"Couldn't tackle a crossword" - Fans Pick The Most Over-Hyped XV Of All-Time

Monday, 13 September 2021 at 13:11

byRugby Rucker

Fans have been picking their most 'overrated' rugby players of all-time on Reddit.

It’s worth pointing out that we have no disrespect to the players we've controversially included in this XV – but fans feel they’re given too much praise at times.

These players will have been selected for a handful of different reasons – some of them will perhaps not be justifying the big money spent on them, others may be getting too much hype from the media.

Check out the full selection below.

Back-Three:

15. Johan Goosen (South Africa) - "He was supposed to be the next big thing for Springbok rugby, and now he's barely remembered."
14. George North (Wales) - "is the most overrated player of this generation, when was the last time he had a good game that wasn’t against Italy."
11. Chris Ashton (England) - " That man lived off his 'solo' try against Australia and managed to get in the England team every time. He couldn't tackle a crossword! Lacks creativity and only works running a line of a short pass from number ten. Overrated definitely!"

Centres:

13. Kurtley Beale (Australia) - "He spends all game looking for line breaks, which will work some days and destroys our backline chemistry on others. He needs to learn how to play with others."
12. Gavin Henson (Wales) - "one kick and one big tackle and everyone thought he was the bees knees for the next few years"

Halfbacks:

10. Danny Cipriani (England) - "I think compared to normal players he's pretty decent. But, we're talking about being overrated, and Danny has been constantly touted by the media as the next big thing and he has definitely not lived up to that mantle."
9. Ben Youngs (England) - "He is the most overrated English scrum half ever and isn’t in the top 4 scrum half’s in England let alone the world."

Front-row:

1. Gethin Jenkins (Wales) - "Played for far too long. Was nowhere near international in the last few years yet still always got picked."
2. Dylan Hartley (England) - " Outside of the England dressing room, i guess he was never massively rated but, Jones specifically, loved him. I never saw him as international quality and more of a liability than anything else."
3. Jannie Du Plessis (South Africa) - "What does that guy even do in the rugby field? Perhaps he is a good scrum man or something but he seems pretty overrated to me."

Second-row:

4. Richie Gray (Scotland) - "He is just a massive, there are much better 2nd rows out there he just gets PR'd much more effectively."
5. Will Skelton (Australia) - Physical specimen almost without peer but couldn't seem to produce regular performances matching his size. Didn't seem to put enough work in and eventually faded away.

Back-row:

6. Peter O'Mahony (Ireland) - "He tends to have a massive game just when he/his team needs it and then go back to anonymity for a while."
7. Sebastien Chabal (France) - "Talented athlete who put in the odd big tackle but when push came to shove he always seemed to wilt away from the physical side of the game."
8. Sergio Parisse (Italy) - "Going to be controversial but Sergio Parisse. Sure he had fantastic skills but he was a show pony and not a work horse and people often overlooked this. He looked fantastic for Italy but that was because he was allowed to do all the flashy stuff but was mediocre in other areas."