100 club

Shamelessly pinched from B&I Lions facebook feed:

Keven Mealamu will become the 22nd player to play in 100 Tests in the third Bledisloe Cup game in Brisbane on Saturday. Aussie skipper Nathan Sharpe will go up to 112 caps. Try and pick a team out of this lot:

Rank Caps Player Team/Era Position
1 139 George Gregan Aus 94–07 SHallf
2 126 Brian O'Driscoll Ir/Lions 99–12 Centre
= 126 Ronan O'Gara Ir/Lions 00–12 OHalf
4 119 Jason Leonard Eng/Lions 90–04 Prop
5 118 Fabien Pelous Fr 95–07 Lock
6 112 Richie McCaw NZ 01-12 Flanker
7 111 Philippe Sella Fr 82–95 Centre
= 111 John Smit SA 00–11 Hooker
= 111 Nathan Sharpe Aus 02-12 Lock
10 110 Stephen Jones Wal/Lions 98–11OHalf
= 110 Victor Matfield SA 01–11 Lock
= 110 George Smith Aus 00–09 Flanker
13 109 Chris Paterson Scot 99–11 FBack/Wing
14 107 John Hayes Ir/Lions 00–11 Prop
15 104 Martyn Williams Wal/Lions 96–12 Flanker
16 103 Gareth Thomas Wal/Lions 95–07 Utility Back
17 102 Stephen Larkham Aus 96–07 OHalf
= 102 Percy Montgomery SA 97–08 Full Back
19 101 David Campese Aus 82–96 Wing
= 101 Alessandro Troncon Italy 94–07 SHalf
21 100 Mils Muliaina NZ 03-11 Full Back
22 99 Keven Mealamu NZ 02-12 Hooker

And my side:

Leonard / Mealamu / Smit
Pelous / Matfield
Smith / McCaw / Williams

Gregan / Larkham
Sella / BOD
Campo / Muliaina / Patterson

No 8s in the list, so McCaw fills in there. BOD and Sella playing Left and Right centre, not Inside and Outside. Smit at prop, as I never rated John Hayes, and Patterson on the wing for his kicking.

Reckon they'd give most sides a game!

Pretty much the same as me Rinsure, though I'd bite the bullet on Hayes as Smit was a poor prop. Great captain, but wasn't even the best hooker!

Also, Alfie goes in ahead of Patterson....no need for a goalkicker if needs be Bernie Larkham or Campo can kick goals

1 Jason Leonard
2 John Smit
3 John Hayes
4 Victor Matfield
5 Fabien Pelous
6 George Smith
7 Martyn Williams
8 Richie McCaw
9 George Gregan
10 Stephen Larkham
11 David Campese
12 Brian O'Driscoll
13 Philippe Sella
14 Mils Muliaina
15 Percy Montgomery


Can't be bothered working out whether I've doubled up on tightheads/looseheads and have a power lock. Suspect it's not a team to keep the opposition awake at night. Not enough truely world class players have hit a ton yet.

blackcanelion wrote:
Can't be bothered working out whether I've doubled up on tightheads/looseheads and have a power lock. Suspect it's not a team to keep the opposition awake at night. Not enough truely world class players have hit a ton yet.

You're fine on the prop front - the Fun Bus was one of the too few props to be equally proficient on either side of the scrum.

Are the figure counting Lions caps too (I thought Martyn Williams was only on 100).

Sella and BOD now that would have been a dream centre combination.