#RUGBY 08 BEST TRIES PROFESSIONAL#

IвЂ™ve gone with Kearns, although he wouldnвЂ™t make my First XV of rugby commentators! He was the starting hooker when the Wallabies won the 1991 Rugby World Cup final and probably would have been again in 1999 but for injury. He was good in the set piece and was very strong in open play. Kearns played 67 Tests for the Wallabies from 1989 to 1999 starting in 65 of them and achieved a winning percentage of 74.62%. While he wasnвЂ™t part of the most successful Wallaby teams he was a big factor in the Wallabies elevation to become one of the top nations. He was a fearsome scrummager and was at the heart of the famous 1984 front row on the Grand Slam tour when they achieved a push over try against Wales. He was an absolute beast вЂ“ as big as an Ox and as strong as one too.

Lawton played 41 Tests from 1983 to 1989, starting 40 of them with a winning percentage of 62.19%. There are only two players I considered here вЂ“ Tom Lawton and Phil Kearns. Who can forget his practice of tearing his left sleeve off to give the opposing tighthead nothing to grip on? Not me. He was the starting loosehead prop in the 1991 Rugby World Cup final and was a real key in the Wallaby scrum. He played 41 Tests from 1989 to 1995 and started all of them with a winning percentage of 75.60%. However the player IвЂ™ve selected is Tony Daly. He was the starting loosehead over Dan Crowley in the 1999 Rugby World Cup final, and although he only played for five years he was consistently selected as the starting loosehead during a golden period for the Wallabies. Richard Harry played 37 matches, starting in 36 from 1996 to 2000 with a winning percentage of 74.32%. Despite already playing 66 Tests and being a big fan of his I think his current performances no longer warrant Wallaby selection and there are two other players who were well ahead of him in my considerations. The only player I considered in the last decade was Benn Robinson. In my team there are only three players who I think are automatic selections without peer вЂ“ John Eales, Tim Horan and David Campese but IвЂ™m getting ahead of myself. The starting point for many others could be 1984 when the Wallabies made their grand slam tour of Europe вЂ“ thatвЂ™s probably the first time the masses started to take notice of the Wallabies.ДЇor me itвЂ™s 1979 which is the first year I remember taking a real interest in the Wallabies which coincided with them winning the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in 35 years.

#RUGBY 08 BEST TRIES PROFESSIONAL#

For others it will be the advent of professional rugby in 1995.

Should winning percentages come into it and if so, does that rule out some truly great players who werenвЂ™t surrounded by other greats? I think results are something that needs to be taken into consideration but is only part of the equation.ДЄnd when do you start from? For some the starting point will be the time of the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. IвЂ™ve not limited myself by setting an arbitrary number of Tests before I considered a player. If itвЂ™s based on longevity that would rule out a player like Mark Ella who only played 25 Tests before retiring far too early. Is it based on longevity or on the quality of the player regardless of the number of Tests played.

Rugby 08 best tries