Ronan O’Gara: Worlds apart - my top 25 rugby players in 2025
Rugby is a game of shapes and sizes, heft and speed, and if it’s hard to compare the respective attributes of Ox Nche and Damian Willemse in terms of ranking one higher than the other. But we can only try.
TOP MAN: South African Rolls Royce Damian Willemse can function smoothly anywhere in the back line. Pic: Michael Steele/Getty Images
THESE are the ground rules. If he didn’t play in 2025, he can’t really be considered for 2025’s finest (although for a certain A Dupont, one would be half-inclined to make an exception).
Second stipulation: no La Rochelle players. You may think that’s because I want to be fair and independent. It’s nothing of the sort. How can I mention Uini Atonio when Will Skelton, and the size of him, is coming along the corridor after Christmas? Ditto Levani Botia, who might cut me in half ‘by accident’ on the field if I mentioned Greg Alldritt and not him?
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