A disappointing amount of Irishmen make Welsh website's top 50 rugby players of professional era

We may not have enjoyed the success of New Zealand or Australia over the years but surely Ireland deserve more than two spots on the list of top 50 rugby players of the professional era.

With the retirement of Richie McCaw on Wednesday, WalesOnline decided to compile their list of all time greats and Irish players are surprisingly sparse. Only Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell are rewarded with places, in third and fifteenth place respectively. We're not saying that Ireland should dominate the list but one would have at least expected some recognition for Ronan O'Gara, who is the fourth highest points scorer in international rugby, and Keith Wood, who was the IRB World Player of the Year award in 2001.

Ronan O'Gara and Keith Wood 7/6/2001 DIGITAL

This is the top 10, as selected by the website.

Richie McCaw
Dan Carter
Brian O'Driscoll
Jonah Lomu
Joost van der Westhuizen
Sergio Parisse
Tim Horan
Shane Williams
John Eales
Jonny Wilkinson

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A disappointing amount of Irishmen make Welsh website’s top 50 rugby players of professional era

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We may not have enjoyed the success of New Zealand or Australia over the years but surely Ireland deserve more than two spots on the list of top 50 rugby players of the professional era.

We may not have enjoyed the success of New Zealand or Australia over the years but surely Ireland deserve more than two spots on the list of top 50 rugby players of the professional era.

A disappointing amount of Irishmen make Welsh website’s top 50 rugby players of professional era

Home›rugby

We may not have enjoyed the success of New Zealand or Australia over the years but surely Ireland deserve more than two spots on the list of top 50 rugby players of the professional era.

We may not have enjoyed the success of New Zealand or Australia over the years but surely Ireland deserve more than two spots on the list of top 50 rugby players of the professional era.

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