5 greatest Rugby Union players of all time

#3 John Eales (Australia)

John Eales

John Eales was called “nobody” by the Australian rugby fraternity because “nobody is perfect”! Eales did come close to perfection on the rugby pitch indeed as there was little he could not do on it. He was primarily a lock but was an able ball-carrier and contributed to a lot of tries scored by his team. He also assumed the kicking duties for his team against the All Blacks when Matt Burke, the regular kicker, was finding it difficult to put the ball between the posts and Eales actually managed to convert all the penalty kicks which he took in that match. Needless to say that he was ever dependable on the line-outs.

Eales played in 86 tests for the Wallabies and won the 1999 Rugby World Cup as the Australian captain. He has also won the 1991 world cup with the Wallabies and remains one of the few players to have won 2 World Cups. His international career lasted 10 years and he also had a very good club career with the Queensland Reds. The fact that the medal given to the best Australian rugby player of the year is actually named after him confirms his stature in Australian rugby.