Hardest men in Rugby - past or present

[iINDOMINUSxx]

rob kearney just because of this

 

[Draggs]

Me after watching the 2010 CC final.

 

[bertiec]

or

Julian White was just about the hardest player in that Tigers team of very hard players.

Alesani took some beating. Remember him running straight at Horgan and the collision knocking Horgan into a full back somersault. Mind you Manu must have one of the best combo punch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxWIM127Bw

 

[The Jones Boy]

For me 'Hard' encapsulates the players who can take the knocks and keep their game on target, sure there are some who can give it and take it but for me it's the guys who can take the hits and keep coming back to hurt you in the scrum or on the scoreboard.

Being a Kiwi I remember a few more of my boys than others, please forgive me in this...

Richard Loe
Mark Cowboy Shaw
Gary Knight
Bill Osborne
Smokin joe Stanley
Colin Pinetree Meads
Brad Thorne
Alan Whetton
John Ashworth
Jerry Collins
Waka Nathan
Michael Jones
The Lord McCaw
Tana Umaga
Buck Shelford
Grant Batty (short winger who always seem to have to pick a fight with an opposition lock he needed a step ladder to reach)
Terry Wright (nobody took more punishment than the skinny fella on the wing for the AB's and Auckland and he just kept coming back to score tries)

Foreign blokes i respect for their toughness and ability to endure and keep coming on strong.

Sebastien Chabal
Tijann Strauss
Bakkies Botha
Ray Mort
Bismarck Du Plessis
Abdul Benazzi
Richard Hill
Jason leonard
Martin Johnson
Willie John McBride
John Hayes
Stephen Ferris
Thierry Dusatoir
Scott Gibbs
Tim Horan

 

[Rhondda Rudie]

You guys are kidding with some of these nominations. Modern players almost don't qualify purely due to the nature of the game these days, i.e. You can't do any of the brutal stuff that used to be pretty standard. Club rugby in NZ almost used to be a running battle in the 60s/70s/early 80s. Some names from NZ; Mark 'cowboy' Shaw, Gary 'axle' Knight, Frank 'filth Oliver. Some of the stories about these guys are legendary in the Manawatu rugby, e.g. Oliver knocked out a teammate for kicking an opposition player in the head.

Put a modern player in one of those old games and they'd be bigger and faster, but would get the **** beaten out of them the first time they were in a ruck. SBW would last about 4 minutes.

Was thinking exactly the same lol

Wade Dooley
Billy Bush
Gerard Cholley
Robert Paparemborde
Richard Moriarty
Bobby Windsor
JPR Williams
Ian Kirkpatrick

 

[The Jones Boy]

Billy Bush, there's a mighty fine call.
As for modern players, I have no doubt that Brad Thorne would have been a hero in any time period, as would Martin Johnson.

 

[Rhondda Rudie]

Billy Bush, there's a mighty fine call.
As for modern players, I have no doubt that Brad Thorne would have been a hero in any time period, as would Martin Johnson.

Saw Billy playing for the Maoris against Cardiff back in the day.I remember him running on the spot on the top of a ruck.lol

 

[HemiBro]

^^^ hahaha

Jerry Collins
Richard Loe
Brad Thorn
Frank Oliver

 

[UilamOsa]

Are we talking hardest? or dirtiest?

I'll represent the Aussies - it seems that they have very little love.

Phil Waugh
Owen Finegan
Willie 'O'
Toutai Kefu
Daniel Herbert
Phil Kearns
and the incomparable George Smith
(Tim Horan was mentioned earlier)

 

[Isurus]

Paddy Mayne took a break from international rugby to become one of the British Army's most decorated soldiers

I think that wins.

If even a tiny fraction of that is remotely true then this contest is over.

 

[Rich Taff]

There was a story going around, of a forward (think he was Argentinian), who was supposedly shot during a game, thought it was a stud mark and finished the game, only to find a bullet hole. May be an urban legend, probably is, but be interesting to know if anyone else has heard of that occurrence.

 

[robert rees]

has to be burgess

Clive "steelclaw" burgess of Ebbw vale RFC

 

[gaston le gaff]

In 1977 France won the grand slam with a squad that included second row Michel Palmie (banned for life in 1978 for partially blinding a player on a rugby pitch), and Gerard Cholley (a former paratrooper - and his fellow prop Armand Vaquerin (whose life came to an abrupt end in 1993 when he lost at Russian Roulette). Today these players are revered in France (a domestic competition is named in Vaquerin's memory), because they played the game with 'passion'.

Just a couple or three who seemed to be missing from the list. We played last night in the Challenge Vaquarin (still going strong) v Aurillac score21-9 to Montpellier.

 

[JJFlash]

Jean-Pierre Rives comes immediately to mind.
He wasn' t big but he was tough, courageous and a terrific leader.

 

[valley commando]

In no particular order my top 10
Clive Jones the only man to be banned sine die twice.
Denzil Earland, check out Neil Jenkins autobiography, Denzil was that hard he'd leave the keys in his car ignition, but with a photo of himself on the dash saying this is my car.
Dale MacIntosh (The Chief) Check out Youtube, especially his rib breaking tackle on Baths Andy Robinson.
Colin Meads.
Jean Pierre Rives.
Gerard Cholley.
Jamie Cudmore
Bakkies Botha.
Bobby Winsor.
Brian Williams

 

[HowieLO6]

no-one mention jonah lomu

So far you've pitched SBW and now Lomu; you're well off the mark with both.

SBW is a physical specimen, but he's not hard. Put people who relish a physical battle in front of him and he's exposed. An exquisite talent, but not hard.

And Jonah? He was the first of the new breed of physical outliers that teams like England has faced. Physically superior? Without doubt. Hard? Noooope.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Julien White for me should be in mosts top 10's.

 

[Jockstap]

Brian O'Driscoll.

 

[j-dawg]

Dallaglio and Lewis moody

 

[valley commando]

Brian O'Driscoll.

How is BOD hard, he's more of an artist, certainly not a hard man, very few modern day players would enter the category as hard men due to the way the game has changed, the only 2 on my list that have played in the last year or 2 are Jamie Cudmore and Bakkies Botha, but they seem to be relics from a bygone age and will be sadly missed.
There is some great youtube footage of Cudmore.