Ultimate Fantasy Rugby Team

[MI5_Dog]

Ok so I've been pondering things lately and asking myself those difficult questions.
Why is the sky blue?
Why am I so good looking?
Why have I not won lotto?
and I became a bit stumped on my "Ultimate Fantasy Rugby Team of All Time" TM (you'll have to imagine the reverb and fanfare)

The idea of the "Ultimate Fantasy Rugby Team of All Time" TM is you have to pick a rugby team using players from other sports.
You can NOT pick rugby players (Union or League) and you must name the player for each spot.

For example you might want to pick Hakuhō Shō (a sumo wrestler) as a prop
or Dwayne the rock johnson as your hooker etc.

Have at it peoples! Show me your "Ultimate Fantasy Rugby Team of All Time" TM

[Sheikh]

Ok, I'll have a pop. I've probably forgotten so many great athletes that I'll change my mind the instant anyone else posts an answer. I've tried to limit myself to not picking all NFL players (who would otherwise make up a far higher proportion of my team). Coloured by time and team preferences, of course!

1. Andrew Whitworth (NFL) one of the strongest linemen in the league. Although these days there are a number of linemen who could play here.
2. Chiyonofuji (Sumo) small sumo wrestler at only ~130 kg, but, I think, has won the 2nd most tournaments ever. Very strong and quick.
3. Takanohana (Sumo) again not the biggest (I could have gone for Akebono who was ~250 kg, but would never last the match)Takanohana seemed much fitter than others and ran a 13 second 100 m!
4. Aaron Sandlilands (AFL) - are there better, bigger potential locks around?
5. Larry Bird (NBL) - probably bigger basketball players now, but back when I used to watch Bird he had some weight on him.
6. Nic Naitanui (AFL) - another hard worker, good jumper and lots of stamina.
7. Ray Lewis (NFL) - all-round hard b*st*rd and not afraid to push the laws to the limit.
8. Clay Matthews (NFL) - see 7, but a bit taller.
9. Brian Jacks (judo) - no idea if he could actually run, but lightning fast hands.
10. Chris Judd (AFL) - good at finding gaps where it seemed none existed.
11. Ryan Giggs (soccer) - very quick with good body swerves to deceive defenders.
12. Jerry Rice (NFL) - similar to Judd - very elusive, blindingly quick when changing direction (see Conrad Smith)
13. Linford Christie (Athletics) - leaving the steroids aside, Olympic 100 m gold medalist and wrecking ball.
14. David Beckham (soccer) - I need a kicker and short of taking another NFL kicker Beckham fits here. Ran all day but not quick or bright!
15. Deion Sanders (NFL) - used to be the best kick returner and one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

I think the pack weight would be pushing a tonne. While you can go much heavier (eg, 8 sumo wrestlers) they could only scrum, while I think this pack has front-row grunt (~450 kg), second row height (both well over 2 m), and back row nastiness, with the backs having either agility or power.

[Sheikh]

We ended up discussing this in the pub last night and tried to come up with an animal XV. Some positions either I've forgotten or we didn't come up with anything for:

1 - rhino
2 - hippo (we thought slightly more mobile of the three front-rowers!)
3 - elephant
4 - giraffe (not great in the scrums, but good for the line-out)
5 - ?
6 - ?
7 - orang-utan (3m long arms - can pilfer ball from other side of ruck)
8 - gorilla - provides solidity to the scrum, and who's going to argue?
9 - Jack Russell - born to it!
10 - Collie
11-15 - ? There was thought of using the big cats as backs. Though I think we gave up, or something more interesting came up in the match!

[travelling_gerry]

My nomination for the front row would be "The Three Tenors"

The post game rendition of "My Sister Lucinda" would be something to behold!