National Most Capped XVs

The boredom of watching end of year processing slowly tick along has encouraged me to start looking into the above topic.

I will while filling time between other things reseacrch into what each countries Test XV would look like, made up of only the most capped players in each position. Could be interesting to see the standard of the teams.

Ireland most capped XV Off the top of my head:

1 Horan
2 Best
3 Hayes
4 O'Kelly
5 O'Callaghan
6 Easterbuy
7 Wallace
8 Heaslip
9 Stringer
10 ROG
11 Hickie
12 Maggs
13 O'Driscoll
14 Horgan
15 Dempsey

Including Lions appearances I think this could be the Irish team. Im sure im missing a few older players but i think this could be close enough.

1. Marcus Horan? 67
2. Rory Best 67
3. John Hayes 107
4. Donnacha O'Callaghan 98
5. Malcom O'Kelly 92
6. Simon Easterby 67
7. Wallace 75
8. ?
9. Stringer 98
10. O'Gara 103
11. Dennis Hickie 62
12.Mike Gibson 81
13. Brian O'Driscoll 131
14. Shane Horgan 67
15. Girvan Dempsey 81

ah rodders beat me to it. Wasnt sure about Heaslip

England:

Jason Leonard (114 caps)
Steve Thompson (73)
Phil Vickery (73)
Martin Johnson (84)
Simon Shaw (71)
Lewis Moody (71)
Neil Back (66)
Laurence Dallaglio (85 - 56 at No8)
Matt Dawson (77)
Jonny Wilkinson (91 - 82 at FH)
Rory Underwood (84)
Will Carling (72)
Mike Tindall (75)
Ben Cohen (56)
Matt Perry (35)



Joe Worsley has more caps than Moody and Back, but less at Flanker having played at n018 almost 20 times.
Richard Hill has more caps than Back and the same as Moody, but again this includes matches at No8.
Mike Catt has more caps than Carling, but less at centre.
Josh Lewsey and Jason Robinson have more caps than Matt Perry, but not at full back.



Overall not a bad team. As you would expect with the rise in the number of caps per year and the onset of professionalism there are no wholly amateur players in the side (Will Carling the closest as he played his last test in 1997).

Even only looking at recent players, the team would be improved by the addition of Hill, Robinson (or Lewsey), Guscott and maybe Greenwood ahead of Moody, Perry, Tindall and maybe Carling.

Good shout on Mike Gibson, amazing no of caps for him to beat D'arcy (put Maggs by mistake there)

Heaslip most capped no8 pretty sure on that...

Yeah its not a bad old pair of centres is it rodders?

Not bad indeed!

rodders wrote:Ireland most capped XV Off the top of my head:

1 Horan
2 Best
3 Hayes
4 O'Kelly
5 O'Callaghan
6 Easterbuy
7 Wallace
8 Heaslip
9 Stringer
10 ROG
11 Hickie
12 Maggs
13 O'Driscoll
14 Horgan
15 Dempsey

D'Arcy has 73 caps for Ireland at centre vs 64 for Maggs (maggs also has a further 6 on the wing). Gibson "only" played 40 times at centre for Ireland - his 81 caps includes Lions and FH appearances.
Tommy Bowe has 51 caps as a winger for Ireland, same as Horgan. (horgan also has 14 Irish caps at centre)
Fergus Slattery played 61 times at flanker for Ireland, same as Easterby, but mainly on the openside.

Impressive going off the top of your head.

Springboks

1. Os du Randt 80
2. John Smit 111
3. CH v d Linde 73
4. Bakkies Botha 76
5. Victor Matfield 110
6. Schalk Burger 68
7. Juan Smit 69
8. Joe van Niekerk 52
9. Joost v d Westhuizen 89
10. Butch James/Morne Steyn 42
11. Bryan Habana 83
12. Jean de Villiers 86
13. Jaque Fourie 69
14. JP Pietersen 54
15. Percy Montgomery 102

Wales:

Gethin Jenkins (98)
Garin Jenkins (58 - same caps but more starts than Matthew Rees)
Adam Jones (88)
Gareth Llewellyn (91)
Alun wyn Jones (66)
Colin Charvis (75)
Martyn Williams (98)
Scott Quinnell (51)
Mike Phillips (77)
Stephen Jones (99)
Shane Williams (87)
Scott Gibbs (53)
Tom Shanklin (59)
Ieuan Evans (72)
JPR Williams (54)

Gareth Thomas fails to make the side despite having 100 caps as they were shared almost equally amongst wing and Centre.
With Mike Gibson's versatility ruling him out of the Irish line-up), JPR is the first "old timer" included.

