Who is the worst professional player you've ever seen?

First topic message reminder :

Whilst commenting on another thread about Aussie call-ups for the upcoming Wales tour, I stated that Tom Carter was one of the worst players that I have ever seen...this thought got me in to many a conversations through the day (many mates agreeing with Carter, all mainly Waratah fans) and I was thinking of who else I felt was pants...

So...

Tom Carter
Matt Cardey
Derwyn Jones

So, who are yours? Who are the players that you dreaded seeing in your team's lineup? Or who are the one's you were over the moon with seeing in the opposition's?

Who has been the worst professional rugby player you've ever seen?

I was thinking Derwyn Jones and Darren Morris. I liked the Welsh team. I would have Ron Waldron as the coach though.

PerryGee wrote:

But this thread is not about worst player, it is about worst professional.

Obviously, we've got differing interpetations of the question then. I (as others seem to) think it's about which professional players are poor performers, not which players exhibit the least professional behaviour. To be fair to Gavin, before 2009/10 he was an excellent professional player.

twoeightnine wrote:I was thinking Derwyn Jones and Darren Morris. I liked the Welsh team. I would have Ron Waldron as the coach though.

Gareth Jenkins must surely be in the running as coach.

Mickado wrote:The title is “worst pro player”, not worst international player. So I’d go for someone like Juan Gomez. A shockingly poor player at Leinster, last time I saw him he was being pushed around Tallaght stadium for the Argie Jaguars by Brett Wilkinson.

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great shout mick. remember watching him warm up behind the posts in the RDS. he was in absolute tatters after about 5 shuttle runs, came on as sub and was subbed 20 minutes later. must have signed the wrong juan gomez. we signed a chainsmoking butcher from buenos aires

EDDIE BUTLER (Does boot money count)

dublin_dave wrote:

Mickado wrote:The title is “worst pro player”, not worst international player. So I’d go for someone like Juan Gomez. A shockingly poor player at Leinster, last time I saw him he was being pushed around Tallaght stadium for the Argie Jaguars by Brett Wilkinson.

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great shout mick. remember watching him warm up behind the posts in the RDS. he was in absolute tatters after about 5 shuttle runs, came on as sub and was subbed 20 minutes later. must have signed the wrong juan gomez. we signed a chainsmoking butcher from buenos aires

We had a bad habit of signing props based on where their from rather than ability. Harry Vermass, a Saffer prop who can play both sides and fill in as a hooker if needed, SOLD!

Donnocha O'Callaghan

Ceiron Thomas has to be up there for the Scarlets. As a 10, you expect some modicum of talent and ability that elevated you to that position. Complete guff.

Marcus Di Rollo was a knock on looking for a place to happen. And Michael Pike who played for Canada only joined Edinburgh for comedy value. Once, when he was about to get binned, he was getting a lecture from the ref and some wise guy in the crowd, thinking Pike had been asked for his name, shoute "Don't tell him, Pike"

InjuredYetAgain wrote:Marcus Di Rollo was a knock on looking for a place to happen. And Michael Pike who played for Canada only joined Edinburgh for comedy value. Once, when he was about to get binned, he was getting a lecture from the ref and some wise guy in the crowd, thinking Pike had been asked for his name, shoute "Don't tell him, Pike"

Stupid Boy

Blydi soccer fans

RubyGuby wrote:My worse welsh XV Managed of course by Gareth Jenkins and coached by Steve Hanson

15 - Matt Cardey
14 - Arthur Emyr
13 - Boobyer/Sweeney
12 - David Evans
11 - Alun Edmunds
10 - Adrian Davies/Lee Jarvis/Sweeney
9 - Richard Smith
8 - Craig Quinnell
7 - Kingsley Jones (Capt)
6 - Popham
5 - Will James/Huw Richards
4 - Derwyn Jones
3 - Chris Horsman/Yapp
2 - Kevin Phillips
1 - Martyn Madden

Most from the late 80's and 90's is no coincidence - Some of these would not have made Regional teams

Ruby,

Dis-agree on the Kingsley Jones selection as he was a class act but was in the time of the nig is beautiful era so never got a look in. There are quite a few missing off that list which makes for sad reading considering most had a decent amount of caps.

