After a strenuous selection process, find out which superstars of Northern Hemisphere rugby have earned a place in our All-Time tournament XV
1. Gethin Jenkins (Wales)
Wales’ most-capped player has starred in more Test matches than anybody still competing in international rugby.
A superb scrummager and rampaging runner, the prop has four championships to his name and is one of just three players to have won three separate Grand Slams.
2. Rory Best (Ireland)
With more appearances in the tournament than any other hooker, Best has been a stalwart in Ireland’s pack for more than a decade.
A key squad member for the 2009 Grand Slam and influential figure for the back-to-back championship wins of 2014 and 2015, his importance has now been recognised with the Irish captaincy.
3. Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
Italy’s most-capped player has made more appearances in the tournament than any other prop and is currently third in the all-time list.
Famed for his bushy beard and flowing locks, Castro has become a cult hero both in his native Italy and beyond having featured in all but three Six Nations to date.
4. Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
The Munster man was knocked out in the process of scoring on debut in 2002 – a mark of the fearless commitment that saw him appear in 11 consecutive tournaments up until 2012 before injury brought his impressive run to an end.
He returned to captain Ireland to successive championship wins in 2014 and 2015, but the Grand Slam of 2009 will go down as his greatest achievement.
5. Fabien Pelous (France)
The giant lock may have won two Five Nations titles in the late 90s, but it was in the Six Nations where France’s most-capped player really towered above the rest.
He had already won a Grand Slam as a player in 2002 when he did the same in his first season as captain in 2004, with one more championship in 2006 bookending an incredible list of honours.
6. Serge Betsen (France)
Nicknamed the Grim Reaper, the fearless flanker was the heartbeat of a French side that won Grand Slams in both 2002 and 2004 and another championship in 2007.
His finest moment came in securing the first of those titles, when his targeting of Jonny Wilkinson – then the sport’s greatest player – forced the fly-half from the field as France prevailed in the deciding game.
7. Martyn Williams (Wales)
Wales had never finished higher than fourth in the Six Nations before 2005, the year when Martyn Williams captained them to Grand Slam glory.
Voted the player of the championship, he turned the tournament’s pivotal match in Paris with two tries in the space of three minutes.
After returning from retirement, the indefatigable flanker was then equally influential in securing a second Slam in 2008.
8. Sergio Parisse (Italy)
Italy’s talismanic captain has done more than any other to help keep the Azzurri somewhere near competitive since making his tournament debut in 2004.
Certain to become his country’s most-capped player, the No. 8 is the one Italian player who other countries have always envied and, even now, could walk into any Six Nations side of the past decade.
9. Peter Stringer (Ireland)
The diminutive scrum-half made his Ireland debut during the first ever Six Nations and had made more appearances in the tournament than any other No. 9 by the time he won his final cap in 2011.
A Triple Crown winner in 2004, 2006 and 2007, he played a key role in the Grand Slam win of 2009 with a man-of-the-match performance away to Scotland before setting up old partner Ronan O’Gara for drop-goal glory in the dying moments of the final game in Cardiff.
10. Jonny Wilkinson (England)
Despite playing just over half as many games, the mercurial fly-half sits just 10 points behind all-time leading scorer Ronan O’Gara with a total haul of 546 to his name.
Also holding the records for most points in a single game as well as a single tournament, Wilkinson helped England win four titles over more than a decade, including the 2003 Grand Slam, where he was named man of the match in the decider against Ireland.
11. Shane Williams (Wales)
The twinkle-toed winger scored on his first start for Wales against Italy and went on to clock up 21 more to take him to second in the list of all-time top try-scorers.
After touching down three times in the Grand Slam win of 2005, Williams did even better when his country repeated the feat in 2008 with his six tries in the tournament seeing him named as World Player of the Year.
12. Will Greenwood (England)
With 15 tries to his name, the centre enjoyed some of his most illustrious moments of a glittering career when competing in the Six Nations.
His streak of six tries in the first four games of 2001 was only halted by the seven-month break before the final game against Ireland due to foot and mouth disease, a game that England lost but still lifeted the title afterwards.
He made amends in 2003, however, with a brace at Lansdowne Road helping to clinch that elusive Grand Slam.
13. Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
The legendary centre retired in 2014 having made more appearances with 65 – all of which were starts – and scored more tries with 26 than any other player in the history of the competition.
Four of those came as captain in the Grand Slam season of 2009 when he was named player of the tournament, cementing his status as the most lethal finisher the Six Nations has ever seen.
14. Chris Paterson (Scotland)
Fifth on both the list of most appearances and all-time points scorers, Paterson was a model of consistency for Scotland throughout the first decade of the tournament.
Able to play across the back three, he was arguably Scotland’s only stand-out performer during a difficult period and was their star man in their best-ever finish of third in 2006.
15. Jason Robinson (England)
Robinson became just the second man in history to play for both Great Britain in rugby league and England in union after switching codes in 2001, and won the Six Nations title in his first season in the sport followed by a Grand Slam two years later.
With his dazzling runs and mesmeric step helping him to rack up 14 tries, ‘Billy Whizz’ is officially the most potent full-back the tournament has ever seen.
READ: The greatest title of them all: Who tops the all-time Six Nations table?
