Colin Meads in action against the British and Irish Lions in 1971. Photo / Photosport
Colin Meads in action against the British and Irish Lions in 1971. Photo / Photosport
Sir Colin Meads and Brodie Retallick are the best ever All Blacks locks, according to the experts and public vote.
Over eight weeks, Sky Sport have assembled a voting panel of experts – rugby commentators Grant Nisbett, Ken Laban and Rikki Swannell, as well as NZME journalist Phil Gifford –to discuss and debate the best ever All Blacks team, and ultimately give fans the opportunity to vote for who they believe should make the Greatest XV in each position.
The brainchild of Sir John Kirwan and Sir Graham Henry, the Greatest XV will identify the 15 greatest All Blacks of all time, as well as a captain, coach and bench.
The winners of the vote from the panel and the public will be revealed every Monday at 8.30pm on the Breakdown on Sky Sport 1, culminating in a gala event celebrating the winners in September.
Last week, the nominees for loosehead and tighthead locks were announced, where the panel made their decision and the vote went to the public.
The four finalists for loosehead lock were Colin Meads (55 tests from 1957-1971), Gary Wheton (58 tests from 1981-1991), Ian Jones (79 tests from 1990-1999) and Sam Whitelock (125 tests from 2010-present).
The tighthead lock finalists were Andy Haden (41 tests from 1977-1985), Brodie Retallick (83 tests from 2012-present), Robin Brooke (62 tests from 1992-1999) and Brad Thorne (59 tests from 2003-2011).
Both the panel and public vote ended up landing on Meads (57 per cent of public vote) and Retallick (60 per cent of public vote).
Colin Meads in action against the British and Irish Lions in 1971. Photo / Photosport
Former All Blacks coach John Hart said Meads "transcends" the sport.
"Colin Meads obviously transcends the game for all sorts of reasons. In terms of ability, longevity, pain barrier, controversy, he did it all. Not a tall lock by any means but awfully competitive. Some of the players in the 50s and 60s had skillsets that you need today."
All Blacks legend Richie McCaw had similar praise for his former teammate Retallick.
"I loved playing alongside Brodie. He intimidated opposition because he was a brute of a man to try and tackle and stop. But his skill level for a big man was phenomenal."
This week, the public will be voting on the greatest All Blacks loose forwards.
Vote via Facebook using the links below (voting closes midnight Wednesday):
Openside flanker
Greatest openside flankers. Photo / Sky
Waka Nathan (14 tests from 1962-1967) Graham Mourie (21 tests from 1977-1982) Michael Jones (56 tests from 1986-1998) Richie McCaw (148 tests from 2001-2015)
Ian Kirkpatrick (39 tests from 1967-1977) Michael Jones (56 tests from 1986-1998) Jerry Collins (48 tests from 2001-2007) Jerome Kaino (81 tests from 2006-2017)
Brian Lochore (25 tests from 1964-1971) Wayne 'Buck' Shelford (22 tests from 1986-1990) Zinzan Brooke (58 tests from 1987-1997) Kieran Read (127 tests from 2008-2019)
Next week, the loose forward winners will be revealed and the panel will debate the greatest All Black halves.
Watch NZ's Greatest XV on the Breakdown on Sky Sport 1 every Monday at 8.30pm or catch up on nzherald.co.nz/sport every Tuesday. Watch the Breakdown's full Greatest XV segment in the video player above.
