Some of England’s Best Rugby Players of all Time
Rugby in England is one of the most intense sports one can watch. So, if just watching it seems intense, you can only imagine how demanding the sport is for the players. The close contact sport called Rugby started in 1823. Rugby, today, is a proud part of English sports and culture. In fact, the English national rugby team has won the Six Nations Championship 29 times. This makes them the most successful outright winners in the history of the competition. This is all thanks to the national team’s greatest players. Continue reading to learn about some of them.
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter Wilkinson is a former fly-half who played for Toulon and the Newcastle Falcons. Wilkinson is known for scoring the winning drop goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final. In his career, he won 91 caps for England, and 6 caps for the British & Irish Lions. Wilkinson suffered tremendously through his career with injuries. If it weren’t for his misfortunes, he might have been appreciated by the rugby world much more.
Lawrence Dallaglio
Before his retirement, Lawrence Dallaglio was the captain of the English rugby team. As a legendary player, he has earned a place in the World Rugby Hall of Fame. For the London Wasps, Dallaglio played as a flanker, or a number eight. He has won 85 caps for England. Furthermore, Lawrence Dallaglio is one of the very few rugby players to have won both the Sevens World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. Today, the former flanker sometimes works as a pundit on TV and radio. Many former athletes are doing this today, it’s just a way for them to not miss the game too much and keep big players relevant in the sporting world.
Martin Johnson
Considered to be one of the greatest locks ever, Martin Johnson first made his senior team debut with Leicester Tigers in 1989, and in 1993 he later went on to make his England debut. His professional rugby career lasted 16 seasons. In 1999, he became the captain of the English national team. Johnson has also played an impressive 362 games for the Leicester Tigers alone. Additionally, in 2004 he was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), after winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Soon after, Johnson became manager of the English National team. With his guidance, England won the 2011 Six Nations Championship, the first since 2003.
Richard Hill
Dubbed as the ‘silent assassin’, former flanker Richard Hill was a Saracens player for all his professional career. Before playing professionally, he was amateur rugby with Salisbury from 1989 till 1993. Hill was known for his distinctive style of play. In 1997, Hill made his England debut at the Five Nations Championship. From then to 2005, he played for both England and the British & Irish Lions.
Maro Itoje
On this list, only Maro Itoje is the only one not retired from the game. It doesn’t look like he’s ready to join them any time soon, to spend his days only doing all sorts of fun, and comfortable activities like binge-watching series on Netflix or maybe playing casino games like the Starburst slot. And this is key when discussing Itoje, as we believe to see him in action for much longer. He is known to be a blindside flanker or a lock, Itoje plays for Saracens – One of the best Rugby Union clubs. In 2016, he got called up for the national team for the first time ever. Since then, he has become a fan favourite. At just the age of 27, he’s already won three European Rugby Champions Cups, three Six Nations Championships, and four English Premiership titles. He’s also been chosen twice for the British & Lions tour. The fact that he’s won all this and been selected for so many major rugby events so early on, shows that there is so much more to come out of this star in the years to come.
Conclusion
Apart from these, Jeremy Guscott and Rory Underwood are another two popular English Rugby players that could have easily made this list. While Underwood is still considered to be one of the best try scorers of all time, Guscott played as an outside centre, known for his creativity. Both are retired players who work toward bettering future generations in English rugby.
