9. Luke Jacobson, New Zealand<\/p>\n
McGeechan\u2019s 2020 prediction:<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not be surprised to see Jacobson in the All Blacks\u2019 back row come the 2023 World Cup in France.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened next:<\/p>\n
McGeechan absolutely nailed this prediction.<\/p>\n
Jacobson established himself in the\u00a0All Blacks\u00a0set-up and was part of New Zealand\u2019s squad at the\u00a02023 Rugby World Cup, where they reached the final.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs back-rower has remained part of the international picture since and underlined his continued value in August 2026.<\/p>\n
Jacobson crossed for a try as New Zealand produced an impressive\u00a033-16 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park\u00a0in the opening Test of Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry.<\/p>\n
Six years after McGeechan picked him out, Jacobson remains an All Black.<\/p>\n
10. Jordan Petaia, Australia<\/p>\n
McGeechan\u2019s 2020 prediction:<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving watched Petaia playing for the Queensland Reds, I was struck by how big and powerful he was and how natural he looked with ball in hand. Really good feet as well. Can run over you or around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petaia quickly justified the hype, becoming a regular\u00a0Wallabies\u00a0international and featuring at the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups.<\/p>\n
But like Rees-Zammit, he eventually decided to chase an NFL dream.<\/p>\n
Petaia entered the\u00a0International Player Pathway\u00a0and signed with the\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers in April 2025.<\/p>\n
His NFL opportunity was short-lived, with the Australian waived\/injured in August before the regular season began.<\/p>\n
Petaia subsequently returned to rugby, signing a one-year contract with French Top 14 side\u00a0USA Perpignan\u00a0in September 2025.<\/p>\n
He has since made a number of appearances in France, keeping alive the possibility of adding to his Wallabies career ahead of the\u00a02027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
Six years on, McGeechan\u2019s original list makes fascinating reading. Some \u2013 particularly\u00a0Doris, Smith, Rees-Zammit and Jacobson\u00a0\u2013 went on to prove him emphatically right, while others followed career paths even one of rugby\u2019s most experienced coaches could never have predicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"9. Luke Jacobson, New Zealand McGeechan\u2019s 2020 prediction: \u201cDo not be surprised to see Jacobson in the All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-752120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752120","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=752120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}