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Home / Sport / Rugby / All Blacks

Rugby World Cup 2019: The one All Black who made Brian O'Driscoll's team of the tournament

Luke Kirkness
By Luke Kirkness
Sport Planning Editor·NZ Herald·
28 Oct, 2019 08:00 PM2 mins to read

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2019 Rugby World Cup: Sonny Bill Williams' reported $9.7m post-World Cup offer. Video / Mark Mitchell

Beauden Barrett was the only All Black who impressed Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll enough this World Cup to be named in his team of the tournament.

Taking to Twitter overnight, O'Driscoll posted a picture with 15 names sprawled down a piece of paper with the names of those who impressed him most.

At the very top, next to 15 - the number worn by fullbacks - was Barrett but as for the rest of his All Black squad, no one else made the cut.

READ MORE:
• All Blacks' brutal review after England semifinal defeat
• Journalist explains the question Steve Hansen called 'disrespectful'
• England captain slammed for 'embarrassing' incident during All Blacks loss

"Been asked to pick a team of the tournament for @LandRoverRugby Fair?!", O'Driscoll asked.

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Most of the respondents to his post agreed with the former British and Irish Lions captain while others thought Ardie Savea should have made the cut.

In the two positions he played - openside and number eight - South Africa's Duane Vermeulen and England's Sam Underhill were given the nod.

Been asked to pick a team of the tournament for @LandRoverRugby Fair?! pic.twitter.com/Es0fXXQPvP

— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) October 28, 2019

"Very good. A thankless task mind you. How do you feel about the spacing between your numbers? 15-10 looks a little overconfident," one commented.

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"No way [Aaron] Wainwright has been better than Tom Curry," another said. "No way either of them has been better than Ardie," added another.

On Saturday night, England crushed the All Blacks' hopes for a third consecutive World Cup victory in the opening semifinal.

They were defeated 19-7 in Yokohama, England even keeping the All Blacks scoreless throughout the first 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, at a squad review of the match, several players donned metaphorical bulletproof vests during the session which was "not pleasant".

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Former captain of the British and Irish Lions, Brian O'Driscoll. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Former captain of the British and Irish Lions, Brian O'Driscoll. Photo / Brett Phibbs

"I think you know the answer to that one, it wasn't pleasant," assistant coach Ian Foster said of the examination of his team's performance.

"Generally an All Black review, whether you win or lose, is pretty harsh because we're trying to improve our performance.

"In that sense it was pretty similar to other reviews. It didn't feel good but … you talk about things and get some clarity on what the solutions are."

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