Dream Team: David Rees – former Bristol, Leeds, Sale & England wing
2. Keith Wood – He played like a back and could have played several positions. Very fiery and a real handful who got the Irish going forward.
3. Trevor Woodman – Very quick, ran the pack and was sharp with the ball. I went on a few England tours with him and for a quiet guy he came alive on the field.
4. Martin Johnson – Would never shirk away from leading at the front. An immense amount of experience and you knew he always had a plan up his sleeve to try and outfox you.
5. Dave Baldwin – Owe him a lot for helping me at the start of my career. He used to run backwards and open the sides up for me and I’d use him like a big shadow when we could get away with it!
6. Lawrence Dallaglio – Always caused problems for the opposition and was my sort of player – a guy who would free you up. He was always joking off the pitch and helped make you feel relaxed.
7. Francois Pienaar – I remember running at him as hard as I could for Sale and hit him quite well. But he kept going forward and knocked me back a few steps. After that he came looking for me!
8. Tim Rodber – A big strong ball carrier and solid tackler. He had the habit of lifting me off my feet and carrying me into the stands quite a few times.
9. Kyran Bracken – So fast around the fringes and it was hard to work out his thinking patterns, he’d pop up everywhere. Ultimate team player.
10. Jonny Wilkinson – A huge source of motivation. When you saw Jonny work so hard off the pitch, if you had just finished training and were feeling like having a rest you’d just look at what he was doing.
11. Jonah Lomu – It was daunting playing against him for England, he’s the best winger there’s ever been and I knew I had to get in his face quickly. The idea was to get the ball going behind him and we all did a good job, but his ability to side-step was just frightening.
12. Tim Horan – Lovely ball player who was excellent at anticipating lines and was a very elusive runner.
13. Will Greenwood – Was able to shake his hands out of a tackle and had great chat on the pitch – he’d never shut up, always telling us where to go as a winger in terms of defence.
14. Jason Robinson – Had an unbelievable ability to beat people in small areas. Defending against him was so hard; he could change direction in an instant and you’d bounce off his muscle.
15. Matt Perry – We went through the terrifying first cap experience together. He was great in the air, a lovely footballer, and you never knew where he was going to go.
