On Thursday evening in front of a live studio audience, former England stars, Dan Cole, Chris Robshaw, Ben Youngs, as well as content creator ‘Squidge’, appeared on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast to pick their ultimate England XVs from the 21st century.
One of the many stipulations was that they could not select players already in another team, with the live audience eventually choosing the winning team.
So without further ado, here are the selected XVs:
Ben Youngs
England’s record cap holder picked a powerful forward pack with each player more legendary than the last, while his backline consisted of best mate Freddie Burns to open up space for the dynamic outside backs. The safe hands of Mike Brown at full-back, and the second playmaker option of Henry Slade gave good grounding to the side.
15 Mike Brown
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Henry Slade
11 Jonny May
10 Freddie Burns
9 Ben Youngs
8 Lawrence Dallaglio
7 Jack Willis
6 Lewis Moody
5 Courtney Lawes
4 Martin Johnson
3 Kyle Sinckler
2 Jamie George
1 Ellis Genge
Chris Robshaw
The former England captain selected a very mid-2000s side, consisting of the great World Cup-winning half-back duo of Matt Dawson and Jonny Wilkson, while also giving a nod to the 2007 finalists with picks such as Mathew Tait and Nick Easter. Former Harlequins teammate Will Collier also got the nod in the front-row, giving a clear indication of his personal preference.
15 Josh Lewsey
14 Anthony Watson
13 Mathew Tait
12 Mike Catt
11 David Strettle
10 Jonny Wilkinson
9 Matt Dawson
8 Nick Easter
7 Tom Rees
6 Richard Hill
5 George Kruis
4 Maro Itoje
3 Will Collier
2 Tom Youngs
1 Mako Vunipola
Dan Cole
A few nods to the class of 2003, but the majority hailed from his own dynasty, including the powerful centre combination of Manu Tuilagi and Owen Farrell. In fact, his whole side was built around power. Even his wingers, Jack Nowell and Ben Cohen, were powerful players. It’s only his nimble half-back combination of George Ford and Danny Care that resembles anything other than pure power.
15 Alex Goode
14 Jack Nowell
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Owen Farrell
11 Ben Cohen
10 George Ford
9 Danny Care
8 Billy Vunipola
7 Neil Back
6 Tom Croft
5 Ollie Chessum
4 Danny Grewcock
3 Phil Vickery
2 Steve Thompson
1 Joe Marler
‘Squidge’
Including two of his panellists in his team, the YouTube creator picked a side with try-scoring credentials filled to the brim and caps to cover a thousand heads. The choice of Danny Cipriani at fly-half would really open the game for his free-scoring backline, while his forward pack packed a nice balance.
15 Jason Robinson
14 Chris Ashton
13 Elliot Daly
12 Will Greenwood
11 James Simpson-Daniel
10 Danny Cipriani
9 Alex Mitchell
8 Tom Curry
7 Sam Underhill
6 Chris Robshaw
5 Ben Kay
4 Simon Shaw
3 Dan Cole
2 Dylan Hartley
1 Jason Leonard
The winner: Ben Youngs
His side boasted an expansive backline and a truly world-class set of forwards.
Many former stars, such as Mike Tindall, Iain Balshaw, James Haskell, Charlie Hodgson and a plethora of others missed out.
Let us know who deserves more recognition!
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