Whats the best XV you can make out of all the HEC teams as a kind of Dream Team?

First topic message reminder :

Was just reading the rather ambiguous thread on HEC wingers, the Ashton supporters vs Europe. Made me wonder about our preferences in other positions too..

So who do you think the best fifteen players from any of the competing HEC clubs/Regions/Provinces are? You can choose stats to back your team, gut feeling, personal preference, anything you wish. I am sure this will cause many differences of opinion.



THE ONLY RULE IS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMMENT ON ANYONE ELSES POST OR ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS THREAD, UNTIL YOU HAVE POSTED YOUR OWN TEAM...!!!

The reason I have asked this is to prevent people being subjected to the pointless trolling that some posters lament us with inane moronic comments trying to insight nasty arguments, when offering nothing in return.

I hope the moderators understand this and help up hold it...?

Metal Tiger, you really do love Leicester don't you.

Yeah, Young and Flood, deary me

and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Metal Tiger you would pick Micky Young as your scrum half!? Wallace?!It's your opinion though.

Like most of your pack though as I chose very similar.

Some pretty awesome teams.

1 Jenkins
2 Rees
3 Castro Giovanni
4 Grey
5 POC
6 Ferris
7 Warburton
8 Harinordiqe
9 Parra
10 Priestland
11 Vincent
12 Roberts
13 Rougerie
14 North
15 Necewa

Excuse my spelling, Im posting off my phone and can't check!

Mentions need to go to
Sexton - Priestland just pips him
SOB - Ferris is just too good
Britz - Havent seen him much
BOD - Injured
A.Jones - Injured

I think that's a pretty decent team.

If you are allowing SH players then a lot more come into contention than just Nacewa

Overlord, Adams Jones is back this weekend. He has been training all week.

LordDowlais wrote:Metal Tiger, you really do love Leicester don't you.

And your problem with that is??

Bathite wrote:Yeah, Young and Flood, deary me

What's wrong with picking the best 9/10 combination in Europe?

PS. Now you know why we sold you Moody!

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.



Just waiting now for Rodders to jump in here now

beshocked wrote:Metal Tiger you would pick Micky Young as your scrum half!? Wallace?!It's your opinion though.

Like most of your pack though as I chose very similar.

Some pretty awesome teams.

Ok... I missed the "S" of the end of Youngs.

I've been watching Wallace with great interest, he is young, fit, fast and furious. Scraps really well at the breakdown, runs well with ball in hand and tackles like a demon. He may not be up there with the greats in terms of experiance and age but he IS one of the form players this year. A good fetching 7.

Metal Tiger wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Metal Tiger, you really do love Leicester don't you.

And your problem with that is??

Allright,allright, keep your hair on I was only pointing to the fact that you seem to have a lot of Leicester players in your side, dispite this side being in the bottom end of the AP.

Pretty important miss Metal Tiger especially when there is a player in your team with a similar name!

I don't see what all this hype about Wallace is about. I'll watch him closely when Sarries play Quins at Twickenham.

If this was a HC form XV I wouldn't have picked half my side!

Flood better than Evans?

I was good. I only picked one Saracens player. Realistic choice too.

1.Healy (Leinster)
2.Brits (Sarries)
3.Castrogiovanni (Tigers)
4.Pierre (Clermont)
5.Gray (Glasgow)
6.Gorgodze (Montpellier)
7.Warburton (Cardiff Blues)
8.Harinorduquy (Biarritz)
9.Youngs (Tigers)
10.Evans (Quins)
11.Clerc (Tolouse)
12.Roberts (Cardiff)
13.Manu (Tigers)
14.Medard (Toulouse)
15.Nacewa (Leinster)

Was tempted to go with Cole at 3 as he has also been in brilliant form but Castro just adds a bit more round the park. Manu and Roberts in the centre is a must, will be the next Lions midfield.

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.

...you must have been watching a different game Metal Tiger ......Croft spent most of that game on his backside wondering which scrum capped player in white had ran over the top of him.....

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:Yeah, Young and Flood, deary me

What's wrong with picking the best 9/10 combination in Europe?

PS. Now you know why we sold you Moody!

Players don't get sold, this isn't football. Would have preferred Salvi every day of the week, he was class when we had him, your very lucky to have him.

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.

You were at a different game to me.
Leicester were the better scrum, Ulster were better at the breakdown but in the end it game control from 10 that decided the game.

