Kieran Read and the All Blacks perform the haka. Photo / Photosport
OPINION: By Charles Richardson of The Telegraph
For once, in rugby terms, New Zealand have been hard done by. As World Rugby revealed its Team of the Decade at a Zoom-led awards night to much pomp and circumstance, an exercise that is always bedevilled even before it is unveiled, there was widespread confusion – and some polemic – towards the selections of the governing body's expert panel. And with good reason.
World Rugby cannot appease fans of all nations; the organisation is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't. There will always be supporters, from the nations that were not represented – England, France, Scotland and Argentina among others – that will feel as if their team has been treated unfairly.
But even if you look past the fact that there will always be those who groan – and that the team was technically unveiled a year late – with an objective hat on, it still does not sit quite right. How can the All Blacks, who dominated the period, winning two of its three World Cups and eight of its 10 Rugby Championships, comprise less than half of the team?
There is an argument that former No 8 Kieran Read did as much for the New Zealand rugby cause as Richie McCaw throughout the 2010s. There is not one No 8 in the past decade that has managed to blend skill, power, dynamism and rugby wisdom as well as Read. He was the decade's pre-eminent No 8, playing in the decade's pre-eminent team, and he was one of the decade's pre-eminent captains. His exclusion is nonsensical. Italian stallion Sergio Parisse was a wonderful player, but it was so tragic to see his on-field antics descend into such petulance – verging on farce – from circa 2015 onwards. He became a shadow of his former rampaging self. A beacon amid Italy's shadows he might have been; on Read's level he was not.
Aaron Smith and Conor Murray had a proper ding-dong on the 2017 Lions tour, but during the last decade Smith operated at a higher level for far longer, and far more consistently, than Murray. The Irish scrum-half was at his most effective on that 2017 tour, but even at his best no one would ever have suggested he was head and shoulders above his Kiwi adversary. Slightly better for a few months? Perhaps.
Brian O'Driscoll only wore an Irish jersey for four years of the 2010s and his inclusion, while an undoubted great, is perplexing. Both Conrad Smith of New Zealand and Jonathan Davies of Wales would have been far more apposite choices. It should not be forgotten that Davies kept O'Driscoll out of the test team in the Irishman's only Lions tour this decade, and on the 2017 tour the Welsh centre was man of the series. Smith's achievements, like so many of his contemporaries, speak for themselves.
O'Driscoll's inclusion opens Pandora's box. If a four-year stint in international rugby is enough to warrant inclusion, then that suddenly opens the door for a raft of snubbed English talent. Maro Itoje, Mako Vunipola and Owen Farrell have all been touching world-class since 2016. They were part of a drawn Lions series against New Zealand, reached a World Cup final, and won three Six Nations titles. But, unlike O'Driscoll, they do not make the team.
And where are the Argentinians? In an historic decade that saw them inducted into the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby, their rejection is one that almost grates the most. They were phenomenal at the 2015 World Cup: before they knocked out – and outplayed in all areas – Ireland in the quarter-finals, they led New Zealand 16-12 after 60 minutes, in a pre-cursor to last month's historic victory in Sydney.
Juan Imhoff has been making defenders appear foolhardy at both international level and for his club, Racing 92, for many years, while captain Agustin Creevy often single-handedly kept his team in matches against the world's best teams. There were occasions throughout the 2010s, when Argentina were mid-pasting against New Zealand, that Creevy still looked like the best forward on the field.
South Africa experienced a lousy decade, all things considered. It ended triumphantly, admittedly, but in that 10-year period they picked up the wooden spoon of the Rugby Championship three times and only won it once (also in 2019). Need we mention Japan in Brighton? Or Italy in Florence? The only name that deserves recognition in this team is the one that lifted the Webb Ellis trophy, Tendai Mtawarira.
Julian Savea's career fell off a cliff but some have been quick to forget his seismic arrival on the international rugby circuit. His try-scoring rate of 0.85 tries per match, with all scores coming the past decade, is the second-best of any player in the top 40 try-scorers in the history of rugby, and the best of anyone from a "Tier One" nation. He is the second-most prolific All Black try-scorer in rugby history, after an international career that lasted for just five years.
There was little commotion, at least, for the selections made by World Rugby for their women's team, which was filled with players from the two teams that have dominated the sport in recent times, England and New Zealand.
All teams have peaks and troughs, but one side remained a world-beating force throughout the 2010s. The All Blacks, after forging and sustaining one of the greatest sides in the history of the sport, deserved better.
World Rugby's men's Team of the Decade
15. Ben Smith (New Zealand)
14. George North (Wales)
13. Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland)
12. Ma'a Nonu (New Zealand)
11. Bryan Habana (South Africa)
10. Dan Carter (New Zealand)
9. Conor Murray (Ireland)
1. Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa)
2. Bismarck du Plessis (South Africa)
3. Owen Franks (New Zealand)
4. Brodie Retallick (New Zealand)
5. Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
6. David Pocock (Australia)
7. Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
8. Sergio Parisse (Italy)
What World Rugby's Team of the Decade should have looked like
15. Ben Smith (New Zealand)
14. Juan Imhoff (Argentina)
13. Conrad Smith (New Zealand)
12. Ma'a Nonu (New Zealand)
11. Julian Savea (New Zealand)
10. Dan Carter (New Zealand)
9. Aaron Smith (New Zealand)
1. Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa)
2. Agustin Creevy (Argentina)
3. Owen Franks (New Zealand)
4. Brodie Retallick (New Zealand)
5. Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
6. David Pocock (Australia)
7. Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
8. Kieran Read (New Zealand)
'There was not a lot of trust between us anymore. In fact ... there was zero trust.'