{"id":585516,"date":"2025-11-21T21:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T21:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/585516\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T21:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T21:58:10","slug":"paul-oconnell-names-his-top-six-rugby-players-of-all-time-page-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/585516\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul O\u2019Connell names his top SIX rugby players of all-time &#8211; Page 2 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83c\udfc9\u00a0<strong>Martin Johnson \u2013 \u201cHe had a presence\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Position:<\/strong>\u00a0Lock<\/li>\n<li><strong>Country:<\/strong>\u00a0England<\/li>\n<li><strong>Caps:<\/strong>\u00a083<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Martin Johnson is the definition of a rugby titan. A natural leader, he captained\u00a0<strong>the British &amp; Irish Lions to victory in 1997<\/strong>\u00a0and later led England to their historic\u00a0<strong>2003 World Cup win<\/strong>. A fierce competitor with immense authority on the pitch, Johnson\u2019s influence extended far beyond physicality\u2014his presence alone could tilt the momentum of a match.<\/p>\n<p><strong>O\u2019Connell\u2019s take:<\/strong><br \/>\u201cHe was absolutely someone to be admired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udca5 Jerry Collins \u2013 \u201cHe\u2019d just destroy people\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Position:<\/strong>\u00a0Flanker<br \/><strong>Country:<\/strong>\u00a0New Zealand<br \/><strong>Caps:<\/strong>\u00a048<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jerry Collins was one of the most feared tacklers to ever wear an All Blacks jersey. Bursting onto the scene in the early 2000s, Collins built his reputation on raw physicality, unrelenting aggression, and an unmatched work rate. Whether carrying into contact or smashing attackers backwards, he epitomised the brutal efficiency of New Zealand rugby.<\/p>\n<p><strong>O\u2019Connell\u2019s take:<\/strong><br \/>\u201cHe\u2019d just destroy people!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcaa\u00a0<strong>Bakkies Botha \u2013 The enforcer<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Position:<\/strong>\u00a0Lock<\/li>\n<li><strong>Country:<\/strong>\u00a0South Africa<\/li>\n<li><strong>Caps:<\/strong>\u00a085<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bakkies Botha was the ultimate rugby enforcer. As part of the legendary \u201c<strong>Bone Collector<\/strong>\u201d partnership with Victor Matfield, he anchored South Africa\u2019s pack through their\u00a0<strong>2007 World Cup win<\/strong>\u00a0and continued his dominance with\u00a0<strong>Toulon<\/strong>, securing\u00a0<strong>three Champions Cup titles<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>Botha combined brute force, relentless pressure, and unmatched physical intimidation to unsettle even the toughest opponents<\/p>\n<p>EDITORS PICKS<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfc9\u00a0Martin Johnson \u2013 \u201cHe had a presence\u201d Position:\u00a0Lock Country:\u00a0England Caps:\u00a083 Bio: Martin Johnson is the definition of a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-585516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}