Top 10 Fullbacks

[FrenchFan]

I think he's underestimated because he often gets shafted due to his size but when you look past that he brings a perfect mix of solidity and flair. It makes him a very good player to watch especially in a position like fullback where there's all that space to exploit.



He's a solid player, but nothing more I don't think. A bit like Kearney but Kearney has been solid for a lot longer and gets that last spot on my list.

he is excellent under the high ball. Kearney is more physical. Dulin is a great counterattacking player, very creative. Made huge yardage in the 6N. And in Top 14 he gets my vote as best FB.

 

[ruggabee]

he is excellent under the high ball. Kearney is more physical. Dulin is a great counterattacking player, very creative. Made huge yardage in the 6N. And in Top 14 he gets my vote as best FB.

Ah ok I didn't notice that. I did notice his solid aerial ability, which is why I compared him with Kearney. Maybe if he keeps it up for a couple seasons then he could be in with a shout.

 

[Big Ewis]

he is excellent under the high ball. Kearney is more physical. Dulin is a great counterattacking player, very creative. Made huge yardage in the 6N. And in Top 14 he gets my vote as best FB.

yeah he's probably the best, off the top of my head...he just never seems to fail under the high ball, and some of them have been impossible and yet he always gets them. On every counter he beats at very least one defender and often goes the length of the field til half-way. He scores tries, is a good kicker, cold blooded, never stressed...he's a little short but that works to his advantage having a super low center of gravity.

He's probably in my Top 5, or only barely just outside if not.

Ah ok I didn't notice that. I did notice his solid aerial ability, which is why I compared him with Kearney. Maybe if he keeps it up for a couple seasons then he could be in with a shout.

yeah he kept beating defenders since his first cap in November 2012...and no sorry but the int'l community should watch him much more closely, rather than him having to do even more.

 

[goodNumber10]

Ah ok I didn't notice that. I did notice his solid aerial ability, which is why I compared him with Kearney. Maybe if he keeps it up for a couple seasons then he could be in with a shout.

Yet cost France the essential Savea try against the All Blacks with his terrible kicking from the back... Dulin is good, but inconsistent and makes some bad decisions under pressure.

*Edit: Was aimed at Frenchfan not you...

 

[ruggabee]

yeah he kept beating defenders since his first cap in November 2012...and no sorry but the int'l community should watch him much more closely, rather than him having to do even more.

Maybe. It's a bit strange people have noticed players of every other country. If he was such a stand out I don't think we'd need to whip out the microscopes.

 

[Aristodemus]

Ben Smith, Folau and Mike Brown are the best, if I was picking one I think I would choose Smith. After that, very hard to decide, so many options but I do think Halfpenny is over-rated, wouldn't be in a top ten of mine.

 

[TheSaffycen]

Dulin is a very good player and I rated him 6th in the world. He hasn't been as exposed on the international seen as the others so I can't rate him much higher but he is only 23 and in 4 years he might be the best. But he isn't a patch on Folau and Brown, you can't really make the point that Dulin is the best in the world when another fullback got the 6 nations player of the tournament over him. On pure ability though he is a brilliant player.
Edit with halfpenny it's difficult because you can only really play the system you are told to play. Brown and Folau are allowed to attack when they see fit and get to attack with freedom, Halfpenny was told to boot the ball back from where it came. For the lions he attacked with pace and was a real threat, ask the Australians if they think Halfpenny is overrated

 

[Peat]

Feel there's a case for Luke McClean making the top 10 - consistently one of Italy's biggest attacking threats, can't think of too many defensive foul-ups, good boot too.

 

[big ginger 8]

It's Robnoxious Kearnage's birthday so I'll put him number 1 just for one day.

There is a lot of quality fullbacks around.

 

[TheSaffycen]

Feel there's a case for Luke McClean making the top 10 - consistently one of Italy's biggest attacking threats, can't think of too many defensive foul-ups, good boot too.

He's a good player but I don't think he would get into the SA, England, NZ, Oz and France squad

 

[Darwin]

Ben Smith, Folau and Mike Brown are the best, if I was picking one I think I would choose Smith. After that, very hard to decide, so many options but I do think Halfpenny is over-rated, wouldn't be in a top ten of mine.

