Current best world backline?

Right now I think this would be frightening.

9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane
12. Ma'a Nonu
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. George North
15. Kurtley Beale

14. James O connor

Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

30 stone, 7'10 & with the rugby brain of Gareth Edwards, Toughness of Chuck Norris & feet of Messi.

15 Kurtley Beale
14 James O'Connor
13 Jaque Fourie
12 Jean de Villiers
11 Digby Ioane
10 Daniel Carter
9 Will Genia
8 Sergio Paressie
7 Richie McCaw
6 Rocky Elsom
5 Victor Matfield
4 Bakkies Botha
3 Jannie du Plessis
2 John Smit
1 Tendai Mtawarira

Hard to decide between O'Connor and George North, but north does have the odd lapse so I'll go with the Aussie.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to give the youngster North a little time to pick up some experience beforethe weight of expectation is too much for him to carry, how many tests has he played?

Cooper definitely ahead of Carter right now.

biltongbek wrote:Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

To be fair he did get his first cap at 18 and score 2 tries against South Africa on his debut, and if you saw his 2 tries against England, the one against the Barbarians, and saw him beating 4 men against Argentina, you'd know he is a talented, especially since he only just turned 19 a couple of months ago.

biltongbek wrote:Perhaps it would be a good idea to give the youngster North a little time to pick up some experience beforethe weight of expectation is too much for him to carry, how many tests has he played?

The thing is he has played so few tests but looks like a seasoned international.

Manu Tuilagi?! The guy has like 2 caps. He did good against a poor Ireland midfield on Saturday though. George North doesn't belong there either,maybe in a year or two but not yet.

krusty wrote:Cooper definitely ahead of Carter right now.

Krusty that is pure Love sacks, you base that on one game, go back a few weeks and look at his performance in NZ and it was flat.

Carter is still undoubtedly the best.

biltongbek wrote:Carter is still undoubtedly the best.

+1

This is how I see the backline.

9. Genia currently/ fourie du Preez if he gains form.
10. Carter
11. Ioane
12. Conrad smith
13. Jaque Fourie
14. Corey Jane
15. Kurtly Beale.

Genia
Carter
Ioane
Roberts
Smith
O'connor
Foden

biltongbek wrote:Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

you mean in UK?
what has he done during the last 6N?
running past a few ageing argentinians does not makes you worldclass straight away. he probably has potential but let's wait a bit more before putting him amongst the greatest of the game.

whocares wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

you mean in UK?
what has he done during the last 6N?
running past a few ageing argentinians does not makes you worldclass straight away. he probably has potential but let's wait a bit more before putting him amongst the greatest of the game.

I concur, that is exactly what my point was earlier, but then I was told about all these tries he scored.

I do know he scored two tries on debut against SA, without having to beat any defenders, so good start for the youngster. but to buld the guy up will only put expectation in the imds of the fane, and that can have an adverse effect on his performance.

krusty wrote:Cooper definitely ahead of Carter right now.

Big call there Krusty.
Whilst Coopers highs are quite high.
He is still prone to digging big holes for himself.
I'd take all-round Dan.

On the latest form:

9. Genia
10. Cooper (latest form: Carter was ordinary last game)
11. Ioane
12. Nonu
13. C Smith
14. O'Connor
15. Beale

Tuilagi? What's he done - 2 games against average opposition

This is what I'd go for:

9. Genia - by a distance
10. Carter - edges Cooper for his allround game
11. Ioane - dangerous every time he gets the ball
12. Nonu - better than SBW in my view
13. Fourie - always crosses the advantage line and heroic defender
14. Clerc - as sharp as ever when he plays, North close on current form
15. Beale - by a distance

I agree, pretty similar to my back line except for clerc, haven't seen much of him so don't know.

9 - Genia - best by a mile
10 - Cooper - truly exciting to watch
11 - S William's - nobody dances like him + greatest try scoring record in history of NH.
12 - Hook - He has to feature somewhere given his creative talent
13 - Nonu - The warrior king
14 - O'Connor - Fantastic even though he looks about 14.
15 - Beale - simply the best

That would be the most exciting back line to watch IMO

Funny exiled Scots backline looks the best IMO.

as a bench may I suggest
20-Yachvili (changes the game by tactal kicking for the corner and also chips over the top for wingers, excellent passer/general and goal kicker)
21-Cooper (again changes a game, if you are losing no better guy to chase it, if you are winning and Dan comes off just put yachvilli at 10 if you aren't confident with Cooper to deal with pressure)
22-Jane (excellent strike runner and intergates well with the midfield, great awareness of space)

if someone gets injured

9->20
10->20/21
11/14->22
12/13->20/21 Carter to 12
15-> not sure Carter or Jane I guess

deadfred wrote:9 - Genia - best by a mile
10 - Cooper - truly exciting to watch
11 - S William's - nobody dances like him + greatest try scoring record in history of NH.
12 - Hook - He has to feature somewhere given his creative talent
13 - Nonu - The warrior king
14 - O'Connor - Fantastic even though he looks about 14.
15 - Beale - simply the best

That would be the most exciting back line to watch IMO

Maybe so, but the OP asked what the best backline would be. 'Best' and 'most exciting' aren't necessarily the same thing.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:

deadfred wrote:9 - Genia - best by a mile
10 - Cooper - truly exciting to watch
11 - S William's - nobody dances like him + greatest try scoring record in history of NH.
12 - Hook - He has to feature somewhere given his creative talent
13 - Nonu - The warrior king
14 - O'Connor - Fantastic even though he looks about 14.
15 - Beale - simply the best

That would be the most exciting back line to watch IMO

Maybe so, but the OP asked what the best backline would be. 'Best' and 'most exciting' aren't necessarily the same thing.

