Planet Rugby’s Greatest Professional XV: Front lock
As professional rugby reaches its 25th anniversary and with time to reflect on those incredible years, we decided it’s time to look at the greatest players we’ve seen grace the pitches and screens of the world.
Over the next 15 days, we will give you our take on the four best players in each position, together with our choice for the Planet Rugby Professional XV.
You’ll have the chance to vote for yours and we will publish the readers’ team on the 16th day, together with some of the opinion comments from our readers and on social media.
The players will be listed traditionally, starting at 15 to 9 then 1 to 8.
The players are judged on their contribution to the pro era only. As a default we have only considered players that played 50% of their time or more in the professional era.
We have also taken into consideration the success they enabled for their team together with individual records, leadership skills, and overall contribution to the wider ethos of the sport and rugby in their home country.
We are well aware some greats haven’t made the cut but believe us when we say the debate needed around the office to get to this shortlist was exhaustive and not without some heated emotion!
Planet Rugby’s Greatest Professional XV: Front lock
Nominees:
Alun Wyn Jones (147 caps, 9 tries)
Bakkies Botha (85 caps, 7 tries, 1 World Cup)
Brodie Retallick (81 caps, 5 tries, 1 Word Cup)
Martin Johnson (92 caps, 2 tries, 1 World Cup)
The quality we have in the position of front lock is staggering. We could look at any other contender in this position, including Ian Jones, Eben Etzebeth, Donncha O’Callaghan, James Horwill, Simon Shaw or Marco Bortolami and still know we’ve picked the best options, although if we could add a fifth it would be hard to ignore the claims of French legend, Fabien Pelous. A star-studded line-up boasting 405 caps and three World Cups and any of them would be worthy winners.
Alun Wyn Jones will almost certainly become the most capped player in the history of rugby when play again resumes. His international career has spanned 14 years, three Lions tours and four World Cups, yet the man from Swansea still has the appetite of a 21-year-old. Despite disappointment on his first Lions trip in 2009, his form with Wales was such that he became a key member of the side that finished third at the 2011 World Cup.
He was named in Warren Gatland’s British & Irish Lions 2013 squad, leading the side in the final Test after Wales team-mate Sam Warburton was ruled out. He put in a massive performance in Sydney, helping the Lions claim their first series victory since 1997. In 2019 Jones captained Wales in their Grand Slam victory and later, he was referred to by former Wales fly-half Jonathan Davies as “the greatest ever” Welsh rugby player. On September 29, 2019, against Australia at the 2019 World Cup, he became Wales’ most-capped player, overtaking the record of his great pal Gethin Jenkins.
Bakkies Botha was the consummate enforcer from a country steeped in rugby physicality. Debuting in 2002, he went on to form arguably rugby’s greatest lock pairing with fellow Blue Bull Victor Matfield, a combination that went on to make a world record 63 Test match appearances and well over 100 games together for the Bulls and Blue Bulls at Super Rugby and Currie Cup level respectively. His first World Cup was a disappointment but he left a mark scoring three tries, before glory came four years later in South Africa’s second World Cup success in 2007.
In 2011, Botha announced he would join Toulon on a three-year deal but before he linked up with his new side, he played in the World Cup for the Boks but his input was cut short after he sustained an injury against Namibia in the pool stages in what was his 87th Test appearance. Despite now playing overseas, Heyneke Meyer recalled Botha in 2013 and the big lock continued his international career for a further season or so, before finally retiring from the big stage in 2014. One of the most decorated players in the game, he continued with Toulon and retired in 2015, after helping the French side to European Cup wins in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Brodie Retallick is a free-running athlete of a lock who specialises in high workrate and high tackle count rugby. A Junior All Black, he debuted in the Test arena against Ireland in 2012 alongside long-time partner Sam Whitelock, and when fit, Retallick been a first-choice pick for New Zealand ever since. Retallick was a star of the 2015 World Cup and scored the opening try in the quarter-final as the All Blacks beat France by a record 62-13 margin, subsequently beating South Africa 20-18 in the semi-final and then the ultimate crown, the Rugby World Cup itself, when he put in a key performance as the All Blacks beat Australia 34-17.
Disappointment came in 2017 when, despite some massive personal performances, New Zealand failed to overcome the Lions in a drawn series. Retallick’s second World Cup proved less fruitful as New Zealand lost the semi-final to England, 19-7, but he went on to win the man-of-the-match award in the Bronze Final, where the All Blacks beat Wales 40-17 to claim third place.
Martin Johnson is England’s greatest rugby player, of that there is little doubt. A brooding, physical presence, he matured from callow youth after being thrown into the Lions in 1993 to become one of the greatest Test captains that rugby has ever witnessed. From 1997 to 2003 Johnson and his teams dominated the game, whether in the colours of the British and Irish Lions, Leicester Tigers and above all, England. Given the Lions captaincy by Sir Ian McGeechan in 1997, Geech remarked “Well even if he’s no good at least he’ll scare the Boks when he knocks on the door to toss.” And scare them he did, as his team pulled off an historic series win.
However, 2003 was the year of this particular Tiger, when his aging team finally found the greatest prize of all, the Rugby World Cup with Johnson putting in a man-of-the-match showing in the final, his greatest single performance in a rugby shirt. He continued for another two seasons for Leicester Tigers racking up 362 appearances. Under his leadership they won four consecutive Premiership titles between 1999–2002, becoming the first side to retain the European Cup, winning in 2001 and 2002. His tenure as England team manager was less than successful and today, Johnson works as a TV pundit, specialising in scowling at performances he feels miss the benchmark standards he once set around the rugby world.
With a thunderous quartet of contenders, we argue that one man transcended the sport both as a player and a leader and won every honour in the game – our front jumping lock is the truly great rock of England, Martin Johnson.