Nine ultimate one club rugby players, including Beaumont, Dallaglio and Johnson
Top 10s/ListsSaturday, 05 August 2017 at 20:11
They are all club icons and held in high regard by their respective fans, so here RUCK celebrates 10 of our favourites.
The impact they had, their quality, longevity, trophies won and legacy play a massive part in why they made our selection.
Be sure to tell us in the comments who your favourite 'one club men' from rugby are!
Click through the gallery to see the players.
1. Martin Johnson - Leicester Tigers
A giant of the game in more ways than one, 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 - the first player to lead the elite tourists on two occasions.
On the domestic stage he played all his club rugby for Leicester Tigers, making his debut in 1989 before going on to make a total of 307 appearances before hanging up his boots in 2005. 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.
2. Paul O'Connell - Munster
Second-row Paul O'Connell is Munster through and through and holds the honour of having skippered the British & Irish Lions during their Test series with South Africa in 2009.
He steered Munster to Heineken Cup glory in 2008 but greater success would follow in 2009 when he played a key role in Ireland's historic Six Nations Grand Slam triumph.
Despite signing for French giants Toulon, he never played a game due to injury meaning we've decided we can still count him on this list.
3. Bill Beaumont - Fylde RFC
A former England and British & Irish Lions international, Beaumont is currently chairman of World Rugby having previously served as chairman of the RFU, vice-chairman of the International Rugby Board and a member of the IRB Council and IRB Executive Committee.
Beaumont rose to prominence as a lock for Lancashire-based side Fylde, where he spent his whole club career 1969-1982, and made his international debut for England as a replacement against Ireland in 1975 - aged just 22.
His sons, Josh and Sam, have both since represented Fylde in the National Leagues.
4. Lawrence Dallaglio - Wasps
Lawrence Dallaglio became one of the most decorated and successful English players of all time.
Emerging as a raw talent in the back row during England's victory at the 1993 Sevens World Cup at Murrayfield, Dallaglio went on to secure 85 England caps and cement his place as a hero of English rugby.
Dallaglio was a one-club man, playing every first-class game of his career for Wasps. He took the reins as club captain in 1995 when Rob Andrew departed for Newcastle and made his England Test debut in November that year against South Africa.
5. Richie McCaw - Crusaders
Richie McCaw is a great of the modern game having led the All Blacks to Rugby World Cup glory in 2011 and 2015 as well as claiming the International Rugby Board's Player of the Year award on a record three occasions.
He has carved out a formidable reputation as arguably the best openside flanker in the world since emerging onto the international stage at only 20 years of age, but unlike a lot of other All Blacks never left New Zealand shores, choosing to stick with the Crusaders his whole career.
6. Ben Kay - Leicester Tigers
A towering second-row forward, Ben Kay won 62 caps for England between 2001 and 2009 before retiring at the end of the 2009-10 season after 11 years with Leicester Tigers.
Kay was a member of Tigers' Heineken Cup winning sides in 2001 and 2002 as his international career blossomed under the guidance of team-mate and captain Martin Johnson.
7. Richard Hill (Saracens)
Richard Hill played 288 times for Saracens and 71 times for England making him one of the modern greats of the English game. He also played five Tests for the British and Irish Lions between 1997 and 2005.
Hill was part of the much-vaunted England loose trio of Back, Dallaglio and Hill that took England to Rugby World Cup glory in 2003 under Clive Woodward.
He was the only member of Woodward's England side never to have been dropped by him.
8. Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
A Tigers academy graduate, Croft made more than 170 first-team appearances for the club before announcing his retirement earlier this season. A dynamic back-rower, he was part of four Premiership title-winning squads with Tigers and played in the 2009 European Cup Final as well as winning 40 caps with England and five in two tours with the British & Irish Lions.
9 Rob Vickers (Newcastle Falcons)
After 12 years and more than 250 appearances for Newcastle Falcons, front-row forward Rob Vickers has announced he will retire from playing at the end of the current season.
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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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