There's always one! Pita Ahki, I'm sincerely sorry. He started playing for Tonga just before and during the RWC. IF he continues playing international rugby, then his name is an accidental omission. I'm hoping that's the case, rather than he'll focus on club rugby now the World Cup is over, because he is class!
That's a great list. Nice to see so much respect for De Allende, feels like he is usually so underrated. Think Menoncello is the most fun to watch on that list.
I think we're at the stage where we've taken bundi for granted, not in a bad sense, but it feels like hes played for Ireland forever, hes been a brilliant player forever. And when he does finally leave we'll realise how great he really was.
I don't think that we Ireland fans recognize enough just how good Bundee Aki has been for the last 5 years. Aki and Sexton were imo probably the best 10-12 combination on the planet in that time. BA has such great rugby intelligence on both sides of the ball - he is a 2nd playmaker, orchestrating the attack with his running and passing. His defense is rock solid - he and Gary Ringrose work so well together. I hope that he can be convinced to stay on In Ireland and begin coaching when he decides to hang up his boots. Easily belongs on any Greatest Ireland Rugby Team ever.
I think his absence will be overtly missed whenever he retires. Ireland (and England, and Scotland, and Wales) simply don’t produce centres with that size and power profile. Saw him play in person in Champions Cup last season and he’s so much more powerfully built when you see him in person…! Top player
@TP1988 think mc closky with the same game time would prove to be just as menacing but henshaw and Osborne will fill aki's absence when the time comes.
I find it funny he used to be a bit of a meme but the last 3 or 4 years you could argue he's been one of the best players in the world. He definitely was at WC. Has just become everything you want in a modern 12
@@user-is9of serious players all, don’t get me wrong - the Ireland conveyor belt is awesome, and they’ll be a serious team post-Aki. But none of them are quite Aki in terms of punch, I think what he uniquely brings will be notable by its absence, even though the replacements will bring their own USPs
Pita Akhi steel underrated even if he is the best center defensively in the world . But we don’t care if he still make us winning trophies in Toulouse . Chocobares is class, I hope Mallia is going to be in your top for wingers cause in my opinion he is the best top14 player this year
I don't think that Esterhuizen isn't trusted by Rassie, I think it's just that De Allende is ultimately better, and generally there's no sub for the centres on the SA bench. Esterhuizen is world class, but De Allende is just in a class of his own.
Esterhuizen is one of those classic players that does something amazing, then reverses it with a bad decision. He’s always been a bit of a liability. That said, I’d never want the job of having to tackle or run at the bloke. Hard as nails.
I think it's more about Rassie wanting to bring him in more gradually. Young players/players out of position are going to make mistakes, they are going to make some bad calls. In my view, the way Rassie counters this, is by surrounding them with experience. We saw this with Kwagga at number 8, starting alongside the uber experienced Kolisi and Du Toit. We saw this with Willimse, bringing him into the team with guys like De Allende, De Klerk, Kolbe and Am. We saw that with the new props being tried, putting them opposite Kock, Malherbe or Nche. Even with the supremely talented Sacha, he is going to be wedged inbetween the very experienced (and incredibly talented) Cobus Reinach and Mr. Dependable, Damian De Allende. Esterhuizen is a fantastic centre. Moodie is a fantastic centre. On their day they might even be better than the normal Springbok starters. But it's all about pressure and making sure the guys there can deliver when the heat is on.
Glad to see Henshaw getting his recognition! Hes been amazingly consistent since bursting onto the scene at such a young age. 2 british and irish lions apperarances says it all! Im suprised about de allende being so high. Watching him at munster i was always a bit disappointed.
Great lost Tim, you nailed #1&2 with Bundee and Damian performances over the last year. I personally would have had Danty higher but it is a tough list to pick.
Great blog AGAIN Tim! I would never be able to have an unbiased opinion on player selections, being a hard-core Saffa, but you have accurately described the top 10 guys... Just on Andre Esterhuizen, I think his biggest problem is as a result of the combination that Damian & Jesse form... Just as it was difficult to break up Jacques Fourie and Jean De Villiers.
@@derekallan1341 No he hasn’t. He’s average. Makes one or two good carries a game, never gives slick passes, never kicks the ball. Robbie Henshaw has been more consistent than De Allende for the past 7 or 8 years. Bundee has been the best inside centre for the last 4.
