Dream Team: Clive Stuart-Smith – former Gloucester, Scarlets, Exeter and Saxons scrum-half
2. Matthew Rees – A hard, niggly player who thrives on the physical nature of the game. Happy he was on my side, not so much when it was tackle practice.
3. Phil Vickery – No nonsense, flat out commitment. Remember when he played in a brutal encounter for England against South Africa on the Saturday and turned up to do the Gloucester conditioning session on the Sunday. Inspirational yet mental.
4. Martin Johnson – From the old school. An undoubted leader, he was reliable, strong and accurate in everything he did. A flat out ruck machine.
5. Geoff Parling – Master lineout tactician, incredible work rate and the most talented beanpole I have ever come across.
6. Tom Johnson – A real danger man, blessed with pace and power. A great example of what hard work can achieve. A horrible dancer yet an incredibly impressive eater.
7. Simon Easterby – Not strictly a seven but had such a total disregard for his body for the good of the team. King of the tackle/jackals.
8. Lawrence Dallaglio – A forceful, abrasive ball carrier and a great manager of the game. He always seemed to have the ref tucked up in his pocket.
9 Rob Howley – The pass of Dwayne Peel, footwork of Danny Care, defence of Mike Phillips, kicking game of Dimitri Yachvili and the wheels of Austin Healey. So I am going to have to go with Rob Howley.
10. Jonny Wilkinson – His ability to perform at such a high standard under intense pressure is his finest trait. Being a world class goal kicker will also be handy.
11. Joe Rokocoko – I played against him when he was with the Baby Blacks and already a grown-up. He scored a rather impressive hat-trick that day. I’d want James Simpson-Daniel to come on for the second half to cause havoc.
12. Regan King – One of the most natural ball-players about with an ability to produce something from nothing. A very unselfish player with great vision. Unbelievably good at rugby, unbelievably bad at poker.
13. Brian O’Driscoll – A fascinating player to watch as you don’t know what to expect. Very intelligent with the capability of producing moments of wizardry.
14. Marcel Garvey – I once watched Marcel beat 17 people to score a try for Gloucester. Thankfully, I wasn’t one of the 17.
15. Jason Robinson – Jason had unbelievable feet, was exciting and most definitely a game changer. Tackling him has to rank right up there as one of my career highlights.
