{"id":852572,"date":"2026-08-12T12:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852572\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:26:09","slug":"top-10-props-in-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852572\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 props in rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planet Rugby has selected its top 10 props in the world right now, and unsurprisingly the Springboks<\/a> find four of their top men involved.<\/p>\n

Here are our definitive best props currently active.<\/p>\n

Top 10 props<\/p>\n

10 Ben Tameifuna (Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles, Tonga): Big Ben<\/a> weighs in at around 150kg, and if that\u2019s not enough to scare you as an opposition prop, nothing will. The 34-year-old can play on both sides of the scrum, so no team can quite prepare themselves for when the Tongan international inevitably thunders onto the field. It\u2019s during his late arrivals that he often makes the most impact. He scored a brace of tries on three separate substitute appearances in just the 2025\/26 season, including two against Bath in the Champions Cup semi-final to help Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles reach a final that they would eventually win.<\/p>\n

9 Danilo Fischetti (Northampton Saints, Italy): The Italian loosehead achieved success in his first year with Northampton Saints, winning the Premiership final at Twickenham in front of a packed-out Allianz Stadium. While not the biggest front-rower in the game, he packs more than enough power in his 110kg frame, while his slightly shorter stature allows him to position himself in scrummaging angles that other props can not. Now one of the first names on the Italy teamsheet, he\u2019ll be key as the Azzurri<\/a> head to Australia for the World Cup next year.<\/p>\n

8 Wilco Louw (Bulls, South Africa): A scrummaging specialist, Louw seamlessly slots into the Springboks\u2019 matchday squad most often off the bench against a tiring front row. The 32-year-old is by far and away one of the key members of the Bulls squad, helping them to reach the United Rugby Championship [URC] final in 2026 for the third year running \u2013 although without success. His extremely powerful build is perfectly suited to short, powerful outings, but he has shown time and time again that he is capable of playing the full 80 when required.<\/p>\n

7 Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, England): At the start of 2025, Heyes had never played a game for England<\/a>. Now he\u2019s their first-choice tighthead and one of the most revered props in the game. His work rate and consistency are exemplary, having played 62 games in just two seasons and delivering eye-watering stats in most. For Leicester, he is the epitome of the old-school Tigers prop, but also possesses an all-round game which has translated onto the international stage, earning him the title of 2025 England Player of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

6 Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls, South Africa): A tremendous scrummager who works incredibly well alongside Wilco Louw for the Bulls. His relentless work rate enables him to get through a tonne of work, which against second-half opposition can be devastating for an already tiring defence.<\/p>\n

5 Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon, France): The only Frenchman on this list, but he is well deserving of his inclusion, having got through a mammoth amount of work in the 2025\/26 season, appearing in 40 matches for club and country. Although Toulon failed to pick up any silverware, he reinforced his position as one of the most impressive looseheads in the game.<\/p>\n

4 Ethan de Groot (Highlanders, New Zealand): Somewhat surprisingly, the All Blacks have just one member of their squad in this list, but unsurprisingly, it\u2019s the Highlanders man. From his background in rural New Zealand<\/a>, the 28-year-old has what many would call \u2018farmer strength\u2019. He\u2019s a wrecking ball in attack, a brick wall in defence, and an immovable object in the scrum. While the All Blacks have yet to find their final form ahead of next year\u2019s World Cup, De Groot can be sure that he is part of the mould.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Murray Mexted warns All Blacks of what they can expect in the \u2018most competitive environment\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 3 props<\/p>\n

3 Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, England): One of the most powerful runners in the game, he combines his incredible strength and surprising athleticism to power through defences time and time again. Never overrun in the scrum either, he\u2019s a key part of an extremely strong England front row. His leadership is also excellent, which in the front row, in the heat of battle, cannot be understated.<\/p>\n

2 Ox Nche (Sharks, South Africa): The best out-and-out loosehead in the world, no doubt. He has become synonymous with the South African<\/a> scrum, and was quite rightly nominated for the 2025 World Rugby Player of the Year award. Although he didn\u2019t win it, his being recognised as a prop brings huge credibility to his impact in what is so often an overlooked position. He has turned the once one-dimensional role into a multi-faceted vocation, in which games can be won or lost based on his performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Thomas du Toit (Sharks, South Africa): The inbound Sharks man can quite simply do it all. He can score tries, scrummage anyone off the park, and do what very few others can\u2026 play on both sides of the front row. He cleaned up at the 2025\/26 Bath Rugby end-of-season awards, and for good reason. He was often the turning point of any game when he arrived on the field, wrestling an entire opposition scrum out of the game with 20 minutes remaining. For South Africa, he tends to lead from the start of the game, where his impact tends to extend well into the second half.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Sharks boss explains the \u2018reasons\u2019 why Ma\u2019a Nonu is facing the All Blacks: \u2018He\u2019s slotted in like he has been here for a long time\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Planet Rugby has selected its top 10 props in the world right now, and unsurprisingly the Springboks find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,1208,1379,818,1182,2328,1736,44,760,1183,85,18559],"class_list":["post-852572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-england","tag-features","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-italy","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-tonga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}