Biltong wrote:Springboks

1. Os du Randt 80
2. John Smit 111
3. CH v d Linde 73
4. Bakkies Botha 76
5. Victor Matfield 110
6. Schalk Burger 68
7. Juan Smit 69
8. Joe van Niekerk 52
9. Joost v d Westhuizen 89
10. Butch James/Morne Steyn 42
11. Bryan Habana 83
12. Jean de Villiers 86
13. Jaque Fourie 69
14. JP Pietersen 54
15. Percy Montgomery 102

Pierre Spies with 45 is the most capped sprinkbok No8 - More than half of JvN's caps seem to be at flanker.
butch James played a handful of times at centre, so Steyne pips him as most capped 10.

Strong looking lineup though for Boks.

LondonTiger wrote:

Biltong wrote:Springboks

1. Os du Randt 80
2. John Smit 111
3. CH v d Linde 73
4. Bakkies Botha 76
5. Victor Matfield 110
6. Schalk Burger 68
7. Juan Smit 69
8. Joe van Niekerk 52
9. Joost v d Westhuizen 89
10. Butch James/Morne Steyn 42
11. Bryan Habana 83
12. Jean de Villiers 86
13. Jaque Fourie 69
14. JP Pietersen 54
15. Percy Montgomery 102

Pierre Spies with 45 is the most capped sprinkbok No8 - More than half of JvN's caps seem to be at flanker.
butch James played a handful of times at centre, so Steyne pips him as most capped 10.

Thanks for the corrections, I was too lazy to check the positions they played.

Scotland:

Allan Jacobsen (65)
Gordon Bulloch (75)
Euan Murray (52)
Scott Murray (870
Stuart Grimes (71 - same as hines but more starts)
Jason White (56)
John Barclay (38 - john Jeffrey has more caps at flanker, but on the blindside)
Simon Taylor (51)
Mike Blair (84)
Dan Parks (62)
Kenny Logan (68)
Scott Hastings (64)
Jim Renwick (52)
Sean Lamont (60)
Gavin hastings (61)


Chris Paterson, Scotlands most capped player, fails to make the team as his caps were spread across several positions.
Similarly Gregor Townsend is unlucky to miss out.
Tom Smith is the second most capped Scottish prop - but like Jacobson is a loosie.

Scotland - some guesses in here:

1 Allan Jacobsen - 65
2 Gordon Bulloch - 75
3 Euan Murray - 53?
4 Scott Murray - 87
5 Nathan Hines - 77
6 Jason White - 77
7 John Barclay - 41?
8 Simon Taylor - 66

9 Mike Blair - 85
10 Gregor Townsend - 82
11 Sean Lamont - 76
12 Andy Henderson - 53?
13 Scott Hastings - 64
14 Kenny Logan - 70
15 Chris Paterson - 109

No idea how you find out how many caps a player won in different positions!

Now do it as a percentage selection rate - i.e. I'm pretty sure Gareth Edwards played almost 100% of the games he'd have been available for after debut.

(only joking, unless there are some serious OCD sufferers out there...)

ESPN statsguru.

Seaching for Scottish Internationals at FH it gives the following results:
http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=matches;position=4;team=2;template=results;type=player

Glas a du wrote:Now do it as a percentage selection rate - i.e. I'm pretty sure Gareth Edwards played almost 100% of the games he'd have been available for after debut.

(only joking, unless there are some serious OCD sufferers out there...)

would be easy enough to do (excluding injury) for a single, named player. However to do it generically would need proper DBA access to the ESPN database. If I had that writing up a script and query to mine the data woudl be fairly straightforward. (PS I am just boring, not OCD)

it takes a big nerd/geek to admit that!

