Michael Jones, Richie McCaw and Zinzan Brooke are the best ever All Blacks loose forward trio, 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 journalistPhil 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 blindside and openside flankers, and number 8 were announced, where the panel made their decision and the vote went to the public.
The four finalists for blindside flanker were Ian Kirkpatrick (39 tests from 1967-1977), Michael Jones (56 tests from 1986-1998), Jerry Collins (48 tests from 2001-2007) and Jerome Kaino (81 tests from 2006-2017).
The openside flanker finalists were Waka Nathan (14 tests from 1962-1967), Graham Mourie (21 tests from 1977-1982), Michael Jones (56 tests from 1986-1998) and Richie McCaw (148 tests from 2001-2015).
The No 8s were Brian Lochore (25 tests from 1964-1971), Wayne 'Buck' Shelford (22 tests from 1986-1990), Zinzan Brooke (58 tests from 1987-1997) and Kieran Read (127 tests from 2008-2019).
Both the panel and the public landed on Richie McCaw at openside flanker (85 per cent of the public vote) and Zinzan Brooke at No 8 (55 per cent of the public vote), but the experts and public were split on the blindside flanker spot.
No 6 was split three ways with Jerry Collins claiming 36 per cent of the public vote, with Kaino (34 per cent) and Jones (29 per cent) close behind, while the experts picked Jones as their blindside pick. The tiebreaker went to Sir Graham Henry, who picked Jones at No 6.
Former All Blacks hooker Sean Fitzpatrick said Jones could play any position.
"What made Michael Jones so special was that he could probably play any position on the field, even hooker. He was that good. He had that natural ability. He was big in those days. Hugely fit, athletic and he redefined that position. Without question."
On McCaw, former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said: "[He's] the most driven player I've ever coached. It's often being said by myself that he wasn't our most talented athlete, but my goodness me he was so driven to the point where he just wanted to be better every day. He didn't want to ever let the jersey down, he didn't want to let other sevens down, he didn't want to let himself down, his family down. I can't remember him playing a poor game."
Former All Blacks coach John Hart said about Brooke: "The guy that constantly did the work and had the thinking process was Zinzan Brooke. A great thinker of the game. His skills were unbelievable, you know, hand skills, kicking skills, a really fantastic rugby player. Probably the most skilful, I'd say, outside of Michael Jones."
This week, the public will be voting on the greatest All Blacks halfback and first five-eighth.
Vote via Facebook using the links below (voting closes midnight Wednesday):
Halfback
Halfbacks. Photo / Sky
Sid Going (29 tests from 1967-1977) Dave Loveridge (24 tests from 1978-1985) Justin Marshall (81 tests from 1995-2005) Aaron Smith (99 tests from 2012-present)
Grant Fox (46 tests from 1985-1993) Andrew Mehrtens (70 tests from 1995-2004) Dan Carter (112 tests from 2003-2015) Beauden Barrett (91 tests from 2012-present)
Next week, the halves winners will be revealed and the panel will debate the greatest All Blacks midfield.
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.
