Ntamack
11.Vincent Clerc
12.Thomas Castagnède
13.Yannick Jauzion
14.Émile Ntamack
15.Clément Poitrenaud

 

[Bada-Bing!]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/50840365

BBC's users team of the decade and also the the weekly's team of the decade.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...arter-named-world-rugbys-player-of-the-decade

I see Carter got named World Rugby's player of the decade.

 

[Scotty]

I havnt got time to do one but notable exclusions from every list is every england player(rightly so). What would the england team of the decade look like?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

I havnt got time to do one but notable exclusions from every list is every england player(rightly so). What would the england team of the decade look like?

1. Mako V
2. Hartley
3. Sinckler
4. Itoje
5. Lawes
6. Haskell (tough on Underhill - came in at the end of decade and Robshaw)
7. Curry
8. Binny

9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. May
12. Farrell
13. Tuilagi
14. Watson
15. Brown.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Corbisiero > Mako

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Healy, Best, Furlong, POC, Ryan, POM, SOB, Heaslip, Murray, Sexton, Stockdale, Henshaw, BOD, Bowe, Kearney

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Corbisiero > Mako

Loved Corbs, especially in that 3rd Lions test v Australia. But he was injured so often that he hardly played regularly enough for England this decade. No doubt he was a superior scrummager than Mako.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Only three fewer caps than Maro

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Only three fewer caps than Maro

Maybe it's just recent memory bias.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Corbisiero > Mako

Great call. What might have been. And FWIW I'd have Marler ahead of Mako too.

In another what might have been, Croft won 24 caps 2010 - 15. Enough to give him nod over Haskell?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Great call. What might have been. And FWIW I'd have Marler ahead of Mako too.

In another what might have been, Croft won 24 caps 2010 - 15. Enough to give him nod over Haskell?

Aye, it kinds puts in perspective how long this decade has been - feels like Corbs has been out of the picture forever but he played for England for half this decade (11-16)

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Pretty hard to understand what best of the decade really means, and hard to remember ten years!

Interesting to see nacewa make someone team, I always rated that guy but never saw him play in Europe. Unlucky after playing 3 minutes for Fiji and the new eligibility rules coming in meaning he couldn't play for the all blacks. Would he have? It's hard to know. A pretty handy reserve for sure.

in that vain, tell me this, European viewers, Carl Hayman? Clearly the best in the world in 2007 and prior. What about hence? What about in the last decade? I know he won a top14 , or was it Heineken cup, as captain. So? Is he forgotten because he didn't play internationals in the decade? Or was he not the best?

I'll take a stab

beast
Bismark
Hayman?
Retallick
Etzebeth
Psdt
Pocock
Vermeulen
Smith
Cruden
nadolo
Nonu
Smith
Smith
Dagg

yeah mainly all blacks, but, well, but, well, but....

Familiarity bias probably, but it's not all that wrong I don't think.

I'll just make an all blacks 15, and Then an other 15, to eliminate most bias.

Crockett
Coles
Hayman
Retallick
White lock
Kaino
McCaw
Read
Smith
Cruden
Dagg
Nonu
Smith
Smith
Barrett

vs

beast
Bismarck
Jones
Etzebeth
Psdt
Warburton
Pocock
Vermeulen
Murray
Sexton
Nadolo
Farrell
Tuilagi
North
Beale

Ok so psdt is better in the loose, and Beale peaked at 12, but I was light on options and those two stand out for me along with Warburton and Farrell . Brown another option for 15, maybe Hogg. Itoje for me finished the year as worthy but was too ill disciplined in earlier years. Wyn Jones I never really rated. Lood de jager was always excellent but injury prone.

 

[bushytop]

Healy, Best, Furlong, POC, Ryan, POM, SOB, Heaslip, Murray, Sexton, Stockdale, Henshaw, BOD, Bowe, Kearney

Lol @ Stephen O'Jones ​

 

[bushytop]

Pretty hard to understand what best of the decade really means, and hard to remember ten years!

Interesting to see nacewa make someone team, I always rated that guy but never saw him play in Europe. Unlucky after playing 3 minutes for Fiji and the new eligibility rules coming in meaning he couldn't play for the all blacks. Would he have? It's hard to know. A pretty handy reserve for sure.

in that vain, tell me this, European viewers, Carl Hayman? Clearly the best in the world in 2007 and prior. What about hence? What about in the last decade? I know he won a top14 , or was it Heineken cup, as captain. So? Is he forgotten because he didn't play internationals in the decade? Or was he not the best?

I'll take a stab

beast
Bismark
Hayman?
Retallick
Etzebeth
Psdt
Pocock
Vermeulen
Smith
Cruden
nadolo
Nonu
Smith
Smith
Dagg

yeah mainly all blacks, but, well, but, well, but....

Familiarity bias probably, but it's not all that wrong I don't think.

I'll just make an all blacks 15, and Then an other 15, to eliminate most bias.

Crockett
Coles
Hayman
Retallick
White lock
Kaino
McCaw
Read
Smith
Cruden
Dagg
Nonu
Smith
Smith
Barrett

vs

beast
Bismarck
Jones
Etzebeth
Psdt
Warburton
Pocock
Vermeulen
Murray
Sexton
Nadolo
Farrell
Tuilagi
North
Beale

Ok so psdt is better in the loose, and Beale peaked at 12, but I was light on options and those two stand out for me along with Warburton and Farrell . Brown another option for 15, maybe Hogg. Itoje for me finished the year as worthy but was too ill disciplined in earlier years. Wyn Jones I never really rated. Lood de jager was always excellent but injury prone.

tmi

 

[Leinster Fan]

Interesting to see nacewa make someone team, I always rated that guy but never saw him play in Europe. Unlucky after playing 3 minutes for Fiji and the new eligibility rules coming in meaning he couldn't play for the all blacks. Would he have? It's hard to know. A pretty handy reserve for sure.

One of Leinster's best ever players (if not the best), and we've had some good ones. Was brilliant for us for years in the team that won 3 Heineken cups in four years, then retired early and went back to NZ before coming back again to captain us to a European ***le. Absolute legend in this part of the world. Don't know if he'd have played for the All Blacks if he hadn't played for Fiji and had ended up staying, but at the level he was playing at with us he wasn't good enough for any international team. Great player and person, can't speak highly enough of him.