De Villiers names his all-time top XV

Springbok legend HO de Villiers – arguably the best attacking fullback in South African rugby history – picks the best local and overseas players he has seen in action during his life in rugby. We publish his teams here with kind permission of Rugby News/Rugby Nuus magazines.

With the Wallabies reeling form three consecutive defeats, Jeremy Balkin – a reader from Australia – reflects on what went wrong and what needs putting right.

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Here's De Villiers' teams:
(Alternatives are shown in brackets)

South African XV:
15 André Joubert (Gysie Pienaar)
14 Jannie Engelbrecht (Ray Mordt)
13 Danie Gerber
12 John Gainsford
11 Carel du Plessis (Mannetjies Roux)
10 Naas Botha
  9 Joost van der Westhuizen (Dawie de Villiers)
  8 Doug Hopwood
  7 Jan Ellis
  6 Martin Pelser (Piet Greyling)
  5 Mark Andrews (Avril Malan)
  4 Frik du Preez
  3 Hannes Marais
  2 Uli Schmidt
  1 Os du Randt
Coach/Manager: Kitch Christie

International XV:
15 Christian Cullen (NZ) (JPR Williams – Wales)
14 John Kirwan (NZ)
13 Jason Little (Aus) (Phillipe Sella – France)
12 Tim Horan (Aus)
11 Bryan Williams (NZ) (Jeff Wilson – NZ)
10 Barry John (Wales) (Cliff Morgan – Wales)
  9 Gareth Edwards (Wales) (Nick Farr-Jones – Aus)
  8 Mervyn Davies (Wales)
  7 Ian Kirkpatrick (NZ)
  6 Fergus Slattery (Ireland)
  5 Benoit Dauga (France)
  4 Colin Meads (NZ)
  3 Ken Gray (NZ)
  2 Sean Fitzpatrick (NZ)
  1 Fran Cotton (Eng)