@@harryocallaghan8082 please tell me who won 2 world cups?? Aki is not even irish , or is he?? Henshaw the past 7 or 8 years!!! What has he won?? Nothing I think!! Are there any more 12's that you want to call the best?? More mud water to you!!
@@derekallan1341 One position doesn’t win you a World Cup. De Allende was absolutely shown up every time he played against Leinster when he was at Munster. Aki’s played in Ireland for the past 10 years and has almost 60 caps for Ireland. South Africans are literally full of white Europeans from the Netherlands, France, England & IRELAND 😂
@@harryocallaghan8082 There are no irish in the Bok side thank God. Aki is a New Zealand cast off. He is a retread and you lot can't even grow your own players. Go ask Lowe where he comes from and even CJ Stander for that matter. Enough said, so please go and sit down
Great list but I reckon tuipolutu should be at least top 5 he was glasgows most important player as they won the urc and was incredibly missed by Scotland in the last 2 games of the six nations
I think that Sacha Feinberg Ngomozulu is going to end up playing inside centre with Libbok at 10. Rassie rates both so highly and this will take the pressure of Manie to kick for goals.
My view is that we are always going to opt for bigger, meaty boys in our center pairing. For one, they tackle harder, they take more to stop and for two, they make a good stand-in for a loose forward in a pinch. Seeing DDA setting down in a scrum is vastly superior to seeing Sacha getting into one. Especially with guys like DDA and the forward sized Esterhuizen on 12, I don't see the recipe changing.
Robbie henshaw is way higher than that in my view great defender, smart player, very disciplined, aggressive in carrying and can offload his threat makes defenders bite in and frees space for everyone else. not to be bad but he is better than de Allende who is very one dimensional great carrier board to stop but henshaw gives way more.
Probably our Irish bias talking but I completely agree😂 Watching De Allende at Munster he was quite disappointing and he is never there standout performer in the SA backline either, still a great player though.
Robbie Henshaw schools de Allende every time he played against him. Was selected ahead of Aki for second test in South Africa. Will push Jordie Barrett to 10 or bench post Christmas next season. Madness having him outside top 3!
@06alepea1 Yup and I'd choose the south african over anybody else in a heartbeat. The only reason why in fantasy I don't just choose the bok team is because of limits to how many players you can have from each country
Danty very lucky to still make the list. After having been incredible last year, he’s been completely off for France and La Rochelle. Hoping to see Paul Coste in the mix next year.
Tim I just watched the 2009 3rd test between the All Blacks and the Springboks in NZ and I must say you said the 2009 All Black was the greatest team with Carter, McCaw, Well in this match the Boks with Habana, du Preez, Bakkies and alot of legends in SA rugby was awesome and let that GOAT AB team look like school boys!
Tough job you assigned yourself here! But This list is hard to argue with. Agree with the top two in particular. As a kiwi, I do wonder what people see in Jordie though, he's big which is cool, but pretty slow, got zero side step or ability to counter attack in general, his decoy running is laughably bad. Good pass on him however (but not game changing), huge boot, which he hasnt shown much of. I must admit, his defence is pretty outstanding. But the backs have never really fired with him there. When they did it was usually inside him off Richie Mo. But people rate him as one of the best in the world? What am I missing?
Good list Tim although Robbie Henshaw has played the whole Six Nations at 13, even when Bundee was not playing against Italy, McCloskey played 12 and Henshaw 13. Bundee Aki was great in the World Cup, but lately has not shown the same form, although he has been very solid. I would put Jordy at 1 though, just for he is the one 12 that can do things some of the others can not, like defensively how he seems to knbow how to hold players up that goes over the try line. His kicking is far superior to any of the other 12's on here. Not one of the 12's on here has the same kicking skill, if required. He is the only 12, I would pick above Damain De Allende for the Springboks, which says a lot.
