Europe's best selected for 'Dream Team'
Tue, 18 May 2010 12:34
Players from five nations and six different clubs have been selected by a nine-man ERC panel of former players, coaches and members of the media to form an ERC European 'Dream Team'.
Stade Français Paris prop forward Sylvain Marconnet is the only player in the 'Dream Team' not to have won a Heineken Cup winners medal - he reached the 2001 final with his club - while the Toulouse trio of Yannick Jauzion, Vincent Clerc and William Servat are all set to figure in the 15th tournament final against Biarritz Olympique at Stade de France on Saturday, 22 May.
For the ERC European Dream Team, the selectors also chose two players who have won both ERC tournaments, the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup, in London Wasps backs Josh Lewsey and Rob Howley, while Australian Rocky Elsom is also the only southern hemisphere star after his one sensational season in Europe with 2009 Heineken Cup winners Leinster.
The nine-man selection
panel of Sir Ian McGeechan, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthie, Donal Lenihan, Michael Lynagh, Stuart Barnes, Stephen Jones and Jacques Verdier deliberated long and hard to come up with the elite and honour the ERC European Dream Team of the past 15 years.
They were also charged with selecting the best ERC European Player of the last 15 years, the top ERC European Coach over the same period and choosing a winner for the ERC Fair Play Award.
As Toulouse prepare for their sixth Heineken Cup final appearance in Paris on Saturday, 22 May, and a record 110th tournament game, it seems only fitting that they should supply five members of the 'Dream Team'.
Prop Christian Califano, who also played for Saracens, Gloucester and Agen, won six French Championship titles at Toulouse and was also in their first Heineken Cup winning team in 1996. He blazed a trail that has seen other Toulouse ERC European Dream Team' members follow suit in 2003 and 2005 -
Clerc, Jauzion, Servat and Pelous.
Double champions Munster provide three of the stalwarts of the Heineken Cup in O'Gara [91 matches], Foley [86] and David Wallace [79], while there are two each from double winning English giants Leicester Tigers and London Wasps.
As well as being a World Cup winning captain with England in 2003, and the last British and Irish Lions captain to win a series, Leicester lock legend Johnson remains the only man to captain back-to-back Heineken Cup winning teams in 2001 and 2002. He is joined in the ERC European Dream Team by Tigers teammate Geordan Murphy, while the Wasps duo of Josh Lewsey and Rob Howley also make the ERC Elite.
Two of Leinster's 2009 Heineken Cup winning team were voted in, Brian O'Driscoll and Rocky Elsom, with the latter providing the southern hemisphere with its only team member.
Munster flyhalf O'Gara, who has scored a tournament record 1,138 points in 91 appearances at an average of 12.5
points per game, is the only 'double' winner, becoming the inaugural recipient of the European Player Award in addition to his 'Dream Team' selection.
There was a unanimous decision from the panel when it came to selecting the best European Coach Award. Guy Noves has been with Toulouse, and the Heineken Cup, from their first game on 31 October, 1995 right through to the 2010 Heineken Cup final next weekend. In that time he has masterminded 77 victories and four draws in 109 European outings, led his team to six finals and won three of the five to date.
And the Cardiff Blues flank Martyn Williams, who made his European debut for Pontypridd in 1996, is the winner of the ERC European Fair Play Award. The panel voted for him as it was widely felt that he is the embodiment of the player who upholds the values of the game of rugby in these European club competitions and in so doing is an inspirational role model as to how the game should be played.
European Dream Team
15 Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers), 14 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps), 13 Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster), 12 Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), 11 Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), 10 Ronan O'Gara (Munster), 9 Rob Howley (London Wasps), 8 Anthony Foley (Munster), 7 David Wallace (Munster), 6 Rocky Elsom (Leinster), 5 Fabien Pelous (Toulouse), 4 Martin Johnson (Leicester Tigers) (Toulouse), 3 Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français Paris), 2 William Servat (Toulouse), 1 Christian Califano
European Player Award
Ronan O'Gara
European Coach Award
Guy Noves
European Fair Play Award
Martyn Williams
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