You'll be correct then, didn't know you could do that!

A question for Bilts,

Does SPies warrant being the Boks most capped ever No.8?

No mate, not in my view. He lost form in 2007 and is still in a slump, was he a professional golfer he would have lost his tour Card and be playing the Sunshine tour in SA

Spies reminds me so much of Tom Croft....great athlete, but really divides opinion over rugby ability.
I cant believe hes the boks most capped 8.

Well he should never have been made a forward.

He would have been a much better outside centre

I think people give him a hard time.

You judge him on his SR form... its more open and the bulls in the past had a pack where every single player was a bok. They were dominant and allowed Spies a lot of room against much lesser domestic packs.

In test rugby you don't get that room... and Spies doesn't do what he's famed for.

Yet he is a very good ball carrier and a world class back of the line lineout operator... probably the best with Smith now out of test rugby.

He should take a lot of credit for the way he's led the bulls since Bakkies, Danie and Victor left the team.

If he went to Europe you'd all be raving about him like people rave about Schalk Brits.

Pat_Mustard wrote:Scotland - some guesses in here:

1 Allan Jacobsen - 65
2 Gordon Bulloch - 75
3 Euan Murray - 53?
4 Scott Murray - 87
5 Nathan Hines - 77
6 Jason White - 77
7 John Barclay - 41?
8 Simon Taylor - 66

9 Mike Blair - 85
10 Gregor Townsend - 82
11 Sean Lamont - 76
12 Andy Henderson - 53?
13 Scott Hastings - 64
14 Kenny Logan - 70
15 Chris Paterson - 109

No idea how you find out how many caps a player won in different positions!

I almost spat my tea out when I saw Andy Henderson on that list. I was going to suggest moving Townsend to 12 purely to avoid mentioning Henderson but then thought that Parks may then squeeze in. Renwick a far more elegant solution. Otherwise you could include Lamont at 13, Hastings at 12, Paterson on the wing and Big Gav at 15....

The other possibility is to deduct from Henderson's total all those games in which he played badly. I make that zero caps.....

Andy Henderson cannot possibly make our most capped XV. I refuse to accept that!

LondonTiger wrote:Scotland:

Allan Jacobsen (65)
Gordon Bulloch (75)
Euan Murray (52)
Scott Murray (870
Stuart Grimes (71 - same as hines but more starts)
Jason White (56)
John Barclay (38 - john Jeffrey has more caps at flanker, but on the blindside)
Simon Taylor (51)
Mike Blair (84)
Dan Parks (62)
Kenny Logan (68)
Scott Hastings (64)
Jim Renwick (52)
Sean Lamont (60)
Gavin hastings (61)


Chris Paterson, Scotlands most capped player, fails to make the team as his caps were spread across several positions.
Similarly Gregor Townsend is unlucky to miss out.
Tom Smith is the second most capped Scottish prop - but like Jacobson is a loosie.

You absolutely cannot include Parks. I don't care about facts. Parks was often moved to 15 to accommodate his revolving door defence, and accordingly I don't think most of his caps should count. Townsend at 10 please......

LondonTiger has used a superior methodology to eliminate Henderson, but as you say, that brings in Parks! Henderson doesn't have the most caps at centre, but is the most barred player to have played mostly at centre if you see what I mean!

Either way its depressing!

Obviously that should have read "capped", but I think I prefer the auto-correct!

caps are 10 a penny these days anyhow, it only counts to stats followers.

If you play every test in a year you will get 12+ caps these days.

Guys from yesteryear would have to wait twice as long to get those sorts of numbers, perhaps even more. Didn't make them any less experienced.

Just imagine how many caps guys like Edwards would have had had he been a pro era player.

Naas Botha was the best 10 in SA for 12+ years but got less then 30 caps due to the sanctions.