Colin Stephens
Arwel Thomas
Chris Bridges
JJ Hughes
Andy Marinos
Hal Luscombe
Anthony Sullivan
Nathan Buggett
Byran Hayward
All the Boobyers
Wayne 'made of glass' Proctor
Warren the scrum half can't remember his surname

geoff998rugby wrote:Andy Kershaw - if any one outside Ulster remembers him I'm seriously impressed. In fact I would be impressed by any Ulster supporter who has seen him play

Was playing with him up until a few years ago...he tells a story of how Jason Leonard told him he was just keeping the Lions shirt warm for him...

To be fair at the level we were playing at he was awesome in the scrum...he seemed to have found his level. Herts and Middlesex 1...

Chev Walker

Gavin Henson. Oh no you said professional so scrub that.

I still feel it's Donncha O'Callaghan, I mean you can watch a match and probably wont realise he was playing, I feel the same way about John Hayes, he also did nothing for a whole match but everyone said how great he was. I mean doing the gritty work is good but thats all they do, Ferris or POC do the grind and make an actual impact on the match, what seperates them from making an impact, simple they are just not good players.

Berrick Barnes!

Just the complete opposite of all that's good about Australian rugby, kick kick kick kick kick and they are all cack!

AWJ....a lock that's no good at being a lock

For England -
Henry Paul, Andy Farrell (great League guys but never made the switch to union).
Borthwick.
Barkley
Tait - how did he manage to get so many caps!
Andy Goode - slotted goals but offered nothing else and kicked so much away (oh, just like Farrell junior)

Quins - De Wet Barry
Wasps - VanGisbergen

What about that giant numpty that plays for Bath and England, currently and on on the wing/centre - utterly useless. I am so useless I can't remember his name

Just remembered - Bananaman !

Gordon D'arcy

Stephen Ireland's wig! wrote:Gordon D'arcy

how is darcy a bad player? Hes one of the best centres we have ever produced.

I give you Clint Newland.

The worst player who ever (dis) graced a Leinster jersey.

Tim Payne has to be close, three time prem winner and two heinekin cup medals alongside being a lions tourist and he is utterly Poopie!

For Scotladn - Brendon laney - and we also had some 20 stone lump of a prop who was utterly useless and whos name I can't remember. Parachuted in for a few games

Ladies and Gents I give you the man with the biggest chin in rugby, Mr Willie Mason.

Went across from League to Union with great promise, played a handful of games in France, did very little then went away again. Chased the money, didn't earn it. Not very professional.

Ye, Im not D'Arcy's biggest fan for his last 3 years in an Irish jersey, but you cannot call him a poor professional on any level, save being some what injury prone and that shows he puts himself in the way of the ball/opposition.

As for the Donncha wind up, save yourself the bother of re-posting for bait.

I like the man and when he had a few good games he could be devastating, including handling John Afoa on the 2010 tour of NZ/Oz, but Tony Buckley was too infuriating to watch as a Munster fan.

He made an offload in that game against NZ that led to a try for Ireland had a Leinster back done the same thing would have resulted in a collective orgasm and highlight reel for said fans. And his next game for Munster he was crap all over again. grr. Then that November he played well against the Argies and that was probably his last decent game, nearly 2 years ago now which is scary. Tempis fugit.

I don't know if this legend quite made it as far as the professional era, but I simply have to include him here in any case. Gave us all many happy hours of amusement, he did.

That masterful drop at goal (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK521QzDHhE).

That defensive artistry (www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKX25LaoM_M)

There has been, is, and can only ever be one...Arthur Emyr, may he live long and prosper.

captain carrantuohil wrote:I don't know if this legend quite made it as far as the professional era, but I simply have to include him here in any case. Gave us all many happy hours of amusement, he did.

That masterful drop at goal (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK521QzDHhE).

That defensive artistry (www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKX25LaoM_M)

There has been, is, and can only ever be one...Arthur Emyr, may he live long and prosper.

Had never seen this before. Like a car crash. Wanted to look away. Couldn't.

Should be a good day to unify the boards - we can all poke fun at a Welshman without anyone thinking it a WUM.

With the drop goal, all I can say is 'what was he thinking?' OK, wasn't Rob Jones's finest ever pass, but it was fairly quick ball and a disrupted defence, so surely he could have run it back or moved the ball on to the men on his left.

The clearance kick - well, let's just say that some players should not attempt to kick the ball. That the resulting try was scored on hs wing had a certain amount of poetic justice.

