RWC 2023 | Springboks Legend Bobby Skinstad Selects his Ultimate Rugby World Cup XV
Controversially, Bobby elected not to choose any South African players
Former Springboks legend and 2007 Rugby World Cup winner, Bobby Skinstad, has spoken with rugby news platform, RugbyPass, to reveal which players would form his ultimate Rugby World Cup XV. However, in his own words, he has "controversially" chosen zero South Africans on account of them being, in his view, typically head and shoulders above players from other nations.
Skinstad made his picks using RugbyPass' Rugby World Cup Ultimate XV player picker - an online tool the site specifically built to coincide with the current tournament. This required Bobby to choose the 15 players he believed would make it into an all-time greats squad. In addition to this, he was also asked to pick who he thinks the top coach and referee has been from Rugby World Cup history, plus which stadium is the definitive venue for playing tournament matches.
Bobby's picks were as follows:
- Loosehead Prop - Jason Leonard, England
- Hooker -Phil Kearns, Australia
- Tighthead Prop -Kees Meeuws, New Zealand
- Lock - Martin Johnson, England
- Lock -John Eales, Australia
- Blindside Flanker - Thierry Dusautoir, France
- Number 8 -Zinzan Brooke, New Zealand
- Openside Flanker -Josh Kronfeld, New Zealand
- Scrum Half -Nick Farr-Jones, Australia
- Fly Half - Dan Carter, New Zealand
- Inside Centre - Tim Horan, Australia
- Outside Centre - Philippe Sella, France
- Right Wing -David Campese, Australia
- Left Wing -Jonah Lomu, New Zealand
- Fullback -Matt Burke, Australia
- Coach -Ian McGeechan, Scotland
- Referee - Alain Rolland, Ireland
- Stadium -Twickenham, England
Skinstad's team was dominated by Southern Hemisphere players who have previously won Rugby World Cups, with Wallabies (6) and All Blacks (5) featuring heavily within his picks. The remainder of the positions were made up with players from France (2) and England (2). Skinstad decided to be "a little controversial" and he didn't pick any South African players - his main reasoning being that he would simply instead pick a team full of amazing Springboks and it wouldn't properly showcase the greatness of the Rugby World Cup.
Referring to his England team picks, Skinstad said: "The easy one for me here [for Loosehead Prop] it's my absolute favourite person in world rugby: Jason Leonard. If you take 2007, he was outstanding and ultimately instrumental in getting England to the Final plus he held that team together. [For Lock] Martin Johnson edges it here. As the resident leader, hardman and someone who never took a step backwards he would always be the first pick for me."
Similarly, Skinstad was highly complimentary of the All Blacks he included, in particular, Zinzan Brooke at Number 8: "I'm going to pick Zinzan Brooke because I always looked to him and his skillset growing up to see if I could match his ability - and I never managed it - particularly with things like the long-range drop goals he could score. What an amazing rugby player and sportsman.
Zinny just has something about him and he loves to win; he also always tries to find ways to win and that's the sort of person you want in your locker room. One example outside of rugby is when we play golf together; he can't chip to save his life so he will always putt from like 100 yards out - and he's unnervingly accurate at that distance."
In contrast, former Scotland international, Johnnie Beattie, picked lots of Springboks for his own ultimate team, as well as selecting Ellis Park in South Africa as the definitive RWC venue. The rest of the findings and selections from the Ultimate XV picker are available here: www.rugbypass.com/rugby-world-cup/ultimate-xv-expert-picks/
Source: Rich Hart
