Start date for the 2020/21 Gallagher Premiership confirmed - Page 3 of 3 - Ruck

Start date for the 2020/21 Gallagher Premiership confirmed

Lock: Bakkie Botha – South Africa

Someone incredibly fierce but very very down to earth” and “at times he’s exactly what a team needs,” according to Wilkinson.

Lock: John Eales – Australia

Eales was described by Wilkinson as “intelligent, another massive leader, gets himself around the park and brings another angle of goal kicking”.

Flanker: Francois Pienaar – South Africa

“Approaching a World Cup in our own country I think people can understand the pressure on the home team and to think about the pressure on the home captain – think about what this guy must have been going through in South Africa at that time. To see how he dealt with it I think is a lesson to all of us”

Flanker: Richie McCaw – New Zealand

“A guy that stood the test of time and has remained at the best, the highest level of the game for that time”

Number 8: Pat Lam – Samoa

“Pat Lam was one of the most creative, instinctive players as well as bringing his own brand of leadership and the way he saw the game.”