{"id":57676,"date":"2025-08-10T20:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57676\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T20:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:17:10","slug":"paul-oconnell-names-one-opponent-who-gave-him-absolute-nightmares-page-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57676\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul O\u2019Connell Names One Opponent Who Gave Him Absolute Nightmares – Page 2 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

#3. Martin Johnson <\/p>\n

Position: Lock<\/p>\n

Country: England <\/p>\n

Caps: 83<\/p>\n

He was a true leader who led by example and was the type of person you\u2019d want by your side in difficult situations. He never asked anyone to do something that he wouldn\u2019t do himself.<\/p>\n

Like Sam Warburton, he captained the Lions twice, including the victorious 1997 tour of South Africa. He will forever be remembered as the man who received the 2003 World Cup, which England won in Sydney.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell said: \u201cHe had a presence.\u00a0He was a fabulous player, absolutely someone to be admired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

#4. Jerry Collins<\/p>\n

Position: Flanker <\/p>\n

Country: New Zealand <\/p>\n

Caps: 48<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell said: \u201cHe\u2019d just destroy people!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

#5. Bakkies Botha<\/p>\n

Position: Lock<\/p>\n

Country: South Africa<\/p>\n

Caps: 85<\/p>\n

This man was a force to be reckoned with as the second row enforcer for South Africa\u2019s 2007 World Cup winning team. He went on to cap off his career by securing three European Cup victories with Toulon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DID YOU KNOW? Botha is regularly listed in \u2018greatest ever\u2019 sides,\u00a0and coach\u00a0Bernard Laporte\u00a0said he was the greatest player he ever coached<\/p>\n

Can you name every England Rugby captain of the professional era?<\/p>\n

From the early days of professionalism to the modern era, England has seen a host of legendary captains wearing the armband.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s the grit of Will Carling in the 90s, the tactical brilliance of Martin Johnson, or the fearless leadership of Owen Farrell, this quiz will challenge even the most dedicated fans. <\/p>\n

Think you can name them all? Grab your boots and let\u2019s see how well you know the men who led England into battle on the world stage!<\/p>\n

Like this:<\/p>\n

Like Loading…<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"#3. Martin Johnson Position: Lock Country: England Caps: 83 He was a true leader who led by example…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-57676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}