Best No.8 ?

[Big Ewis]

Hey guys,
I'm just a big big Picamoles enthusiast. Not biased just coz he's French, but he's SOOO fkn powerful, he can RUN, offload, tackle...he's strong, resists tackles more than I've seen anyone this past EOYT probably...and he's very humble, to top it off...
Here are a few hghlts:


I'm not saying he's the best, but he's my favorite player on the French team right now. Didn't think we could find a better fit than Imanol, he'd helped us tremendously...
Who would you say is the best no.8 right now ?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

It's between Read and Picamoles. I actually woulnd't care for one over the other or even Lobbe.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I'm more into playmaking no. 8's. For me it's Fernandez Lobbe, Read and Parisse.
I see Picamoles playing flanker come RWC time. He's doing it more often for Toulouse, and that was actually Bru's idea, so I can see him playing Picamoles there for France as well.

 

[Big Ewis]

yeaaaaaah Parisse lol, one of my fav. players didn't even think about him my goodness...
that's exactly a product of the lack of coverage and spotlight he gets playing for Italy...so many games he looks like literally the only guy playing with quality, he must feel like shyt quite often (no offense to Italy, just being realistic).
It wasn't so long ago he was considered the best at that position.

But the lines are interestingly blurry quite often betw. no.8 and flanker these days...

 

[RyotoTheDragon]

I remember first seeing picamoles in 09 when france came to nz. I liked what i saw from him then, and was looking forward to seeing him in the rwc. I thought that he and kaino would have matched up quite well but hardly saw him on the field (could be that i just dont keep up with the french team)


The best? of right now? Id say Read, Parisse, Tuifua and Picamoles. Any of those four for me, Tuifua has been immense for Samoa. Strong carries and tackles.

 

[Big Ewis]

yeah cool ok...thought I might hear some atypical opinions but it's good to know it's just about unanimous.
French fans praise Picamoles a lot, especially since we've just won all 3 tests and convincingly for the first 2, and Picamoles had a lot to do with those 2...but I wanted to make sure there's legit recognition outside of French fans.

 

[martinspoonboy1]

Parisse for me, seems to almost always gets man of the match in the six nations !

 

[martinspoonboy1]

Parisse for me, seems to almost always gets man of the match in the six nations !

Who hopefully ill see in March as i got tickets for England vs Italy today! Christmas present for dad and I ! Cant wait, it'll be the first time i've been to a six nations match !

 

[nickdnz]

In my mind it's Kieran Read by a pretty large margin. But I suppose I am an All Blacks fan.

 

[Patchey]

Spies...








(no seriously, got to be K.Read)

 

[Big Ewis]

Who hopefully ill see in March as i got tickets for England vs Italy today! Christmas present for dad and I ! Cant wait, it'll be the first time i've been to a six nations match !

wow, that's heart-warming. (no, I'm totally srs, no sarcasm).
Best news is, you know you've just taken your dad out to watch a victory, too !!

 

[Larksea]

Read for his all round ability and leadership plus he is phenomenal at restarts, he like many AB's looked to be slowing down a bit at the end of the season but early to mid season he was often NZ's best player. Lobbe would be next best in the south, Spies seems to be down a bit, is he even SA's best #8?

Lot of good ones around. Parisse always impresses.

 

[Big Ewis]

Parisse is great, but truly for defense...he's definitely defensive minded as opposed to others mentioned on here..

 

[admartian]

Read. Then Lobbe for me.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Kieran Read is the best player in the world at the minute, but if you're looking at class being permenant and blah blah blah, I've always been a huge fan of Sergio Parisse. Lobbe is also a very impressive human being.

 

[Big Ewis]

yup...he kind of always reminded me of the glory days of Rome. He looks like a mighty centurion out there
and those CLAWS he's got, when they close down and you're locked, there's no way out with this guy ! Fantastic defender.

 

[big ginger 8]

Read.

Pity Heaslip doesn't enter these discussions any more.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Spies...
(no seriously, got to be K.Read)

I see your Spies and raise you a Lauaki

agree on Read, Picamoles, Parisse being up there

 

[martinspoonboy1]

wow, that's heart-warming. (no, I'm totally srs, no sarcasm).
Best news is, you know you've just taken your dad out to watch a victory, too !!

Yeah! Hopefully. Altho Italy are always improving! I reckon they have a great chance of taking a surprise scalp at home this tournament.

 

[admartian]

I see your Spies and raise you a Lauaki

agree on Read, Picamoles, Parisse being up there

Can't talk about Lauaki....







As the topic isn't about "greatest playar evaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!"​.