Dream Team: Billy Meakes – Gloucester and former Australia U20s centre

1. Scott Sio – I played with Scott both for Sydney‘s Northern Suburbs and Australia U20s. A very good all round player who offers a lot more than just scrummaging. Doing very well at the Brumbies now.
2. Richard Hibbard – The toughest player I’ve ever played with. He has no respect for his own body when he’s on the pitch.
3. John Afoa – One of the best scrummagers who brought a wealth of experience to the Gloucester pack. He was crucial for us all season. We took a lot of confidence in the scrum just because he was there.
4. Luke Jones – He’s at the Rebels now and he’s had a great season. He was also in our U20s team at the 2011 Junior World Cup. Very enthusiastic and a strong ball runner.
5. Rory Walton – My best mate when I was playing club rugby at Manly. We played together for three years and he was like Richard Hibbard having no regards to his own safety.
6. Scott Higginbotham – Just a nightmare to play against. He’s like a back in a forwards body. Ridiculous skillset for such a big guy.
7. Michael Hooper – I played all my junior rugby with him at Manly and he was my captain at the JWC. What he’s done since for the Waratahs and the Wallabies speaks for itself really.
8. Wycliff Palu – I played with him a couple of times for the Waratahs A team and he’s as solid as they come. A big boy and that’s always good to have in your team.
9. Dan Robson – The most freakish little athlete I’ve played with. Great skills and never afraid to try things. He’ll be a big loss to Gloucester next season after going to Wasps.
10. Beauden Barrett – I played against him when he was in the Baby Blacks squad in 2011 and even at that age he was already amazing. Great control over the game and a kicking game on point.
11. Julian Savea – Another Baby Blacks I faced when I was in the U20s. Probably the best player I’ve played against and being compared to Jonah Lomu is pretty fair I think.
12. Kurtley Beale – I played with him at school and played against him at club rugby. Fair to say it was a lot nicer to play with him. Amazing feet.
13. Tevita Kuridrani – My centre partner from the U20s. He’s a great talent and he’s progressed to Test level very quickly.
14. Drew Mitchell – Faced him at club level and he was the same back then as he is now. Very strong and a great bloke off the field.
15. Adam Ashley-Cooper – All round freak. Along with being a great bloke he’s got everything about him. Great with young players coming through. He was very good to me coming through the Tahs academy.