With the mid-year British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in the rear view mirror, now seems like a good time assess the state of the world game.
Wales Online undertook the task, casting their eye over the current crop of players, taking into account the rise and fall of certain players' form during the Lions' recent drawn series against the All Blacks.
The full list features nine players who wore the red Lions jumper, with the rankings rounded out by four Australians, two Argentinians, two Frenchman, one Italian, one Fijian and just a solitary South African.
You can rank the players yourself HERE.
The full list:
30. Stuart Hogg - Scotland
29. Alun Wyn Jones - Wales
28. Israel Dagg - New Zealand
27. Wesley Fofana - France
26. Agustin Creevy - Argentina
25. Louis Picamoles - France
24. Kurtley Beale - Australia
23. Michael Hooper - Australia
22. Taulupe Faletau - Wales
21. Sam Whitelock - New Zealand
20. Sam Cane - New Zealand
19. Bernard Foley - Australia
18. Facundo Isa - Argentina
17. Eben Etzebeth - South Africa
16. Leone Nakarawa - Fiji
15. Sergio Parisse - Italy
14. Aaron Smith - New Zealand
13. Tadhg Furlong - Ireland
12. Sonny Bill Williams - New Zealand
11. Billy Vunipola - England
10. Conor Murray - Ireland
9. Israel Folau - Australia
8. Jonathan Davies - Wales
7. Owen Farrell - England
5. Brodie Retallick - New Zealand
4. Ben Smith - New Zealand
3. Maro Itoje - England
2. Kieran Read - New Zealand
1. Beauden Barrett - New Zealand
RANK THEM YOURSELF ON PAGE SEVEN
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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