TSF Teams of the Decade
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Team of the decade
All Blacks Foreigner 1 T Woodcock (71%) T Mtawarira (62% SA) 2 D Coles (81%) B du Plessis (50% SA) 3 O Franks (100%) T Furlong (41% Ire) / A Jones 41% Wales) 4 B Retallick (100%) A Wyn Jones (39% Wales) 5 S Whitelock (85%) E Etzebeth (24% SA) 6 J Kaino (96%) S Burger (50% SA) 7 R McCaw (100%) S Warburton (33% Wales) 8 K Read (100%) D Vermeulen (63% SA) 9 A Smith (100%) W Genia (46% Aus) 10 D Carter (100%) J Sexton (41% Ire) 11 J Savea (82%) G North (54% Wales) 12 M Nonu (96%) M Giteau (41% Aus) 13 C Smith (96%) J Davies (61% Wales) 14 C Jane (80%) B Habana (92% SA) 15 B Smith (86%) I Folau (38% Aus) All Blacks
Voting for the AB team of the decade was a bit of an anticlimax. Unusually for the Fern there was consensus on almost every position.
Look at the lowest vote share: Woodcock with 'only' 71%
Six position were unanimous (two didn't even warrant a second nomination)
Sure if you were picking your own XV you might move Ben Smith to accomodate Dagg etc but we had to have a one player one position rule. Otherwise we could've had Ben Smith as right wing and fullback.
It's almost the same team as the one the Stuff website came up with. The differences from their team:
- They had Thorn ahead of Whitelock
- Ben Smith was a winger
- They moved Barrett to fullback
A special mention goes to @ARHS for claiming Meesam was the best 6, Crotty the best 12 and ALB the best centre
Foreigner XV
A lot more competition in the voting here. Only Habana really dominated the voting for a position
This side is dominated be the Saffa's and Welsh. A handful of Aussies and Irish but the big surprise is no Poms.
So soon after the semi final result I was expecting the (mostly) kiwi voters to rate the English.There were a few more in the 2nd XV..
2nd XVs
I added in the players with an * because there was no 2nd option on the poll
All Blacks B Team Foreigner B Team 1 J Moody (21%) M Vunipola (14% Eng) / G Jenkins (14% Wales) 2 K Mealamu (19%) A Creevy (27% Arg) 3 C Faumuina * T Furlong (41% Ire) / A Jones 41% Wales) 4 B Thorn (15%) V Matfield (20 % SA) 5 S Barrett (0%) P O'Connell (13% Ire) 6 L Meesam (4%) J Smith (32% SA) 7 S Cane (0%) D Pocock (29% Aus) 8 V Vito * B Vunipola (17% Eng) 9 TJ Perenara (0%) C Murray (42% Ire) 10 B Barrett (0%) H Pollard (32% SA) 11 R Ioane (14%) N Nadolo (21% Fiji) 12 R Crotty (4%) J Roberts (32% Wales) 13 A Lienert-Brown (4%) M Tuilagi (21% Eng) 14 N Milner-Skudder (13%) A Ashley Cooper (8% Aus) 15 I Dagg (11%) L Halfpenny (19% Wales) / L Williams (19% Wales) It's probably a bit redundant asking a mostly kiwi website who would win a match between the sides...
Are you happy with the selections?
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5 S Barrett (0%)
7 S Cane (0%)
8 V Vito *
9 TJ Perenara (0%)
10 B Barrett (0%)These guys get zero % but make the 2nd XV. Shows how dominant those other guys were.
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Couple that stand out in the Internationals
Matt Giteau barely played test rugby last decade. He didn't play the World Cup in 2011, then fucked off to France. He came back in 2015, and isn't that pretty much it? And that makes him the 12 of the decade?
Also i struggle to think there wasn't a better body of work from a 6 than Burger in the 2010s, considering he battled with injuries. One of my favourite players, but his best work was the decade before.
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Is it that easy to get banned here? Must remember to always support the popular choice and brute power over multi-skills and creativity. Wanted to have Beauden at fullback, Ben Smith on the wing, Conrad Smith at centre and ALB at second five, but was not allowed to do that. Messam is my hero for what he brought to teams, sevens, super rugby, maoris and AB's. Was still a split decision with Kaino for me though. More than happy with the teams the group came up with though.
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@ARHS said in TSF Teams of the Decade:
Is it that easy to get banned here? Must remember to always support the popular choice and brute power over multi-skills and creativity. Wanted to have Beauden at fullback, Ben Smith on the wing, Conrad Smith at centre and ALB at second five, but was not allowed to do that. Messam is my hero for what he brought to teams, sevens, super rugby, maoris and AB's. Was still a split decision with Kaino for me though. More than happy with the teams the group came up with though.
Easy? You've just done the equivalent of multiple murders.
But don't worry you have company, the (presumably) Cantab who didn't vote for Nonu also deserves to be strung up as well.
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That All Black team of the decade is remarkably uncontentious. A squillion caps and for a lot of them, a solid argument for best player in their position. Very lucky to have watched a team of that skill level play over that period.
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@mariner4life said in TSF Teams of the Decade:
Couple that stand out in the Internationals
Matt Giteau barely played test rugby last decade. He didn't play the World Cup in 2011, then fucked off to France. He came back in 2015, and isn't that pretty much it? And that makes him the 12 of the decade?
Also i struggle to think there wasn't a better body of work from a 6 than Burger in the 2010s, considering he battled with injuries. One of my favourite players, but his best work was the decade before.
Yeah, but Jamie Roberts appeared to be the next best option and he's a pretty limited player. Nonu was so far ahead of his peers in that period it's not even funny.