Dream Team: Matt Cairns – former Harlequins, Sale and Saracens hooker

1. Roberto Grau – A world class scrummager and he was great to learn from at Saracens. One of a long line of great Argentine props.
2. Mark Regan – A real traditional hooker, tough competitor with good skills. I never had an easy game against him. It’s no surprise he won so many caps over  a long international career.
3. Cobus Visagie – The best scrummager I’ve ever played with at tighthead. It could have been Census Johnston but  Visagie was outstanding at Saracens.
4. Danny Grewcock – A brilliant enforcer, brilliant scrummager and brilliant lineout forward. It’s fair to say I thought he was a pretty good all-round player.
5. Alex Brown – He is a good ball carrier and defender. He’s been unlucky with a few broken arms to not get more caps than he has but he’s been a very good player at Gloucester for a long time.
6. Richard Hill – You realise when you played with him just how much work he did. You won games with Hilly playing and you didn’t even know why. Great work rate and brilliant for the team.
7. Francois Pienaar – It could have been Chris Robshaw who I think is the next generation Richard Hill, but Francois was a leader and it was incredible to have a legend like him at Sarries.
8. Taine Randell – He had unbelievable skills and was a very good captain of the All Blacks. A great ball carrier and excellent rugby brain too. It was great to play alongside him.
9. Kyran Bracken – With such a good scrummaging pack in front of him, there’s no one better than Kyran. So important for England in the 2003 World Cup despite missing out on the final.
10. Charlie Hodgson – Nick Evans at Quins comes close, but I played my best rugby with Charlie. One of the most skillful guys I’ve  played with and should have more England caps.
11. Mark Cueto – Strong, fast, solid under the high ball, scores tries and is a good defender as well. The complete wing package.
12. Jimmy Downey – He took the ball to the line so well. Such a strong runner and brilliant defender. Northampton built their success over the last few years around Jimmy and his powerful running.
13. Tim Horan – Could play 12 or 13 he was that good. In that 1999 World Cup he was just untouchable for Australia – you don’t win two World Cups without being an incredible player.
14. Jason Robinson – He was unbelievable at Sale, a game changer and every time he got the ball something happened. I tried to avoid one-on-one defensive drills with him!
15. Thomas Castaignède – Even after he injured his Achilles he was still a fantastic player, but in the 1999- 2000 season he was just incredible, scoring tries for fun. We were top of the league and only had to give him the ball and he’d score.