Dream Team: Jonathan Thomas – Worcester captain & former Ospreys and Wales back row

1. Paul James – I’ve been lucky to play with a lot of good looseheads like Gethin Jenkins but Paul is the strongest scrummager and a really tough guy.
2. Huw Bennett – He is one of my best mates and we played together from the age of 17. We won our first caps in the same year – and he is a top player.
3. Adam Jones – I played a lot at No.8 for the Ospreys behind Adam and when at his best no-one could stop him – the scrum was always going forward.
4. Ian Evans – One of the best lineout forwards out there. He is going to Toulon this summer and it is a great move for him. A really talented player but so unlucky with injuries.
5. Dean Schofield – He’s been around for years and I have played against him for Sale and Toulon. He’s always a handful and does the hard work in terms of scrummaging and mauling.
6. Colin Charvis – I played with him a lot when I was younger and I looked up to him as a really physical athlete who was great at the breakdown.
7. Marty Holah – A former All Black openside and one of the best players I have ever played with. He would get you five or six turnovers every game. His body was used to getting battered but he was one of those who rarely got injured.
8. Filo Tiatia – I played with him when he was in the twilight of his career and he had it all as a player – good hands, the ability to offload out of contact and he was one of the best I have played with.
9. Dwayne Peel – I’ve played with a lot of good nines, like Mike Phillips, but I’ve gone for Dwayne. When at his best he was so quick – the speed he got the ball away at the breakdown was unbelievable and he was very good tactically.
10. Stephen Jones – One of the nicest blokes you could meet and on the field the perfect ten, knowing when to kick and play the corners and also when to play field.
11. Shane Williams – One of the best ever. Even when we were playing badly he would score a try out of nowhere and we would win the game out of that.
12. Gavin Henson – I played with him when he was at his best for Ospreys and Wales. He was a phenomenal player and when Gavin was at his best, Wales were at theirs.
13. Tom Shanklin – He was never in the limelight due to players like Henson but he always made the team tick. He did all the right things in defence and he was a strong ball carrier with great handling and vision.
14. Tommy Bowe – When he first moved to Ospreys we were both single and became good mates. He is the equivalent of a poacher in football who always scores goals for you.
15. James Hook – Out of the current Wales team he is by far the most talented player of this generation – he has got it all. It’s just a shame he doesn’t get as many chances for Wales as he should.