All Blacks (based on tests)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Keven Mealamu (102)
3. Greg Somerville (66)
4. Ian Jones (79)
5. Ali Williams (77)
6. Rodney So'oialo (62)
7. Richie McCaw (116)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58)
9. Justin Marshall (81)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Joe Rokocoko (68)
12. Ma'a Nonu (76) (edges out Nonu & Walter Little)
13. Tana Umaga (74)
14. John Kirwan/Jonah Lomu (63)
15. Mils Muliaina (100)


All Blacks (based on all matches)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Sean Fitzpatrick (128)
3. Richard Loe (78)
4. Andy Haden (117)
5. Colin Meads (133)
6. Ian Kirkpatrick (113)
7. Richie McCaw (117)
8. Zinzan Brooke (100)
9. Justin Marshall (81) (just edges out Sid Going)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Bryan Williams (113)
12. Tana Umaga (79)
13. Bruce Robertson (102)
14. John Kirwan (96)
15. Mils Muliaina (102) (just ahead of the great DB Clarke)

2nd team is a bit more interesting

Scott Murray on 870 caps

he must have been knackered!!!

Seriously though! You cannot leave Mossy out because he was moved about the park! Most capped player has to be in there

Did desperate Dan Parks really win more caps than either Chalmers or Rutherford?

All I can do is offer my sympathies to all Scotish rugby fans...

tigertattie wrote:Scott Murray on 870 caps

he must have been knackered!!!

Seriously though! You cannot leave Mossy out because he was moved about the park! Most capped player has to be in there

That was a double bracket not a 0 (maybe not)

Whilst the most capped player he was not the most capped 10, Wing or FB - throws up some oddities I guess.

Biltong wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Biltong wrote:Springboks

1. Os du Randt 80
2. John Smit 111
3. CH v d Linde 73
4. Bakkies Botha 76
5. Victor Matfield 110
6. Schalk Burger 68
7. Juan Smit 69
8. Joe van Niekerk 52
9. Joost v d Westhuizen 89
10. Butch James/Morne Steyn 42
11. Bryan Habana 83
12. Jean de Villiers 86
13. Jaque Fourie 69
14. JP Pietersen 54
15. Percy Montgomery 102

Pierre Spies with 45 is the most capped sprinkbok No8 - More than half of JvN's caps seem to be at flanker.
butch James played a handful of times at centre, so Steyne pips him as most capped 10.

Thanks for the corrections, I was too lazy to check the positions they played.

Remarkable how many of those players are still active. Joost and Os aside, that Springbok team could pretty much all have played together, and even those two would have played with a number of the others.

I understand the boycott will have played a part, but considering they would have come back before '95, I wouldn't have expected that many peers in a single team.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:All Blacks (based on tests)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Keven Mealamu (102)
3. Greg Somerville (66)
4. Ian Jones (79)
5. Ali Williams (77)
6. Rodney So'oialo (62)
7. Richie McCaw (116)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58)
9. Justin Marshall (81)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Joe Rokocoko (68)
12. Ma'a Nonu (76) (edges out Nonu & Walter Little)
13. Tana Umaga (74)
14. John Kirwan/Jonah Lomu (63)
15. Mils Muliaina (100)


All Blacks (based on all matches)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Sean Fitzpatrick (128)
3. Richard Loe (78)
4. Andy Haden (117)
5. Colin Meads (133)
6. Ian Kirkpatrick (113)
7. Richie McCaw (117)
8. Zinzan Brooke (100)
9. Justin Marshall (81) (just edges out Sid Going)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Bryan Williams (113)
12. Tana Umaga (79)
13. Bruce Robertson (102)
14. John Kirwan (96)
15. Mils Muliaina (102) (just ahead of the great DB Clarke)

2nd team is a bit more interesting

2nd team would be a great team what an amazing forward pack that would be and the ball that BJ and JK would get from Robertson. Tricky with Tana Umaga who had a few games at 13 and 14 though and his 79 games looks pretty puny in that company.

jbeadlesbigrighthand wrote:

Biltong wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Biltong wrote:Springboks

1. Os du Randt 80
2. John Smit 111
3. CH v d Linde 73
4. Bakkies Botha 76
5. Victor Matfield 110
6. Schalk Burger 68
7. Juan Smit 69
8. Joe van Niekerk 52
9. Joost v d Westhuizen 89
10. Butch James/Morne Steyn 42
11. Bryan Habana 83
12. Jean de Villiers 86
13. Jaque Fourie 69
14. JP Pietersen 54
15. Percy Montgomery 102

Pierre Spies with 45 is the most capped sprinkbok No8 - More than half of JvN's caps seem to be at flanker.
butch James played a handful of times at centre, so Steyne pips him as most capped 10.

