Dream Team: Andy Nicol – former Bath, Scotland and Lions scrum-half
2. Federico Mendez – He was a brilliant player for Argentina and Bath. Known for having a few temperament issues. When he was hot, he was very hot though.
3. Iain Milne – If you wanted someone to lock out a scrum, Iain was the man. He was unbelievably strong.
4. Martin Johnson – I first played against him for Scotland school boys and he was a nightmare to play then. It didn’t get any better – he was such an intelligent player. Probably the best there has ever been.
5. John Eales – He’d kick his goals,win his lineouts, was great around the park and scored tries as well. He was an absolutely quality player and a class act to go with it.
6. Richard Hill – Technically so good with everything he did. The amount of times I remember thinking a break was on and he would be there, or preparing for some quick ball only to find he was there to slow it down, he was just outstanding.
7. Michael Jones – I played against him on the Lions tour in 1993 and he was just an unbelievable player and an incredible athlete.
8. Ben Clarke – One of my teammates at Bath, Ben was a brilliant player on his day. As a ball-carrying No.8 he was fantastic for us and for England. He was also a great guy off the pitch after the game.
9. Nick Farr-Jones – A fantastic player and a great bloke. I played Nick three times in as many weeks in 1992 when I was new on the scene. He took me for a beer after the games and gave me a lot of tips, a real gent.
10. Gregor Townsend – Such a talented guy. He was one of those who seemed to play better when he had better guys around him. We saw that with the Lions in 97 and Scotland in 99.
11. Jonah Lomu – He just transformed rugby when he burst on to the scene. At that World Cup in 1995 he was unstoppable, and we tried.
12. Tim Horan – I played with Tim in a World XV, he was phenomenally strong and his positioning was perfect. His legs would churn at 20 to the dozen and he was extremely quick.
13. Jerry Guscott – Probably the most talented player I’ve played with, Jerry could do absolutely everything. He would glide across the pitch and make those breaks, but even better was that he’d finish them off by finding his wingers or full-backs.
14. Adedayo Adebayo – Another teammate of mine at Bath, he was a brilliant player with an unbelievable scoring ability. He really knew where the tryline was.
15. Christian Cullen – I was there for his second ever game down in Dunedin. He was just untouchable, one of the most brilliant open field runners. I think he scored four that day, having scored a hat-trick the week before.
