On the eve of his final test

Well on the eve of BOD's final test, I just thought to create a thread where we can all put our nationalities/banter etc aside to pay tribute to one of the greatest players in the professional era and NH hemisphere.

For me, growing up I always feared seeing his name on the teamsheet against wales, while not the biggest centre or most physically impressive centre his skill level and workrate are incredible, and while over the past year I did start to question whether he warranted his place, he kept doing the basics well and then last week showed that magic which we all loved and feared. While his pace may have dwindled so he was no longer able to make that break on the outside, he developed his game to make sure he stayed relevant in the game, his passing game to put others into space is superb, his jackaling skills are frankly better than some of the top opensides and despite constantly facing the evolution of the big boshing centres running down his channel, his defence never weakened and he has shown along with the likes of Jason Robison, shane Williams etc that there is still a place in the game for a perhaps less physically impressive player but with a skill set that can be matched by no others.

The term world class gets bandied around here a lot and I would say he is no longer world class, however the upmost compliment I could give him is the term legend- a term I would only use to those players who have stayed at the top of their game and adapted to injuries, law changes and a change in emphasis on size to still remain there at the top, when many other players may have called it a day.

I sincerely hope that Ireland win the 6N this year for BOD and it is apt that he finishes his international career where it all started, against france in france- lets hope he gets a try or two aswell!

Not ignoring your post, welshy, but just so close to such a big game that we're all brooding and perhaps don't want jinxing.  So perhaps tomorrow night will be a time for me to add a few more lines.  For now he's just another team player and they have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Who is BOD?

Apparently he is God, never have i seen such toe curling stuff, well not since Shane went anyway.

I loathe SCW but on this he is right, announcing your retirement hamstrings the management of the team and no man is bigger than the team, or the game. Since the disgraceful sour grapes following his totally justified exclusion from the final test in australia his retirement has turned into the death of a 1000 cuts.

Great player though.

Without doubt the best 13 i've seen mostly on the telly and he was brilliant again last Saturday and deserved motm whether he liked it or not.
The tragedy is that he didn't seem to travel well when it came to the Celtic/Magners/Pro12.
The max he appeared in the league in any season was 9 times according to the Leinster link below and no doubt they were mostly home games. Not sure, but I think I spotted him at CAP once.
http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/team/results/squad_leinster_first_team.php?player=4038&includeref=dynamic

Blown out of all proportion by the fans and media. I am sure BOD is over it all. A great man and I enjoyed chatting to him and having my picture taken in 2005 at Rotorua. I hope he has a great game, wins and goes out with a bang. Then it's all over we carry on.

Cardiff Dave wrote:Without doubt the best 13 i've seen mostly on the telly and he was brilliant again last Saturday and deserved motm whether he liked it or not.
The tragedy is that he didn't seem to travel well when it came to the Celtic/Magners/Pro12.
The max he appeared in the league in any season was 9 times according to the Leinster link below and no doubt they were mostly home games. Not sure, but I think I spotted him at CAP once.
http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/team/results/squad_leinster_first_team.php?player=4038&includeref=dynamic

I think that is one of the reasons why Premiership Rugby have done what they have with the HC. it would be interesting to see how many AP games the established stars of Ireland have played in each of the past 4 or 5 seasons and how many HC games they have played. The certainty of qualification and a generally poor standard in the bottom half of the Pro12 allows the top clubs to rest their key players for HC and International duties, especially as the Irish RU calls the shots with centrally contracted players.

Sorry to divert the thread, BOD has been the standout centre in the NH for a decade plus, always the gent and a player I hold in the highest esteem. There are not many players that I can say that about from any country.

Can I say I very rarely post on this site (International), but this topic deserved a response. Before most of the Irish come on after winning the 6N today, as someone who has watched very many of the greats of NH since the mid 60s, there would not be a better backs line up IMO, in that period than Edwards, John, Gibson, O'Driscoll, Duckham, Davies and JPR. For BoD to force his way ahead of true greats like Guscott, Dawes and Greenwood says it all IMO.