Thanks for the corrections, I was too lazy to check the positions they played.

Remarkable how many of those players are still active. Joost and Os aside, that Springbok team could pretty much all have played together, and even those two would have played with a number of the others.

I understand the boycott will have played a part, but considering they would have come back before '95, I wouldn't have expected that many peers in a single team.

i think there are two contributing factors for that.

Jake white wanted continuity in his team, and pretty much the same as he has done this season at the Brumbies where he brought " retired" players back into the fold, Jake did the same with Percy Montgomery and also Os de Randt.

Then of course you had Piter de Villiers who made no chnages until his world cup year.

So between those two coaches you are looking at roughly 100 tests.

Yep, we're old............. it's now proven. Duracel batteries without the power left in them.

But Scott Murray at 870 is an absolute stunning achievement.

He must have had dual citizenship, as Scotland has only played 622 tests.

nganboy wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:All Blacks (based on tests)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Keven Mealamu (102)
3. Greg Somerville (66)
4. Ian Jones (79)
5. Ali Williams (77)
6. Rodney So'oialo (62)
7. Richie McCaw (116)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58)
9. Justin Marshall (81)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Joe Rokocoko (68)
12. Ma'a Nonu (76)
13. Tana Umaga (74)
14. John Kirwan/Jonah Lomu (63)
15. Mils Muliaina (100)


All Blacks (based on all matches)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Sean Fitzpatrick (128)
3. Richard Loe (78)
4. Andy Haden (117)
5. Colin Meads (133)
6. Ian Kirkpatrick (113)
7. Richie McCaw (117)
8. Zinzan Brooke (100)
9. Justin Marshall (81) (just edges out Sid Going)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Bryan Williams (113)
12. Tana Umaga (79)
13. Bruce Robertson (102)
14. John Kirwan (96)
15. Mils Muliaina (102) (just ahead of the great DB Clarke)

2nd team is a bit more interesting

2nd team would be a great team what an amazing forward pack that would be and the ball that BJ and JK would get from Robertson. Tricky with Tana Umaga who had a few games at 13 and 14 though and his 79 games looks pretty puny in that company.

True about Tana, though he was pretty handy at 12 too. Nonu and Walter Little have both played over 70 matches for the ABs too so could arguably edge out Tana.

15 Gavin Hastings (sorry Mossy, you featherweight ligind)
14 Andy Irvine
13 Alan Tait
12 Jim Renwick
11 Roger Baird
10 John Rutherford
9 Gary Armstrong
8 Derek White
7 Finlay Calder
6 John Jeffrey
5 Scott Murray
4 Gordon Brown
3 Iain Milne
2 Colin Deans
1 Jim Aitken, captain

George Carlin wrote:
11 Roger Baird

I used to love watching Baird run with the ball (Brendan Mullin was another of my favourites back then for similar reasons - may be that they ran like athletes?). Oddly though I have a feeling he never scored a try for Scotland.

LondonTiger wrote:

George Carlin wrote:
11 Roger Baird

I used to love watching Baird run with the ball (Brendan Mullin was another of my favourites back then for similar reasons - may be that they ran like athletes?). Oddly though I have a feeling he never scored a try for Scotland.