Could not have put it better myself

For me Smith, Folau and Brown are clearly the top 3 fullbacks in world rugby. It is quite difficult to compare Smith to the others though given he hasn't been given the chance to play 15 for the All Blacks (through no fault of his own!). He was the outstanding wing in test rugby last season, and was close to winning world player of the year. However he is a better fullback than a wing. A much better fullback. He was New Zealand's Super Rugby player of the year at fullback for the Highlanders, and at times for the Highlanders over the last few seasons he has looked at a completely different level than the other 29 players on the park. Hopefully the AB's selectors will give him a shot at fullback this season, and the rest of the world will find out just how good he is!

Folau is the best attacking fullback in world rugby and is phenomenal in the air, but he isn't the complete fullback that Brown and Smith are. He still needs to work on his defense, work-rate and positional play. In saying that he still has a good claim for the number 1 spot as he is an incredible weapon with ball in hand. Mike Brown in many ways reminds me of Ben Smith. He doesn't seem like the quickest or strongest guy around but he had a deceptive ability to break the line, and always seems to make the right decision. It would be great if the AB's selectors picked Ben Smith at fullback against England as the match-up between Brown and Smith would be a real highlight.

I'm not surprised Le Roux is rated quite highly by many, but I do think he is a tad over-rated. Don't get me wrong I love watching Le Roux play (he is probably my favourite South African back to watch), but he does have a few flaws. He is probably the most creative fullback in world rugby - his passing game is phenomenal - but at times I feel he tries to do too much, hence his error rate is usually very high. He has a good kicking game, but I feel he kicks the ball far too much (he is currently equal 1st in kicks made in the competition with 53). The biggest issue I have with Le Roux is his defensive ability. He is a very poor defender - he literally only makes around 50% of his tackles. Optastats have him making 15/27 (56%), while Foxsports.com.au have him making only 12/26 (46%). That really isn't good enough for a test fullback in my opinion. This is not to say that I wouldn't pick him for the Boks - I definitely would as I think what he brings to the side out-weigh his poor defense, I just wouldn't rate him in the top 5 fullback in world rugby at the moment though.

Below the top 3 I would include the likes of Halfpenny, Hogg, and Israel Dagg. I've never been a big fan of Dagg (and he is in poor form at the moment), but he is an experienced international fullback, and his ability under the high-ball and massive punt is a huge asset at test level (though not as much at Super Rugby level).

 

[Big Ewis]

Yet cost France the essential Savea try against the All Blacks with his terrible kicking from the back... Dulin is good, but inconsistent and makes some bad decisions under pressure.

*Edit: Was aimed at Frenchfan not you...

lol he makes one mistake and he's inconsistent. No, the truth is he's a very consistent player, like - very notably consistent, everybody keeps repeating that in fact - and he can keep that 15 shirt on with confidence despite good talent there for France behind him. He's not going anywhere. Fantastic talent. It's too bad in a sense because I'd have loved to see other talents with different styles at FB in Bleu, notably J.M Buttin.

Maybe. It's a bit strange people have noticed players of every other country. If he was such a stand out I don't think we'd need to whip out the microscopes.

Not at all. French and Italian Rugby always take way more, and way more time for the int'l community to notice. I think he was first for France in defenders beaten and in the top in that category overall at the 6N. It's understandable lately the int'l community sees France's struggle as a whole and doesn't consider the players as much, but there's an enormous chasm between the English-speaking world and those other nations. If France hadn't built that reputation nationally and the Top 14, they'd be relatively non-existant to your typical Irishman, Welshman, Englishman, Aussie etc...

I'm not sure what it'll take for him (Dulin) to get the credit he deserves, but I know he doesn't give a sht. He's a country boy, not preoccupied by too much past France. Others may be more open to the English-speaking media, but not him.

 

[SimonG]

None of them excite me.

Loved Jeff Wilson, the way he took the Garryowen with such ease was quality.

 

[Darwin]

None of them excite me.

Loved Jeff Wilson, the way he took the Garryowen with such ease was quality.

You should probably stick to football then

I was a massive fan of Wilson too, but he was far better on the wing than at fullback.