Has anyone attempted to construct a list of the best bad XV from all nominations (I see the Welsh XV up thread)?

In all fairness, the full-back has to be English. Pick almost any one you like up until Lewsey/Robinson gave the position in England some sort of respectability, but I find it hard to separate Rossborough, Chris Martin (Jiffy's bunny) and Marcus Rose. Any of the above worse than Matt Cardey, IMO.

Captain
Only thing possibly preventing Marcus Rose making this team is that he wasn't a pro (at least I think he retired before the pro era). Always one of my favourites as an example of how awful England were at times in the 80s.

Pretty sure we can nominate a few English halfbacks for both the 9 and 10 jerseys. Shaun Perry and Andy Goode would certainly be good candidates for the fattest pair of halfbacks of the pro era, and both would be credible picks for this team, although I'm very tempted to go with a 10-12-13 axis of Parks-Laney-Di Luca

captain carrantuohil wrote:In all fairness, the full-back has to be English. Pick almost any one you like up until Lewsey/Robinson gave the position in England some sort of respectability, but I find it hard to separate Rossborough, Chris Martin (Jiffy's bunny) and Marcus Rose. Any of the above worse than Matt Cardey, IMO.

You can't cover a list of great English full backs without mentioning Matt Perry.

Who was the German chap who played on the wing for England? Always kept 2 hands on the ball like a schoolboy? Looked a bit like Tim 'Nice but Dim'. He was bloody awful.

Andy Henderson for Scotland. He was a ham fisted centre to say the least. He almost certainly had 10 thumbs and no fingers.

To call himself an international class centre...... he was kidding himself.

Phil Christophers, Sean - definitely one of the weaker wings fielded in the 21st century by an international team. Good call.

dummy_half wrote:Captain
Only thing possibly preventing Marcus Rose making this team is that he wasn't a pro (at least I think he retired before the pro era). Always one of my favourites as an example of how awful England were at times in the 80s.

Pretty sure we can nominate a few English halfbacks for both the 9 and 10 jerseys. Shaun Perry and Andy Goode would certainly be good candidates for the fattest pair of halfbacks of the pro era, and both would be credible picks for this team, although I'm very tempted to go with a 10-12-13 axis of Parks-Laney-Di Luca

I think Piri must challenge for that title.

Nah, Chainsaw surely takes the prize in the Scottish jersey. How he got the SRU to pay him to play is beyond me. I mean, i never saw the club level performances to warrent the call up.

Like say, Charlie Hodgeson, he never made it in white but was consistantly good for Sale & quite creative at 10, it just never translated, imho. But he earned the call up the first time, if not the subsequent recalls etc.

But what did Brendan Laney actually do/ Other than disappear into rucks so he was 'doing something' while his channel was blitzed?!

debaters1 wrote:Nah, Chainsaw surely takes the prize in the Scottish jersey. How he got the SRU to pay him to play is beyond me. I mean, i never saw the club level performances to warrent the call up.

Like say, Charlie Hodgeson, he never made it in white but was consistantly good for Sale & quite creative at 10, it just never translated, imho. But he earned the call up the first time, if not the subsequent recalls etc.

But what did Brendan Laney actually do/ Other than disappear into rucks so he was 'doing something' while his channel was blitzed?!

I agree on Laney, though Scotland were particularly bad at the time.

debaters

Agree that Hodgson should be no-where near any discussions of worst professional player. He disappointed somewhat for England compared with his club form - for me he often looked nervous and tight when playing for England, perhaps because he was usually replacing the media's darling in Wilko, and so every slight mistake (especially in defence) got jumped on. After a while I think it just eroded his confidence . However, he was the 10 that turned Sale into a credible challenger at domestic level.

I feel sorry for the Scots when threads like this are around - so many of your recent players, particularly the inside backs, take a (frequently deserved) hammering. Must be so disheartening for a country that had so much more talent through these areas when I was a kid (Laidlaw-Rutherford-Renwick etc).

In 2005 Hodgson should have started for the Lions.

Stag, who would you have had kicking though? As Charlie missed too many kicks, take that away from him and he could have ran things better when the Lions had the ball. The reason I ask is because, whomever Sir Clive chose to play 10, by far his worst decision concerned putting Wilko at 12. Brain dead move.