If the 10's were the other way round the result would have been reversed

1. Tonga'uiha (Saints)
2. Best (Ulster)
3. Castrogiovanni (Leicester)
4. Richie Gray (Glasgow)
5. Paul O'Connell (Munster)
6. Ferris (Ulster)
7. Dusatoir (Toulouse)
8. Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
9. Lloyd Williams (Blues)
10. Rhys Priestland (Scarlets)
11. Tim Visser (Edinburgh)
12. Roberts (Blues)
13. Rougerie (Clermont)
14. Clerc (Toulouse)
15. Nacewa (Leinster)

Bathite wrote:

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:Yeah, Young and Flood, deary me

What's wrong with picking the best 9/10 combination in Europe?

PS. Now you know why we sold you Moody!

Players don't get sold, this isn't football. Would have preferred Salvi every day of the week, he was class when we had him, your very lucky to have him.

It's a turn of phrase... Ok... why we let him go. Is that better?

It is always the recourse of those who've lost the argument to begin correcting spelling & grammar.

There isn't an argument to win or lose. I just questioned that Youngs and Flood were the best 9/10 in the HC this year. Don't think I have seen any other posters choose those two. You must have such a head ache, only using one eye all the time!

geoff998rugby wrote:

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.

You were at a different game to me.
Leicester were the better scrum, Ulster were better at the breakdown but in the end it game control from 10 that decided the game.

If the 10's were the other way round the result would have been reversed

And if my Ma had one leg and no sense of direction she would be playing blindside for Ulster

I guess we will have to settle this at your place in a few weeks time!

Metal Tiger wrote:And if my Ma had one leg and no sense of direction she would be playing blindside for Ulster

There you go Geoff you said we were after another back rower!

You were at a different game to me.
Leicester were the better scrum, Ulster were better at the breakdown but in the end it game control from 10 that decided the game.

I'd say Ben Youngs decided the game. The injection of his attacking abilities in the second half raised the Tigers tempo at the same time as the Ulster forwards were runnning out of steam. His quick play gave Tigers the room and luxuary for Flood to allow the gubber through for Smith.

I think a lot of Tigers fans were left feeling underwhelmed by Ferris after all the pre game hype. His tendancy to run sideways before straightening and to never pass led to him butchering a few moves and slowing the Ulster ball down. There was none of his trade mark massive hits either.

Personally, I'm suprised that not everyone put Priestland at 10!

Preistland did very well in NZ but has since then mostly been injured; as a counter to that Nick Evans has guided Quins to their record breaking win run, and would almost certainly have been Carter's understudy in the world cup had he stayed in NZ - both very good players

Morgannwg wrote:Personally, I'm suprised that not everyone put Priestland at 10!

To be honest I haven't seen him play in the HEC yet this year. Sexton had two very good games for Leinster and ROG kicked those two last minute drop goals, so both stood out for me.

Morgannwg because Nick Evans is a better player. Also he's in excellent form.

Priestland is better.

Nick Evans just has the whole team working around him, he's become a central force that guides Quins very well. There is little that you could fault him for, even his defence is good and he is anything but imposing physically.

Priestland is good but operates to a fixed game plan when I've seen him. Evans has more experience and alters the teams game plan when he needs too. I'd say it's that experience that made me go for Evans, when the pressure is on you'd back him and currently he is in great form.

Evans has been on great form since he came to England! Been a couple of times since that the rest of the Quins have joined him, ie now and also the Amlin cup run last year

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.



Just waiting now for Rodders to jump in here now

Huh?? Are you serious or are you joking? Please be joking!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Metal Tiger wrote:

Bathite wrote:and croft at 6? Salvi yes, but has Croft been that special this year?

Croft outplayed Ferris in Ulsters last visit to Welford Road.



Just waiting now for Rodders to jump in here now

Huh?? Are you serious or are you joking? Please be joking!

You tell him Rory!

This is an interesting exercise and it shows up some anomolies to me. Good back row players are all over the place so its hard to think who to leave out butstand offs? its hardly a vintage time for them No real greats sticking their hands up anywere?

I don't mean to sound biased towards Ulster.. and in Ferris' absence I was all for O'Brien taking the 6 shirt for Ireland with Ferris on the bench when he returned (I forgot just how good Ferris was) but I honestly don't think there should be any other option at 6 but Ferris (in the HEC). SOB is also a fantastic player, but not as good a 6 as Ferris is. Lydiate is making a name for himself but has a long way to go. Dusautoir isn't really a 6 and is in a totally different category from Ferris I reckon.

This honestly isn't intended to sound biased, but Ferris is that sort of player that does jaw droppingly amazing stuff. The stuff that shows up on rugbydump every week haha

roddersm wrote:

Metal Tiger wrote:And if my Ma had one leg and no sense of direction she would be playing blindside for Ulster

There you go Geoff you said we were after another back rower!

I know great isn't it.

Mind you we have the best 6 in Europe anyway, even with only 1 leg, think how good he would be with 2

To be serious just for a minute if I was picking some mythical HEC Lions type squad the 5 backrowers I would take on tour would be

Ferris, SOB, Dusatoir, Parisse and Warburton.

