Bettor.Com, ‘Rugby’s Test Team of the Decade’ (Part 3)
Position: Open Side Flanker
Player: Richie McCaw
Country: New Zealand
Richard Huge McCaw is our player of the decade for the position of open side flanker. The 29 years old, Oamaru born player currently captaining the All Blacks and his career performances at the position of open side player definitely make him one of the
all time great players.
105 kg weight player started his domestic rugby career in 1999, before that he had been played rugby at his school level. He made his international debut in 2001 and since then, he has played 89 test matches for All Blacks and scored 95 points. He had a
great 2003 world cup, where he performed out class but couldn’t win the title for his country. His current annual salary is 600,000 dollars with a daily pay of about 2300 NZD.
He achieved lots of awards in his career. He declared 2 times IBP player of the year in 2006 and 2009.
Position: Blind Side Flanker
Player: Juan Smith
Country: South Africa
Juan Smith, 6’ 5’’ tall player plays at the position of blind side flanker for South Africa is our player of the decade for this position. Smith was born in Bloemfontein in 1981. He has huge participation in South Africa’s win since he made his international
debut in 2003 against Scotland. Since after his debut for his country, he has been integral part of South Africa’s national squad.
He was also the key part of the South African squad, which won the 2007 world cup. Smith is also a strong ball carrier and has decent pace, which without any doubt make his the best blind side flanker of this decade.
He has played 42 matches for South Africa and has scored 50 points for his country.
Position: Lock (1)
Player: Victor Matfield
Country: South Africa
33 years old Victor Matfield was born in Pietersburg. He is one of the tallest players in the game of rugby. He plays at the position of lock for South Africa and he is generally considered one of the best players for this position. He is famous due to skill
of disrupting opposition line outs and his that skill was one of the major reasons behind South Africa’s success of 2007 world cup.
He had a love of cricket in his early days but as injury took him away from cricket and then he decided to start rugby.
He started his domestic rugby career in 1999. His main domestic club is bulls. He made his international debut against Italy back in 2001. He has played 101 matches for his country and scored 30 points as well.
He has many achievements during his career. His most important achievement came in the final of 2007 world cup, where he was declared man of the match. He was also nominated for the International Rugby player of the year back in 2005 but he couldn’t win
it.
Position: Lock (2)
Player: Martin Johnson
Country: England
Martin Osborne Johnson is one of the greatest sports personalities Britain has. He used to play at the position of lock for England. He was the captain of England when they won the world cup in 2003. Currently he is holding the position of manager of England’s
national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever played. He played as captain during most of his career, either that is domestic rugby or international.
Johnson was born in West Midlands and he started his domestic career in 1989 for the club Leicester tigers. He only played one club during his whole domestic career. He played 307 matches for his club and scored 40 points. He retired from domestic rugby
in 2005.
Johnson has made his test debut against France in 1993. His most successful year of career was 2003, when England won world cup under his captaincy and his performance was greatly admired.
He was awarded the CBE in 2004 and he was second in the BBC Sports Personality of the year awards.
He played 84 matches in his international career for England and retired from international rugby in 2004.
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