Sam Underhill ranks his top 5 players of all-time

Collins won 48 caps for the All Blacks having made his debut in 2001, scoring five tries during a career that saw him become one of the most feared back-row players on the pitch due to his sheer strength and physicality.

Widely rated as one of the world’s best-ever back row forwards, he was a key member of England’s World Cup-winning squad in Australia in 2003 and the only player to play in every minute of the memorable campaign. Lawrence also featured on three British and Irish Lions tours and was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2016. At domestic level, Lawrence was a one-club man with Wasps, picking up five Aviva Premiership titles along the way, as well as three Anglo-Welsh Cups and two European Rugby Champions Cups in his 18-year career.

He will forever be remembered as the man who kicked England to Rugby World Cup glory in Australia in 2003 – slotting a last-gasp drop goal in extra-time to edge out the hosts in a thrilling tournament finale. That moment is just one highlight of a record-breaking career that has seen Wilkinson rise to one of the sport’s all-time greats. He won 91 caps for England between 1998 and 2011, scoring over 1,100 points during that time. He spent 12 seasons with the Newcastle Falcons, where he won the Premiership in 1998, before moving to Toulon. During his five year spell at the French club he won the Champions Cup on two occasions and the Top14 title. Named both World Rugby Player of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2003.

Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest locks to have ever played the game. As a player he famously led England to glory at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and also captained the British & Irish Lions in 1997 and 2001. He was also part of two Grand Slam-winning England sides in 1995 and again as captain in 2003. On the domestic stage he played all his club rugby for Leicester Tigers, making a total of 307 appearances. During his 16-year career at Welford Road he led them to back-to-back Heineken Cup titles in 2001 and 2002 and also five Premiership titles including four in-a-row between 1998-99 and 2001-02.

A former captain of the All Blacks and generally recognised as one of the greatest all-time flankers, McCaw had the size and strength to be a punishing defender and the cool head and quick hands required to master the breakdown area. He became the first All Black to reach 100 Tests in 2011 and captain a century of tests in 2014. He won World Rugby Player of the Year a record three times (2006, 2009, and 2010).