Peter Jackson: Wales can cap it all with World Cup victory
Apart from ensuring a £12,000-a-man series win bonus and a great deal else besides, their monopoly of the Lions has raised the aggregate Test match total of their Six Nations champion team to more than 700. And that amounts to a serious wealth of experience.
Only four other teams during the professional era have stayed the test of time long enough to accumulate a similar sky-scraping stack of caps of world-beating dimension. All four have won the Webb Ellis pot of gold – Australia (1999), England (2003), South Africa (2007), New Zealand (2011).
The team the All Blacks sent out into the most recent final, against France at Eden Park, had a cumulative total of 714 caps – the highest of the last four world champions. The Wales first-team now boasts one fewer, the overall figure bumped up by their mob-handed presence against Australia.
When the autumn series come round, the heavy cap presence will not be confined to the starting XV. Ryan Jones, a veteran of 76 Tests, may not have made the Lions tour but he remains far too valuable for Wales not to have him on their bench.
James Hook, another with 70 caps, is in a rather different boat. Wales have put him in an international no-man’s-land, a permanent fixture among the substitutes but used so rarely that he must wonder whether he has any future under the Gatland-Howley regime.
Be that as it may, there can be no denying that Wales will go into the new season in better condition than ever. Age, so often a destructive factor when teams become top-heavy with experience, is not an issue, at least not in the short-term.
Nobody is on his last legs. Gethin Jenkins has fallen foul of injury too often for his liking but will expect to last long enough for a final hurrah at the World Cup in two years’ time, likewise Mike Phillips, the only back on the wrong side of 30.
Nine of those on duty for the unforgettable Six Nations climax four months ago are still under 25 – Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, George North, Dan Biggar, Toby Faletau, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Scott Williams and Phillips’ understudy, Lloyd Williams.
Wales, their 700-plus caps and how they compare: Leigh Halfpenny (47) Alex Cuthbert (18) Jonathan Davies (38) Jamie Roberts (56) George North (34) Dan Biggar (16) Mike Phillips (78) Gethin Jenkins (103) Richard Hibbard (26) Adam Jones (94) Alun-Wyn Jones (76) Ian Evans (30) Dan Lydiate (30) Toby Faletau (27) Sam Warburton (40)
Total: 713
New Zealand – v France in the 2011 World Cup final:
Israel Dagg (12) Cory Jane (32) Conrad Smith (55) Ma’a Nonu (66) Richard Kahui (17) Aaron Cruden (9) Piri Weepu (56) Tony Woodcock (83) Keven Mealamu (92) Oliver Franks (31) Brad Thorn (59) Sam Whitelock (25) Jerome Kaino (48) Kieran Read (36) Richie McCaw (103)
Total: 714
England – v Australia in the 2003 World Cup final:
Josh Lewsey (18) Jason Robinson (31) Will Greenwood (47) Mike Tindall (33) Ben Cohen (35) Jonny Wilkinson (55) Matt Dawson (62) Trevor Woodman (15) Steve Thompson (24) Phil Vickery (41) Martin Johnson (92) Ben Kay (28) Richard Hill (67) Lawrence Dallaglio (68) Neil Back (69)
Total: 685
South Africa – v England in the 2007 World Cup final:
Percy Montgomery (94) J P Pietersen (15) Jacque Fourie (16) Francois Steyn (16) Bryan Habana (35) Butch James (26) Robert du Preez (38) Os du Randt (80) John Smit (74) CJ van der Linde (47) Bakkies Botha (44) Victor Matfield (67) Schalke Burger (38) Pieter Rossouw (31) Juan Smith (41)
Total: 683
Australia – v France in the 1999 World Cup final:
Matt Burke (44) Ben Tune (36) Daniel Herbert (38) Tim Horan (79) Joe Roff (51) Stephen Larkham (30) George Gregan (54) Richard Harry (30) Michael Foley (29) Andrew Blades (32) David Giffin (16) John Eales (69) Matt Cockbain (28) Toutai Kefu (25) David Wilson (72)
Total: 633
