Top 10 rugby legends
There are very few occasions greater for sporting fans than seeing their favourite players take to the biggest stages to showcase their immense talents.
Here at RugbyPass we’ve taken a look at the greatest names to have ever played our beloved sport.
This list doesn’t just look at the quality of the players in their prime, but also takes into account what they did for our game too.
10) Sergio Parisse
Sergio Parisse is a true veteran of the game. Playing at the highest level for 20+ years, he is without a shadow of a doubt the most decorated Italian rugby player of all time.
Making his international debut at the age of just 18 years old, Parisse helped embed his national side into the newly formed Six Nations Championship. Going on to win 142 caps, the former captain helped bring Italy into a genuine tier 1 side.
Born in Argentina to Italian parents, Parisse moved to Italy to pursue a rugby career. His professional career started at Benetton Treviso in 2003 where he played his trade for 4 years, before spending his prime rugby playing time at Stade Francais. Scoring 238 points in his time at the French side, Parisse eventually moved on to Toulon in 2019 to find yet more silverware.
A powerful number 8, Parisse has always had the skillset of a backline player. This alongside his mammoth size has allowed him to become one of the most dangerous players of all time.
9) Brian O’Driscoll
Often touted as the greatest Irish rugby player of all time, Brian O’Driscoll holds the record for both the most caps and the most tries for his national side.
Noted for having both exceedingly good ball skills and a brilliant rugby brain, he has an honours list as long as anyone in world rugby.
The four-time British and Irish Lions tourist and three-time six nations player of the tournament played his entire club career for Dublin-based province Leinster.
The Irish number 13 shirt became synonymous with Brian O’Driscoll, and he has since become one of the most well-known and respected rugby pundits in the game today.
8) David Campese
With more than a century of caps for Australia, David Campese was an electric back three player for the Wallabies.
Known for his trademark goose-step, there were very few players in the history of the game that could bring a crowd to their feet like Campese.
A cross-code player, Campese was also a prolific Rugby Sevens player performing at multiple Hong Kong Sevens competitions and was awarded the Leslie Williams Award for Player of the Tournament in 1988.
7) Waisale Serevi
Affectionately known as ‘the wizard’, he is often described as the greatest Rugby Sevens player of all time.
With multiple player of the tournament awards, Serevi was also the first-ever Fijian rugby player to be inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.
The skills Serevi possessed, and the footwork to go alongside them made him almost impossible to play against.
Quite unusually Serevi was a player that was also able to transfer his incredible sevens skills to the 15s game, appearing in a total of three Rugby World Cups for Fiji.
He played 359 tournaments in the sevens game and turned out for the fifteen aside national team 39 times.
6) Willy John McBride
The oldest of this list, Willie John McBride is a true legend of the game. The Ireland Rugby legend turned out for the British and Irish Lions a record seventeen times in test matches over five tours.
Known as one of the hardest men in rugby history, McBride instigated a policy of “one in, all in” during their 1974 tour of South Africa. The idea was when one Lion got into a fight on the field, all other Lions were expected to fight the nearest Springbok.
5) Johnny Wilkinson
With his list of honours so long, England rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson could possibly feel aggrieved not to find himself higher up on this list, alas.
Known for his dedicated work rate, leadership skills, and incredible kicking abilities, Wilkinson personified the position of fly-half.
Due to his exploits in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Wilkinson inspired a whole generation of young English rugby players.
Retiring in 2014 Wilkinson ended his career with one Premiership Rugby title, one Top 14 title, two Heineken Champions Cups, a Rugby World Cup, and multiple Six Nations Championships, all alongside a plethora of individual honours.
4) Gareth Edwards
Often described as the greatest ever player to wear the red of Wales. Edwards was a scrum-half well ahead of his time.
A career spanning 12 years saw Edwards turn out for Cardiff RFC 195 times. This one-club player made his national honours for Wales, as well as turning out for the British and Irish Lions on two separate tours.
Known for scoring the greatest try of all time for The Barbarians, Edwards touched down during their famous victory over the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973.
3) Dan Carter
The perfect 10. Dan Carter finally retired in 2020 after a career that saw him become arguably the greatest fly-half of all time.
Known for his incredible game management, kicking skills, smooth handling, and running ability.
Carter played the majority of his club career for the Crusaders, but he had stints over in France and Japan during the latter stages of his playing days.
The three-time World Rugby Player of the Year holds the record for the most international points scored of all time, as well as multiple other personal and team accolades.
2) Richie McCaw
Thought by many to be the greatest rugby player of all time, Richie McCaw holds a joint record three World Rugby Player of the Year awards. He was also given the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award, which is the highest sporting honour an individual can achieve in New Zealand.
McCaw played alongside Dan Carter for both the Crusaders and New Zealand, winning two world cups together.
McCaw’s record 148 caps for the All Blacks was achieved thanks to his ability to remain at the top of the world game throughout his career. He had an incredible ability to read the game as well as the referee.
Often a frustrating player to play against, the flanker was generally always on the edge of legality with his work around the breakdown, but always found a way to come out on the right side.
1) Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu reinvented the game of rugby. He brought in a whole generation of new fans with his incredible running abilities.
Standing at 6 ft 5 inches and weighing in at 19 stone in his prime, you would expect the huge specimen to be taking his place in the scrum. Instead, with the ability to run the 100m in 10.80 seconds, this absolute unit took his place on the field where he could find the most space, the wing.
With 37 tries for the All Blacks, Lomu had many career highlights over his career. This included scoring a record 15 Rugby World Cup tries, and literally running over Mike Catt during a semi-final match.
Unfortunately Jonah Lomu passed away at the young age of 40 in 2015 from a heart attack in relation to his long-term Kidney problems.
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments