Planet Rugby’s Greatest Professional XV: Full-backs
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: Full-back
Nominees:
Ben Smith (84 caps, 39 tries, 1 World Cup)
Matt Burke (81 caps, 29 tries, 1 World Cup)
Israel Folau (62 caps, 32 tries)
Christian Cullen (56 caps, 46 tries)
This one is an all Australasian affair with the fast grounds of Super Rugby producing some incredible talent and the cross-over aerial skills of AFL assisting a couple of our nominees in their skill development.
It’s almost unthinkable to leave players of the class of Percy Montgomery, Willie le Roux, Liam Williams and Chris Latham out of the shortlist but the quality of our chosen quartet is there for all to see.
Ben Smith, a World Cup winner, was one of rugby’s most silken runners. Able to play anywhere across the back three but favouring full-back over wing, he glided into the line like a ghost, using angles and pace changes to torment the very best defences. Being the first ever player to be yellow carded in the final is something he’ll want to forget but the sublime run and kick to set up Beauden Barrett’s deciding try is something he’ll always remember.
Matt Burke, a defensive and kicking rock for Australia, was plagued by injury towards the end of his career. He was the consummate rugby all-rounder, his deadly boot accruing 878 points for the Wallabies and scoring 24 points in the 1999 RWC semi-final versus South Africa followed by a further 25 in the final versus France. He will always be remembered for his 75 metre try in the 1996 Bledisloe Cup, where his coruscating run beat seven Kiwi defenders.
Israel Folau might not be the most popular player in the world, with his recent off-pitch antics rather eclipsing his on-pitch achievements. But to hold that against his ability is wholly wrong and we should also remember his brilliance in attacking the line with intelligent angles and pace from every channel on the pitch. A sizable unit who crossed the whitewash with regularity, Folau terrorised every defence he ever played against and is rightly one of our four contenders. Whilst his loss from Union was somewhat inevitable after his public spat with Rugby Australia, the sport is considerably poorer for his playing absence.
Christian Cullen was a rugby genius. His try scoring record from 15 is unsurpassed in the game, as is the footwork and pace that took him over the tryline for those 46 Test scores. Unfortunate not to play in a World Cup final, Cullen was nevertheless one of the most exciting talents the rugby world has ever seen. His one shot at the World Cup was one blighted with injury where the All Blacks unusually played their star out of position at centre. However, when rugby sages like Grant Nisbett, a man who has commentated on over 400 Test matches says he is the best player he’s ever seen, it’s safe to conclude that through the 25 years of professional rugby no star shone quite as brightly as that of Cully.
Our choice at full-back is the Paekakariki Express himself, the great Christian Cullen.