Legendary commentator Bill McLaren selected his all-time Lions XV - Ruck

Legendary commentator Bill McLaren selected his all-time Lions XV

Legendary commentator Bill McLaren took on the daunting task of picking his greatest British & Irish Lions XV of all time for a book in 1998.

BACK-THREE

15. JPR Williams (Wales) – “He was the complete competitor whose calm assurance and unwavering confidence were vital ingredients in the test successes for the Lions against New Zealand in 1971 and in South Africa three years later.”

14. Gerald Davies (Wales) – “Certainly opposing winger of his day would rate him as the player they would least enjoy marking, because not only did he possess exceptional pace, adhesive hands and an astute tactical sense, but also such gifts of running deception in jink, swerve and change of pace that likened him to an animated prairie dog and brought him an international haul of 20 tries for Wales.”

11. David Duckham (England) – “He allied his physical presence as a big man with genuine pace to the subtle arts of deception and superb balance and speed. He was a prolific try-scorer.”


CENTRES

13. Mike Gibson (Ireland) – “He was the complete all-round footballer, possessed all of the skills and of a sharp rugby brain and, whilst a slim build, he nonetheless was as tough as teak and never held back in a tackle.”

12. Jeremy Guscott (England) – “He burst onto the scene with elegant, smooth acceleration, superb judgement of angle and distance, and subtle body balance in swerve and pace change, that were to decorate his career as one of the most gifted centres to ever play the game.”

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