De Allende is very good. He was excellent for the Boks in the 2019 RWC and again last year. In 2021, in Australia, Samu Kerevi played him off the park in the two TRC matches between Australia and South Africa. Kerevi in those two matches put in the best, dominating performances by a 12 against outstanding opposition that I have ever seen. He wasn't quite as good the following year in the mid-year tests against England - Lolesio inside him at 10 instead of Quade Cooper who was their the year before. Then he went to the Commonwealth Games (August 2022) with the Aussie sevens team and did his ACL. He hasn't played at that very top level since and looked off the pace in Eddie's RWC shambles last year. A fit and fast Kerevi would be an upgrade on anyone else the Wallabies have got just now. But he's not currently fit and fast. I don't know if we will see him back in gold for Joe Schmidt's Wallabies.
If I squint at it hard enough I can sort of see your reasoning on leaving out Esterhuizen. But if picking a team I'd select him in front of 7/10 of that list without a moments hesitation.
As South Africans we usually get annoyed at South Africans get snubbed on these lists despite always being in the top 5 of world rankings. Watching your channel i see south Africans getting recognition. At first i thought 2 world cups might be the reason. But I've noticed on other channels we still get snubbed. It's either your unbias ability or your understanding of South African rugby and how it works that allows you to see and recognise all players from around the world. Only other channel like you is 2 cents. Both of you keep it up.
An inspired move by Pat Lam to take Bundee Aki to Connacht. Whilst he was doing ok for Counties Manukau and the Chiefs he wasn't setting the world alight and was starting to fall out of favour. I understand that Dave Rennie has said that he regrets not getting the best out of him.
He was working in a bank in NZ because he wasn't rated. A consequence of the amount of talent in NZ but also how your guys didn't spot the potential is mind blowing. Something wrong in your system I think.
@@Snags-sy8is I think at the time there was a real logjam between Ma'a and SBW. Also, sounds weird to say now, but people had huge wraps on Malakai Fekitoa too. He was just low in the pecking order and looked for an opportunity to play international rugby based on the 3 year rule in Ireland. It wasn't a case of not spotting the potential as he started for the defending champion Chiefs and was fringe contention for the ABs which at the time meant he'd more than likely be selected for any other international team in the world.
Robbie Henshaw what a player wow, not a centre is a full back and has imo a poor injury profile for the last 3 or 4 years and I think its because he is playing out of his natural position. I am with John Muldoon who years ago said Robbie was a full back and was never back on RTE again 🤔
What about the game a few months ago where Damian ran over Robbie Henshaw and he was definitely better than Bundee. Then he was even injured for the next test. A bit unfair to use such an old game ? But I agree they both the top 2 at least.
@@randomlyfactual1943 18 caps to his name now, often against B tier opposition and as you have rightly pointed out he has had one standout performance. That is exactly the point I was making.
@@Mustang7520 my take is that I think that is just him being eased into the squad. If we lost DDA for a year - god forbid - we'll probably push up Esterhuizen. Until that time, you have a very good first choice and a rather frightening potential replacement.
How do you put Chocobares on this list, but Pita Ahki, the actual starting 12 for Toulouse, is not here? Again, tier 2 players can't catch a break, Pita Ahki is easily top5 in the world but because he plays for tonga hes not here
You can't put Chocobares in the top 10 and not put Pita Ahki. He starts for Toulouse and plays massive shifts in the club over Chocobares. Not to mention the influence he has on his backline national team. He easly breaks the top 10.
I think he’s consistently been world class for 8-9 years with the odd year in there with him as number1. Just that timeline you’ve given is from 2015 to now. With the likes of Nonu, Sbw, Fickou, Kerevi, Vakatawa and Aki all at some points looking like the best 12 during this timeframe. De Allende has been an underrated player in my view and it’s a coin toss currently with Aki having credit in the bank from last year. Just think you might be overdoing it a tad here
We can peacefully disagree on 1 and 2. DDA is my choice at no.1. When it counted DDA steps up and delivers, time and time again. When it counts, Aki disappears.
Chocobares play outside center (13) Why is here? English centers are poor, no technic, no size. Please see statistics before name players. You name 10 players form NZ, 10 players forom SZ, 10 players form IRL. And fit all the english you can. Please check other nations. Or, make a top 5. At some point nothing makes sense.
I reckon DDA overall battle stats or contribution to a side is greater than Aki's...but very close indeed, Damians trophy cabinet definately more illustrious for sure. In That world cup game it was Liebok he beat on defence not Damian, but he was spectacular on the night and through out.