IMO the best would definitely be the most exciting - It being a game and all.

9. Will Genia
10. Dan Carter
11. Digby Ioane
12. Ma'a Nonu
13. Conrad Smith
14. James O'Connor
15. Kurtley Beale.

Best in the NH on form:

9. Dimitri Yachvelli
10. Jonny Wilkinson
11. Vincent Clerc
12. Jamie Roberts
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. George North
15. Ben Foden

Best does not equal most exciting when the aim of the game is to win!!!!



Yikes the SH would destroy ours

Hook - lol never laughed so much. He is so good he can not even hold down a position. lol lol lol

Wilkinson's distribution was very poor Saturday but kicking between the post he is second to none.

Cymroglan wrote:Wilkinson's distribution was very poor Saturday but kicking between the post he is second to none.

I agree, his kicking from hand was poor too but he's probably the best in the NH still.

I think O'Gara is playing well as is Sexton but as Ireland can't win a game right now I didn't go for either. Hook went well against England but I don't think he's a fly half.

Whats even scarier is when you go into depth actually. Here are two second string backlines

Weepu/Parra
Cooper/Sexton(??)
Sivivatu(??)/Palisson
McCabe/Roberts
Fourie/Rougerie
Jane/Trimble
Muliana/Paterson

It is good to see how our back line is being under rated, there are really three tri nation teams and after the second string we have one guy in the back line.

Would you argue that some more S.African players deserve to be in there?

JDV? Piterson? Steyn? Lambie?

I think it is more testament to how good the other two tri nations teams backs are.

Its not really SAs strength though is it? Wo would you rate as the best in their position from SA backs?

Also should say I should probably have put Medard or Heymans in at 15 for the second or first string NH side

whocares wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

you mean in UK?

No just in the mind of a few deluded Welsh. He has potential but is no where near O'Connor or Jane at this stage in his career.

Genia
Carter
O'Connor
Nonu
Rougerie
Jane
Beale

Basiclaly no British, SA or Irish player good enough

geoff998rugby wrote:

whocares wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Man George North seems to be a big hit in Europe

you mean in UK?

No just in the mind of a few deluded Welsh. He has potential but is no where near O'Connor or Jane at this stage in his career.

Genia
Carter
O'Connor
Nonu
Rougerie
Jane
Beale

Basiclaly no British, SA or Irish player good enough

I agree with all of those statements!

leinsterbaby wrote:Its not really SAs strength though is it? Wo would you rate as the best in their position from SA backs?

because we don't have a playmaking flyhalf, is no reason to discount our whole back line.

Until not very long ago Fourie du Preez was seen as the best crum half in the world.
Jaque fourie does more on defence than any other venter, he breaks the line regularly and is in the form of his life, he has also scored 30 tries in 62 tests as a center, in a backline that has no fancy moves, in my opinion the est 13 in the world.

Habana may have been listless and out of form, but not so long ago one of the best wingers in world rugby.

I won't say Lambie is the best, as he is still young and needs experience.

Venter is not a very common name outside SA

But I do agree with you on Fourie.

Tuilagi has leapt into the "worlds best" back line?

Didn't something similar happen with Chris Ashton a few months ago?

Short memories?

Yes but GG tuilagi is actually a good player, whereas Ashton is rubbish.....

The worlds best 13 though? I mean c'mon.

I think people meant as of late in the last month or so, that kinda rules our Habana, Ashton and Du Preez no?

You seriously think Tuilagi is the best 13 in the world based on a game against a very very poor Ireland? really?

TheGreyGhost wrote:You seriously think Tuilagi is the best 13 in the world based on a game against a very very poor Ireland? really?

No I think he's the 2nd best 13 behind Nevin Spence

seriously north is on fire atm and finishing every chance he gets.
also forwards concerned but as far as nh is concerned Waburton is the best 7 by a mile and i dont think foden is the best 15 in the world atm

North is average,

8/10 wingers could score the tries he has for Wales, I rate 1/2p above him, but Shane is still the master.

Wow - certain countries falling into the @world best@ foolishness after a couple of games again - will they ever learn?

Sad

BTW - Dan Parks is the worlds best n 10 as he completed a pass and even ran once - pure class

Spence took Manu to the cleaners in a Saxons game recently.

One good performance against a poor centre pairing and suddenly he's the worlds best

geoff998rugby wrote:Spence took Manu to the cleaners in a Saxons game recently.

One good performance against a poor centre pairing and suddenly he's the worlds best

I think people are interpreting the word "current" in different ways and the people who are picking Tuilagi are choosing him purely from last weekends performance, where you could say he was the outstanding 13 of the weekend. But if not I do think people are taking into account his club form for Tigers last season when he was sensational.