 

[goodNumber10]

lol he makes one mistake and he's inconsistent. No, the truth is he's a very consistent player, like - very notably consistent, everybody keeps repeating that in fact - and he can keep that 15 shirt on with confidence despite good talent there for France behind him. He's not going anywhere. Fantastic talent. It's too bad in a sense because I'd have loved to see other talents with different styles at FB in Bleu, notably J.M Buttin.

Yes, that's exactly what i've done, based my decision on one, admittedly game changing, incident...

I'm not sure what it'll take for him (Dulin) to get the credit he deserves, but I know he doesn't give a sht. He's a country boy, not preoccupied by too much past France. Others may be more open to the English-speaking media, but not him.

meh, it always has to come down to that francophobic attitude doesn't it?

 

[FrenchFan]

lol he makes one mistake and he's inconsistent. No, the truth is he's a very consistent player, like - very notably consistent, everybody keeps repeating that in fact - and he can keep that 15 shirt on with confidence despite good talent there for France behind him. He's not going anywhere. Fantastic talent. It's too bad in a sense because I'd have loved to see other talents with different styles at FB in Bleu, notably J.M Buttin.



Not at all. French and Italian Rugby always take way more, and way more time for the int'l community to notice. I think he was first for France in defenders beaten and in the top in that category overall at the 6N. It's understandable lately the int'l community sees France's struggle as a whole and doesn't consider the players as much, but there's an enormous chasm between the English-speaking world and those other nations. If France hadn't built that reputation nationally and the Top 14, they'd be relatively non-existant to your typical Irishman, Welshman, Englishman, Aussie etc...

I'm not sure what it'll take for him (Dulin) to get the credit he deserves, but I know he doesn't give a sht. He's a country boy, not preoccupied by too much past France. Others may be more open to the English-speaking media, but not him.

well where else would Dulin go? he's already in the best league. He might look at the big 3 here or they might start giving him the eye. I'd like to see his stats from the 6N on number of defenders beaten, i'd be surprised if they're not high. He is by far our best player of the championship with Huget. Any stats out there?

 

[welshglory]

IWow people on this forum really don't rate dagg do they... Playing for a badly coached/managed, unimaginative attacking club shouldn't count against him too much i reckon. It was pretty much the same last year wasn't it? Average for Crusaders and then boom... dominates for NZ.

Elite fullbacks:
1.Dagg
2.Folau
3.Smith
4.le Roux

I've put the rest in 2 tiers; 1.huge talent, 2. Solid with form and are established internationals
1.
O'Connor
Piutau
Hogg
Andre Taylor
Buttin
Medard (when he actually gets a run of games at 15...)
2.
Brown (very good form!)
Dulin
Halfpenny
Kearney
Foden
Armitage
Byrne
Kirchner
Steyn (when he plays 15)

 

[FrenchFan]

Yes, that's exactly what i've done, based my decision on one, admittedly game changing, incident...




meh, it always has to come down to that francophobic attitude doesn't it?

he was one of our most consistent players in 6N. Wasn't found wanting, never got exposed. Consistency in an inconsistent side does stand out. He is known as Mr Reliable in Castres if you didn't know.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

IWow people on this forum really don't rate dagg do they... Playing for a badly coached/managed, unimaginative attacking club shouldn't count against him too much i reckon. It was pretty much the same last year wasn't it? Average for Crusaders and then boom... dominates for NZ.

Elite fullbacks:
1.Dagg
2.Folau
3.Smith
4.le Roux

I've put the rest in 2 tiers; 1.huge talent, 2. Solid with form and are established internationals
1.
O'Connor
Piutau
Hogg
Andre Taylor
Buttin
Medard (when he actually gets a run of games at 15...)
2.
Brown (very good form!)
Dulin
Halfpenny
Kearney
Foden
Armitage
Byrne
Kirchner
Steyn (when he plays 15)

Bar the last 5/4 in that list none of those players are merely solid with form. Brown is currently the best fullback in the world, Halfpenny was top two last and Kearney has been the best in Europe for a couple seasons in his career, '09 and '11 come to mind. Hogg, although he is younger and in a worse team has never reached the levels of these guys and usually gets outplayed by them so I'd argue that that bracket is more focused on the style of player than ability.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I love Dulin, he should have won player of the tournament in the 6N.

If anyone has forgotten what he brings to a side then check out this clip: