More Irish picks than Aussies or Springboks. We’ll take that.
Former Bath and England prop David Flatman has been taking part in an epic road trip up and down the UK for BT Sport called Tour de Flats, and along the way he’s been joined by some former teammates and rugby stars to talk rugby.
One of those was his former Bath teammate and former England captain Mike Tindall, who he charged with picking the greatest team of all time.
And while the side was heavily dominated by English and All-Blacks, Tindall did find room to squeeze in two Irish players; Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell.
O’Driscoll’s inclusion was one of his shortest decisions of the day, while he plumped for O’Connell after much though on the second row, choosing him over John Eales, Alun Wyn Jones and another Irishman, the great Willie Jon McBride.
However, the most shocking revelation in the video is that despite having a 17-year-career in England, Tindall still doesn’t know the difference between a tight-head and a loose-head prop.
In the end, the breakdown was six-and-a-half New Zealanders, four-and-a-half Englishmen (I’ll explain later…), two Irishmen, and one apiece for Australia and South Africa.
In the front row, England’s Trevor Woodcock is at loose-head, with Kiwis Sean Fitzpatrick and Carl Hayman also included.
O’Connell partners England’s World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson in the second row, while in the backrow there are two New Zealanders – Zinzan Brooke is at number 8, Michael Jones is at seven, while Englishman Richard Hill is also included.
Jooset van der Westhuizen was one of the quickest decisions he made at scrum half, while he cheated at outhalf, picking a man named Wilkcarter after being unable to split Jonny Wilkinson or Dan Carter.
In the centre, Aussie Tim Horan is inside Brian O’Driscoll, while Jonah Lomu and Jason Robinson are on the wings, with Christian Cullen at fullback.
