{"id":8322,"date":"2025-04-10T15:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8322\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T15:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:40:14","slug":"simon-shaws-team-of-my-life-all-blacks-and-springboks-dominate-pack-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8322\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Shaw’s Team of My Life: All Blacks and Springboks dominate pack : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few players have such a glittering CV in rugby as former Bristol, Wasps and Toulon lock Simon Shaw.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have partnered with\u00a0eToro<\/a>, the official investing and trading partner of Premiership Rugby, to bring you this series, Team of my Life, in which a famous face from the world of rugby recalls an ultimate XV.<\/p>\n

A three-time British and Irish Lion<\/a>, who revels in the fact he\u2019s their oldest Test cap, a World Cup winner and a player with a 15-year international career, there\u2019s few better players that Shaw to select a Team of My Life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that throughout my career I saw the game move forward at real pace in terms of professionalism. The difference in knowledge of elite sport and training between my first Lions tour in 1997 to my last in 2009 really demonstrated just how far the game had evolved, especially since both of those tours were against the Springboks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, without further ado, here\u2019s the best I played with or against and I apologise in advance to those I\u2019ve omitted or overlooked!\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Shaw\u2019s Team of My Life<\/p>\n

15 Matt Burke (Australia<\/a>):<\/b> Such a class act and a metronomic goal kicker. I think he\u2019s overlooked in the modern pantheon of greats but for me he epitomised everything that a Wallaby back is \u2013 abrasive, reliable and quick!<\/p>\n

14 Jason Robinson (England):<\/b> He redefined England<\/a>\u2018s back play and was the missing cutting edge that Clive Woodward needed to turn his team from good to great. A joy to play with and he defined professionalism. The best acceleration I\u2019ve seen on a rugby player too.<\/p>\n

13 Phillipe Sella (France):<\/b> I played against him when he came to Saracens and he still had every tool in the trade. Quick, big and very elusive. A classy operator.<\/p>\n

12 Matt Giteau (Australia):<\/b> Someone I\u2019ve seen from both sides of the fence after playing with him at Toulon, \u2018Gits\u2019 was such a superb playmaker and that natural footballing 12 who can also play 10.<\/p>\n

11 Jonah Lomu<\/a> (New Zealand<\/a>):<\/b> A gamechanger. Even when the game had caught up with him from a size perspective his pure gas and athleticism set him apart. And a wonderful human being too.<\/p>\n

10 Dan Carter<\/a> (New Zealand):<\/b> So hard to pick my ten given how much rugby I played with Jonny Wilkinson but Carter\u2019s performances in 2005 were amongst the best I\u2019ve seen from any player. Peerless.<\/p>\n

9 Antoine Dupont<\/a> (France):<\/b> I am cheating here as I never quite managed to face him, but I can\u2019t not pick him. I know some may question this, but pretty much the best player I\u2019ve ever seen. So I\u2019m picking him and that\u2019s that!<\/p>\n

The forwards<\/p>\n

8 Zinzan Brooke (New Zealand):<\/b> It\u2019s hard to overlook players like Dallaglio and Parisse given how much rugby I played with or against those two, but Zinny is the combination of both of their skill-sets and that\u2019s why he\u2019s in. Class.<\/p>\n

7 Michael Jones (New Zealand):<\/b> He was just coming to the end of his career when I played against him but he left such an impression on me that he sneaks in over the great Richie McCaw. In truth I\u2019d be happy with either, but \u2018Ice\u2019 was an eyeopener for me in my formative playing years.<\/p>\n

6 Jerome Kaino (New Zealand):<\/b> Nails. Hard as they come, physical as they come, yet the nicest man imaginable off the pitch and someone I\u2019ve gotten to know reasonably well in France in later life.<\/p>\n

5 Bakkies Botha (South Africa<\/a>):<\/b> I had many a battle with Bakkies and, as he was a similar style of lock to me, he was always a benchmark player to measure yourself against. World class and I got to know him well when we linked up at Toulon.<\/p>\n

4 Eben Etzebeth<\/a> (South Africa):<\/b> It won\u2019t come as a big surprise for me to pick two Bok locks and it was clear to me Eben was going to be a great the moment I clapped eyes on him in 2011. A special player.<\/p>\n

3 Carl Hayman (New Zealand):<\/b> The best tighthead of all time, in my opinion. Huge and very skilled, it\u2019s rare to find someone so technically good at 6\u20195\u2033 as a prop.<\/p>\n

2 Keith Wood (Ireland):<\/b> The life and soul of the 1997 Lions and one of the best tour \u2018Prosecuting Counsels\u2019 I\u2019ve ever encountered with brutal forfeits! His body would be in bits but somehow he\u2019d find a way to shine.<\/p>\n

1 Os du Randt (South Africa):<\/b> Os\u2019s superpower was his tackle count and work-rate around the pitch. He\u2019d put in the big hits all day long but still dominate in the scrum. A massive man with a massive career.<\/p>\n

Simon Shaw<\/a>\u2018s Team of My Life is brought to you by eToro<\/a>, the official investing and trading partner of Premiership Rugby.<\/p>\n

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eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8Competition: Win Premiership final tickets, signed ball and more with eToro<\/a><\/strong>\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few players have such a glittering CV in rugby as former Bristol, Wasps and Toulon lock Simon Shaw.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5314,186,5313,5315,5316,393,126,36,225,522,678,5317,704,12,4151,5318,2196,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-8322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-antoine-dupont","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","11":"tag-dan-carter","12":"tag-eben-etzebeth","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-features","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-home-page","17":"tag-international","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-jonah-lomu","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-rugby","23":"tag-simon-shaw","24":"tag-south-africa","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114314426813475490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8322","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=8322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}