0
Nominees - 21st century
21.1 John Eales (Australia)
Born in 1970, the Brothers and Queensland lock forward established himself as one of the leading players in his position in the world, one of the very few to have collected two RWC gold medals. He made his international debut in a 63-6 demolition of Wales in his hometown of Brisbane in July 1991, just on time for the big adventure in the second world cup in 1991. He did not play in the first two matches in the 1991 RWC, only to re-emerge in Australia’s 300 test match against Wales, celebrated with a 38-3 win. He kept his place and was in the Australian team that beat England 12-6 to win the Webb Ellis trophy. He went on playing for Australia and in 1996 he became skipper, again in a home match against Wales in Brisbane. Three years later he touched the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time, when he, the captain of the winning Wallabies, received it from the Queen at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, after the RWC final against France.
21.2 Jason Leonard (England)
The world’s most capped prop forward, Leonard, commenced his career for the Barking club near London. He joined the Saracens and joined the England tour of Argentina in 1990. He played in all three tests and on his return he joined the Harlequins club, with whom he went on playing until he retired from the game some 15 year later. He is one of a group of selected heroes of the game to have played in four RWC tournaments, having made his RWC debut in 1991 against New Zealand. He was on the losing side at Twickenham final that year, but he revenged the misfortunes of 1991 and of the following two world cups when England failed to express fully their potential, when he came on in the final against Australia, to celebrate winning the 5th RWC tournament in Sydney in 2003.
21.3 Vernon Pugh QC (Wales)
Who became IRB chairman in 1994 left a huge gap through his premature death in 2002. A former club player and coach, Pugh’s vision and leadership left a mark on the administration of the game in his native Wales and worldwide. As Chairman of the WRU he helped restructure the game in Wales, and reignited school rugby through a series of far-reaching measures, which secured the long term well-being of the game. He restructured the International Board and launched the campaign for rugby to rejoin the Olympics. He was instrumental in launching the IRB Sevens Series and had a leading role in the launch of what is now known ad the Heineken Cup competition.
21.4 Philippe Sella (France)
The most capped centre of all time, Sella was born in 1962 in Tonneins. He started his formidable international career against Romania in 1982 on the wing and the following year he established himself as a regular in the French team at centre. He played most of his career for one club, SU Agen, with whom he won the French Championship on two occasions and once the game went professional he joined Saracens in London.
21.5 Diego Ormaechea (Uruguay)
Born in 1959 and played all his club rugby for Carrasco Polo in Montevideo, in Uruguay. He became the first captain of his country to lead his men into a RWC finals match, when they took on the other newcomers Spain in Galashiels in 1999. At the age of 40, the oldest player in the 1999 RWC tournament Ormaechea led from the front and retired from the tournament. A veterinary doctor by trade, he returned to rugby to coach his country in the 2003 RWC, when, to his delight, Uruguay managed to defeat Georgia in front of a highly partisan crowd at the Aussie Stadikum in Sydney.
21.6 Gary Hamilton Teichmann *
Born 9 January 1967 in Gwelo, Zimbabwe played number eight for and captained South Africa between 1995 and 1999. Educated at Hilton College, Teichmann went on to represent Natal and the Sharks in 144 matches. In 1993 he was selected for the Springbok tour to Argentina but played his first game on 2 September 1995, scoring a try at Ellis Park. After only six games for the Springboks, Teichmann was selected as captain of his country in 1996 and went on to become one of South Africa's most successful captains ever. He captained the Springboks in 36 tests between 1996 and 1999 winning 27 times, including a record winning streak of 17 consecutive test matches that saw them take the 1998 Tri Nations Series.
* denotes candidate nominated by irb.com web user
Reply With Quote
