Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

The titled XV: the men of the rugby world who have been bestowed special honours

By Online Editors
Former All Black Sir John Kirwan dots down for a try in a trial match. (Photo by Peter Bush/Getty Images)

By Paul Dobson with Rugby365

It is the time of the year when people look back to the past and pick teams, and if they are South Africans, they want to pick 15 Springboks after 2019 glory in Yokohama.

ADVERTISEMENT

In New Zealands’ New Year’s Honours List came the news that Steven Hansen had been knighted: Arise, Sir Stephen.

We thought of picking a team of titled rugby players from down the years.

Titles we are going to consider are those honour titles that go before the name, like Lord, Sir and Bishop. We are not going to look at job titles, like General and Prime Minister, nor at honours that follow the names, like OBE, JP, DSO or even VC of whom there are three.

We have one selection that we do not apologise for. Saints have been proclaimed by the voice of the people. Vox populi, they say, is the voice of God. Out flyhalf is as a result of the vox populi, not vox Reginae.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

All of our titled candidates are international rugby players. We give their country and, in brackets, the year of their international debut. Not surprisingly, most will be English and most long ago when rugby was very much an upper-crust game in England.

There are none from South Africa, which does not have such things, but several from New Zealand, which got them going again in 1996.

The date in brackets is the date of their international debut.

Titled Trialists

Australia: Sir Nick Shehadie (1947), Sir Ernest Dunlop (1932)

ADVERTISEMENT

View this post on Instagram

(6/13) The best test sides of the 2010's – 2015 Wallabies. This was a great Australian side stacked with legends such as Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Adam Ashley-Cooper as well as guys at their peak in David Pocock, Will Genia and Kurtley Beale. They won the shortened Rugby Championship but failed to win back the Bledisloe in two matches shared 1-1. In the pool of death at the World Cup they beat England and Wales, making a run to the final only to be beaten again by the all-time great All Blacks side. Still went 10-2 and the only losses came against New Zealand. One of the best test sides of the decade, and surely best Australian one of the 2010's. #wallabies #aussierugby #australiarugby #rugbyaustralia #worldrugby #rwc #rugby #rugbygram

A post shared by RugbyPass (@rugbypass) on

England: Sir Carl Aarvold (1928), Lord Wakefield of Hendal, Sir Lancelot Barrington-Ward (1910), Sir Arthur Blakiston (1920), Sir Edgar Bonham-Carter (1891), The Rev. Lancelot Percival KCVO (1891) whose Sir is not used because he was knighted when already Reverend which takes preference, Sir Duncan Cumming (1928), Sir John Luscombe (1871), Rt Hon Sir Arthur Luxmoore (1900), Sir Stephen Finney (1872), Sir Edward Fraser (1875), Sir Basil Hill (1903), Sir Archibald Law (1877), Sir Dermot Milman (1937), Sir William Milton (1874), Lord Philip Moore (1951), Sir Percy Royds (1898), Sir Clive Woodward (1980), Sir George Augustus Walker (1939), Peter Yarranton (1954), Sir Bill Beaumont (1975)

Ireland: Sir George Beamish (1925), Sir Ewart Bell (1953), Sir Joseph Chambers (1886), Sir Thomas Lyle (1885), Sir Frederick Moore (1884), Sir Anthony O’Reilly (1955), Sir Theodore Pike (1927), Bishop Victor Pike (1931), Sir William Pike (1879), Sir William Tyrrell (1910), Sir Basil McFarland (1920)

New Zealand: Sir Thomas Caughey (1932), Sir John Kirwan (1984), Sir Colin Meads (1957), Sir Brian Lochore (1964), Sir Wilson Whineray (1957), Sir Fred Allen (1946), Sir John Graham (1958), Sir Bryan Williams (1970)

ADVERTISEMENT

Scotland: Sir Augustus Asher (1882), Lord John Bannerman (1921), Sir Ronald Cumming (1921), Sir George Cunningham (1908), Sir Louis Greig (1905), Sir Robert Mackenzie (1877), Sir John Mowat (1883), Sir Tennant Sloan (1905), Sir Arthur Young (1874), Sir Ian McGeechan (1972), Sir Michael Jones (1987)

Wales: Sir William Cope (1896), Sir David Evans (1889), Sir Gareth Edwards (1967)

Coaches: Sir Graham Henry, Sir Stephen Hansen, Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Brian Lochore, Sir Fred Allen

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1211947778215161856

Titled XV

15 Sir William Milton
14 Sir John Kirwan
13 Sir Carl Aarvold
12 Sir Ian McGeechan
11 Sir Tony O’Reilly
10 King Barry John
9 Sir Gareth Edwards
8 Sir Brian Lochore
7 Sir Michael Jones
6 Lord Wakefield of Kendall (captain)
5 Sir Bill Beaumont
4 Sir Colin Meads
3 The Rev. Launcelot Percival
2 Bishop Victor Pike
1 Sir Nick Shehadie

Coach: Sir Clive Woodward – the only northern hemisphere coach whose team has won the Rugby World Cup
Manager: The Princess Royal, Princess Anne

WATCH: RugbyPass travelled to Brecon to see how life after rugby is treating Andy Powell.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 37 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

32 Go to comments
j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s 'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s
Search