CHRIS HEWETT

Wayne Shelford lost matches as captain of the All Blacks as often as he finished second in hand-to-hand combat. Which was never.
So when, in their infinite wisdom, the coaches dropped the mighty No.8 ahead of the 1991 World Cup, it seemed like one of the dumbest ideas in the history of human thought. Which it was.
Steve Borthwick, a less intimidating individual than Big Bad Buck but no less committed to his national cause, went the same way before the 2011 tournament. There are good reasons to think he was treated even more disrespectfully by the England selectors than Shelford...