Yes - I used to love watching Simon 'mad octopus' Geoghegan run with it but I don't think I ever saw him actually score.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:All Blacks (based on tests)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Keven Mealamu (102)
3. Greg Somerville (66)
4. Ian Jones (79)
5. Ali Williams (77)
6. Rodney So'oialo (62)
7. Richie McCaw (116)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58)
9. Justin Marshall (81)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Joe Rokocoko (68)
12. Ma'a Nonu (76) (edges out Nonu & Walter Little)
13. Tana Umaga (74)
14. John Kirwan/Jonah Lomu (63)
15. Mils Muliaina (100)

Michael Jones played 55 caps at Flanker with most of so'oialo's caps seeming to come at No8.
Nonu is the most capped kiwi centre (67 caps at centre, 9 on the wing), with Conrad smith's 65 appearances at centre getting him second. Tana had 24 caps on the wing, so drops behind Frank Bunce into 4th spot, while Bunce's erstwhile colleague Little had a few appearances in the 10 shirt.
While Kirwan and Lomu have the same numbe rof caps, Kirwan made just 1 appearance from the bench to Jonah's 9.

Roger Baird - 27 caps for Scotland and 4 for Lions - just 1 try which was in Lions red.

I do remember him being involved in some classic Scottish tries though - ones finished by Renwick, Rutherford and Iain Paxton come to mind.

LondonTiger wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:All Blacks (based on tests)
1. Tony Woodcock (96)
2. Keven Mealamu (102)
3. Greg Somerville (66)
4. Ian Jones (79)
5. Ali Williams (77)
6. Rodney So'oialo (62)
7. Richie McCaw (116)
8. Zinzan Brooke (58)
9. Justin Marshall (81)
10. Dan Carter (94)
11. Joe Rokocoko (68)
12. Ma'a Nonu (76) (edges out Nonu & Walter Little)
13. Tana Umaga (74)
14. John Kirwan/Jonah Lomu (63)
15. Mils Muliaina (100)

Michael Jones played 55 caps at Flanker with most of so'oialo's caps seeming to come at No8.
Nonu is the most capped kiwi centre (67 caps at centre, 9 on the wing), with Conrad smith's 65 appearances at centre getting him second. Tana had 24 caps on the wing, so drops behind Frank Bunce into 4th spot, while Bunce's erstwhile colleague Little had a few appearances in the 10 shirt.
While Kirwan and Lomu have the same numbe rof caps, Kirwan made just 1 appearance from the bench to Jonah's 9.

Great call re Jones over Rodney, I stuch So'oialo at 6 mainly to get Zinzan at 8 (Brooke played the odd game on the flank in his early days from memory, as well as being stuck on the bench behind Buck a fair bit). And Jonah was a stretch vs JK - he was a left winger rather than a right too.

1. Ben Robinson 56
2. Stephen Moore 76
3. Al Baxter 69
4. Nathan Sharpe 116
5. John Eales 86
6. Rocky Elsom 75
7. George Smith 110
8. Toutai Kefu 60

9. George Gregan 139
10. Stephen Larkham 102
11. David Campese 101
12. Tim Horan 80
13. Stirling Mortlock 80
14. Joe Roff 86
15. Matt Burke 81

Giteau 92, Waugh 79, Latham 78, AAC 76, Little 75, Paul 72 Lynagh 72 have plenty of caps as well.

Linebreaker wrote:1. Ben Robinson 56
2. Stephen Moore 76
3. Al Baxter 69
4. Nathan Sharpe 116
5. John Eales 86
6. Rocky Elsom 75
7. George Smith 110
8. Toutai Kefu 60

9. George Gregan 139
10. Stephen Larkham 102
11. David Campese 101
12. Tim Horan 80
13. Stirling Mortlock 80
14. Joe Roff 86
15. Matt Burke 81

Giteau 92, Waugh 79, Latham 78, AAC 76, Little 75, Paul 72 Lynagh 72 have plenty of caps as well.

Interestingly, at hooker we really see the modern day usage of replacements come in. Looking purely at starting caps Kearns has 65 and Moore 53 while Paul the second most capped Hooker with 72 caps only had 34 as a starter!
Australia's use of Rocky Elsom as a No8 in the winter (SH) of 2006 means David Wilson and Phil Waugh have more caps than him as flankers - though both were mainly opensides.
Mortlock played a fair few tests on the wing, meaning Dan Herbert and Jason Little both appeared at centre more times.
For the similar reasons Chris Latham played at FB more than Matt Burke who appeared a number of times in the centre or on the wing.