To me they are the stand out individuals and also would cover well for any injuries

Further to that Rory he is in amazing form. Two MOTM awards in his last 4 performances since the RWC. Lets face it Ulster have been pants this season but Ferris has been immense. That performance against Edinburgh was as good as you'll see from a 6 anywhere.

Another thing that shows his class though, is he was out of rugby since January. He returns to a World Cup, and still manages to be one of the top performers in the tournament. You wouldn't even have thought he was out for 6 months.

And Geoff, I would add Gorgodze to that list, he is a monster!

EDIT: Other than that I totally agree with your choices. I wouldn't change any of them.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:And Geoff, I would add Gorgodze to that list, he is a monster!

+ 1 Any chance of signing him Geoff?!!

This honestly isn't intended to sound biased, but Ferris is that sort of player that does jaw droppingly amazing stuff.

Yeah that's the kind of hype we were hearing. Then he turned up and didn't deliver. Not that we Tigers fans were complaining about that .

At the minute I'd sacrifice the Irish blindside options (which are damn good) in order to make a place for Gorgodze as the man is a machine ball in hand. Always gets over the gainline and gives the 9 a great 'out option' off of most phases.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

This honestly isn't intended to sound biased, but Ferris is that sort of player that does jaw droppingly amazing stuff.

Yeah that's the kind of hype we were hearing. Then he turned up and didn't deliver. Not that we Tigers fans were complaining about that .

Geoff make sure you tell Ferris that the Tigers fans thought he was rubbish before the Ravenhill game!

Ferris struggled a bit in the last 30 mins because of an injury - nothing serious though.

Does Gorgodze have an Irish granny

formerly known as Sam wrote:

This honestly isn't intended to sound biased, but Ferris is that sort of player that does jaw droppingly amazing stuff.

Yeah that's the kind of hype we were hearing. Then he turned up and didn't deliver. Not that we Tigers fans were complaining about that .

At the minute I'd sacrifice the Irish blindside options (which are damn good) in order to make a place for Gorgodze as the man is a machine ball in hand. Always gets over the gainline and gives the 9 a great 'out option' off of most phases.

Well hopefully he is going to change your mind next time we meet. And he will

Like I said in my choice for the HEC team:

6) Ferris
7) O'Brien
8) Gorgodze

I would hate to be the opposition! Nappies would be issued before the start of the game.

geoff998rugby wrote:To be serious just for a minute if I was picking some mythical HEC Lions type squad the 5 backrowers I would take on tour would be

Ferris, SOB, Dusatoir, Parisse and Warburton.

To me they are the stand out individuals and also would cover well for any injuries

Great shout, that 5 offers it all, specialism in Parisse, Ferris and Warbs and some versatility with Dus and SOB.

Sooo tempted to do a whole squad now!

Not pretty Rory.....but I like it!

I don't think O'Brien has been playing 'that' well since the RWC. Young O'Mahoney has impressed me more actually. Jennings has been classy as well.

Ferris and Gordgoze have definitely stood out though.

I thought O'Brien had a good game at 8 over the weekend. Not a fantastic game or anything, but he just made his usual runs and a few good turnovers. That is the thing though, I think O'Brien is going to have to offer more in terms of his counter rucking and support play over the next few seasons, as many teams will now look to cancel his runs. I think his running game will begin to fade more. Still a great option to have though on the support.

Always said I though O'Brian is a better 8 than a 7. Had this discussion with a few Irish posters on another thread.

7 is a pretty specialised position designed for quick players who excell at tackling and disrupting opposition ball at the breakdown thus slowing the ball down and forcing turnovers.

SOBs biggest asset is his physical rampaging running game. At 8 he could pick up from the base of the scrum and give the opposition flankers something to think about, especialy on 5 meter Scrums.

If I were in charge of Leinster I would seriously consider swapping him and Heaslip. I reckon this would get the best out of 2 fantastic backrowers.

You say 7 is a specialist position but I think you are wrong. As long as the combination is right between 6 and 7, you do not need any "specialist". They are both flanker positions, and both must work well together. That is why you get very diverse combinations. 8 is the specialist position as there is only one on the pitch, and they have a specific role of controlling the ball at the base of the scrum and providing a link between the forwards and backs.

Why would you swap Heaslip, a specialist 8, to 7? O'Brien is versatile enough to play all three back row positions. As I said in my earlier post, I think his running game will be exploited more from now on, and he will have to prove himself in other assets of his game. For example, his counter rucking is very underrated.

I just think he would bring more impact at the base of the Scrum than Heaslip. His pick ups would be devestating tying up a flanker and perhaps the fly half too. This would create spaces out wide for the backs to exploit, just my opinion though.