{"id":621790,"date":"2025-12-09T08:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621790\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T08:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:25:12","slug":"mike-tindall-and-bismarck-du-plessis-pick-their-2025-world-xv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621790\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Tindall and Bismarck du Plessis pick their 2025 World XV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Tindall and Bismarck du Plessis have named six Springboks and three England players in their 2025 World XV.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Appearing on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, here are the duo\u2019s picks:<\/p>\n

Backs<\/p>\n

15 Thomas Ramos: <\/strong>It was a toss-up between Ramos and Will Jordan, with Du Plessis choosing the Frenchman and Tindall opting for the All Blacks star. The deciding factor, Tindall<\/a> conceded, was that Ramos won more silverware in 2025.<\/p>\n

14 Damian Penaud: <\/strong>Both pundits agreed that the French flyer was the man for the job, citing his \u201cability to turn up in the right place and make something out of nothing\u201d as his major quality. Tommy Freeman<\/a> was given the nod as a close second.<\/p>\n

13 Ollie Lawrence: <\/strong>Despite limited playing time in an England shirt, Tindall felt that the Bath star had credit in the bank, claiming: \u201cWhenever he\u2019s played for England, he\u2019s always looks like a threat for us.\u201d Jesse Kriel was considered, but Tindall got his man.<\/p>\n

12 Damian De Allende: <\/strong>Both pundits were keen to have one of the Springbok centres included, and with outside centre best suiting Lawrence, the obvious choice was the hugely experienced De Allende.<\/p>\n

11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey: <\/strong>With 33 tries in 30 matches, Bielle-Biarrey is without a doubt the most in-form winger in the world. Tindall labelled him a \u201cfreak\u201d, calling him \u201cout and out gas\u201d. There was also a note to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso from Tindall, but there was only one real winner this time.<\/p>\n

10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu: <\/strong>The most defenders beaten in the Rugby Championship and the most tries scored by a South African fly-half in history, with nine. \u201cThere\u2019s not a debate,\u201d claimed Tindall. Finn Russell and George Ford were given honourable mentions.<\/p>\n

9 Jamison Gibson-Park: <\/strong>No Antoine Dupont in the list this time, but the talent remained. Mentions of Cameron Roigard and Tomos Williams<\/a> \u2013 but Cobus Reinach was the closest contender. Du Plessis reflected on the South African scrum-half\u2019s \u201ctenacity\u201d and \u201cthe way he conducted himself\u201d in his return to the front of Springbok rugby. Gibson-Park edged the vote, however, based on his \u201cinfluential\u201d performances for the British and Irish Lions in the summer.<\/p>\n

The \u2018part\u2019 of the Eben Etzebeth ban that frustrates England legend, who makes Rassie Erasmus prediction and issues \u2018help us understand\u2019 plea to South African fans<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Forwards<\/p>\n

8 Ardie Savea: <\/strong>Ben Earl was considered, but when you\u2019ve got the former World Player of the Year ready to take up the mantle at eight, it\u2019s difficult to say no.<\/p>\n

7 Tom Curry: <\/strong>Curry proved why he\u2019s considered one of the greatest players in world rugby with some giant performances in the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. In as big an occasion as a Lions Test match, Curry once again proved that he is a big-game player.<\/p>\n

6 Pieter-Steph du Toit: <\/strong>The two-time World Rugby Men\u2019s 15s Player of the Year<\/a> was in fine form once again this year. He was a shimmering wrecking ball in the Springbok pack, striking fear into even the greatest oppositions in the world. Noting the back-row potential, Tindall concluded: \u201cPeople playing against them wouldn\u2019t be very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

5 Tadhg Beirne: <\/strong>The 2025 British and Irish Lions tour Player of the Series. Du Plessis is a huge fan of Beirne, saying: \u201cHe definitely gets the nod from my side.\u201d Asked if he\u2019d choose Beirne over Maro Itoje, he responded simply: \u201cAt the moment, yes, 100%.\u201d Will Skelton and Eben Etzebeth were also considered.<\/p>\n

4 Maro Itoje: <\/strong>British and Irish Lions and England captain. He\u2019s back in the best form of his life, but Tindall admitted that his game has changed. He said: \u201cWhen he first started playing the game he made more line breaks, more carries. But now he does all the dirty work, he makes 25 tackles a game, he\u2019s calling lineouts, he\u2019s effective at lineout time, we\u2019re not seeing quite as many steals over the ball from him.\u201d Despite this, Itoje\u2019s stock is clearly still high. Tindall did joke: \u201cWe could choose one of the South African locks, but they all get red-carded, so we want to finish with 15 men.\u201d<\/p>\n

3 Thomas du Toit: <\/strong>An incredible year of rugby for the versatile prop. He won the treble with Bath and achieved great international success with the Springboks.<\/p>\n

2 Malcolm Marx: <\/strong>The 2025 World Rugby Men\u2019s 15s Player of the Year \u2013 there was no way he wasn\u2019t making the starting team. Dan Sheehan could have been a close second, but Du Plessis was so quick to select the hooker that no other options were mentioned.<\/p>\n

1 Ox Nche: <\/strong>Referencing Nche\u2019s \u201cSalads don\u2019t win scrums\u201d quote, the duo agreed that his power in the scrum, plus his work around the park, makes him the most effective loosehead prop in the world. Ellis Genge was considered for his work as a leader and a motivator, as well as his technical skills, but Nche, having recently been nominated for World Player of the Year, pipped him to the spot.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0I<\/strong>nvestec Champions Cup Team of the Week: Ben Spencer prevails in \u2018hardest call\u2019 to start alongside \u2018little genius\u2019 as lone South African named<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Tindall and Bismarck du Plessis have named six Springboks and three England players in their 2025 World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5313,393,36,225,90462,678,704,12,4151,2196,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-621790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-internationals","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-rugby","17":"tag-south-africa","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621790","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=621790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}