“He just kept coming” – Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip name the toughest ever back-rows
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Back-rowers.
When it comes to Irish back-rows, they do not come much tougher than the old combination of Stephen Ferris, Seán O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
The trio gave Ireland a brutal edge for years, but even they came up against units that left a mark.
Speaking on the Up and Under Podcast, Heaslip and O’Brien were asked to name the best back-rows they ever faced, and a few heavyweight combinations quickly came to mind.
Heaslip first pointed to the Wales trio from the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final — Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton and Toby Faletau.
“One of the most annoying ones was the Wales 2011 World Cup one [Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton and Toby Faletau],” Heaslip said.
“They just chopped the sh*t out of me, Seanie and Fez [Stephen Ferris]! That’s where the chop tackle was invented.”
He also singled out France captain Thierry Dusautoir for special praise.
“In terms of the hardest person, I think [Thierry] Dusautoir was one of the best. You didn’t think he was that big but it was like running into a brick wall and being hit by a brick wall every single time.
“And he just kept coming. You could rip the head off him, you could take the head off him at the ruck – and he’d be at the next one smiling at you!”
O’Brien agreed that the Welsh back row was right up there.
“Definitely that 2011 game against Wales, yeah. That was an eye-opener for us,” O’Brien said.
But the former Leinster flanker also went back to Ireland’s nightmare 60-0 defeat to New Zealand in 2012, when Liam Messam, Sam Cane and Richie McCaw formed a fearsome loose trio.
“But I’d probably go with New Zealand in 2012 when we got spanked 60-0. It was dreadful.”
O’Brien then summed up exactly what made McCaw different.
“I remember saying before the game about [Richie] McCaw ‘just give this lad hell tonight, don’t worry about your game. Just go around and batter this fella if you can.’
And I remember looking at him after the game and he was destroyed. His head was destroyed, everything was destroyed. But he made a carry just on 80 minutes, I think he ran over me, I think he sat me down. And I was like ‘this fella is the most relentless person I’ve ever come across!’”
He also gave a nod to an old French unit of Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir and Sébastien Chabal.
“That was a very, very tough back-row to come up against because you had Bonnaire and Dusautoir going around absolutely melting people and then you had Chabal who was running over people!”
