1.  Scrum-half

Gareth Edwards

 

When starting out on this project I really tried to be fair and objective with this very subjective undertaking.  The number nine shirt was the easiest by far to fill; subliminally Gareth Edwards was pencilled in before I started.  Back in 1972 he was the very reason that inspired an eleven year old boy to love the world of rugby union.  That boy was me.  Much debate may be caused by my selections, however, I would be dumb-founded if any rugby fan seriously questions this choice.  Rugby scribes the world over agree with my view that Gareth Edwards is the greatest rugby player who has ever lived.  He is my 'Mount Olympus.'  He was a supreme athlete with supreme skills, a gentleman on and off the field.  The complete package.  If he played now, he would still be the best.  He was outstanding at running, passing, kicking and reading the game.  He sits astride the whole of rugby as the ultimate.

 

Edwards was at the heart of the 1971 series victory over the All Blacks, and at the peak of his powers, he was a scrum-half with a peerless array of skills and athleticism. He was not only gifted with extraordinary strength and dynamism in a compact 5ft 8ins frame, he also had a superb tactical compass and had an uncanny ability to select the right skill at the right time.“Edwards had a needle-sharp eye for the break, rapid acceleration and the sprinting speed of a wing. His kicking game was murderously effective, and he had an arsenal of weaponry from raking diagonals to towering box kicks and crucial drop-goals. By the time he was in his pomp the speed and length of his pass was also exceptional, and the rifling reverse pass that allowed Phil Bennett to drop the goal at leisure to put the seal on the record win over South Africa in the Third Test at Port Elizabeth in 1974 showed his mastery of the scrum-half arts.