Nine of the best scrummagers in modern rugby history
Martin Castrogiovanni, Nicolas Mas and Adam Jones were among the most fearsome scrummagers in modern rugby history
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It was perhaps former Irish referee Alan Lewis who summarised the importance of the set piece in rugby best. Lewis, who also played cricket for the Ireland National Team, said:
“The scrum and the tackle are the two really contentious areas of the game. If you get those two aspects right, most rugby matches will work in your favour.”
As such, you had best make sure your team has some damn good scrummagers if you hope to win games of rugby. Dominant scrums can provide points-scoring opportunities, grind down your opposition physically and provide a massive mental boost to a forward pack.
With that in mind, The Flanker has selected some of the best ever scrummagers in the modern era - ie, since rugby went professional in 1995. Feel free to shout out at us if there are glaring omissions on this list.
Andrew Sheridan
Bromley-born Sheridan was a ferocious scrummager, possibly attributed to his unusually large frame - 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) tall and 128 kg (20 st 2 lb; 282 lb) - for a prop forward.
Incredibly, Sheridan won caps in the second row at England U16 and U18 level before switching to prop on the advice of his coaches at Bristol.
He toured with England to South Africa in 2000, again playing at lock in the midweek games, before joining Sale Sharks after Bristol's relegation from the Premiership in 2003.
Selection for the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour followed, despite Sheridan only having a single England cap to his name. Against Australia in 2005, he singlehandedly destroyed the Australian front row during an autumn international at Twickenham.
Neither Aussie prop finished the game, with Al Baxter sin-binned for repeatedly collapsing the scrum and Matt Dunning removed with a neck injury.
He repeated the trick two years later at the 2007 World Cup, terrorising Guy Shepherdson and poor Al Baxter again as Jonny Wilkinson slotted the resulting penalties in a Man of the Match display for the Sale Sharks man.
Injuries dogged his playing career but not before a renaissance in the south of France with Toulon that yielded a Heineken Cup winners medal in his trophy cabinet.
Carl Hayman
There is a reason Newcastle Falcons decided to make Hayman the best-paid player in the world after the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
He made the switch to the Guinness Premiership side on a three-year, £1 million contract - all on the back of 46 caps for the mighty All Blacks.
Like Sheridan, at 6”4 he is tall for a prop but his power in the loose and the scrum was evident for all to see with props across the English game losing sleep at the thought of taking him on.
Perhaps one of his greatest compliments is that last year, Joe Marler ranked the Kiwi as the toughest opponent he ever face for ruck.co.uk.
On the charge for Newcastle in a European Challenge Cup game against Albi in 2009
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Despite being named as the Falcons' captain in 2009, Hayman was thought to be heading home in New Zealand’s effort to break their curse and win the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
However, he opted instead for a contract with Toulon in France, joining former Falcons Jonny Wilkinson and Tom May at the Stade Mayol - starting alongside Sheridan in a fearsome front row that won the 2013 Heineken Cup final.
Sadly, the near 450 professional games he has played have taken an irreversible toll on his brain as he revealed he is suffering from early-onset dementia last year.
Os du Randt
One of the finest loosehead props of all time, the Ox earned 80 caps between 1994 and 2007 - this is despite losing three years of his career to a series of injuries.
Not many players can say they played in the iconic 1995 Rugby World Cup, faced the British and Irish Lions in 1997 before lifting the William Webb Ellis trophy a decade later in 2007 aged 35.
As ESPN put it, Du Randt was a “powerful scrummager with a notable work-rate” and was named by Rugby World magazine as the second-best loosehead of all time in 1999.
However, in 2000, at the age of 27, Du Randt suffered injuries that kept him out of rugby for nearly three years. Rassie Erasmus later coaxed him back into professional rugby while at the Free State Cheetahs.
Du Randt himself admitted: "I didn't think I would wear the Springbok shirt again, ever in my life. When Jake White, the national coach, gave me the opportunity to play for my country once more, it felt like the first time all over again.”
His final game ended victory in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final, completing the full 80 minutes in a comeback of fairytale proportions.
Adam Jones
Perhaps arguably not as mobile as fellow front-row stalwart Gethin Jenkins, or having the ball skills of namesake and Hair Bear brother Duncan Jones, Adam was a strong scrummager who famously tamed “The Beast” Tendai Mtawarira during the 2009 British and Irish Lions series.
Four Six Nations titles, two British and Irish Lions tours and 100 Test caps to his name, 95 for Wales and five for the Lions, is quite an impressive CV.
Jones made his professional debut for Neath in 2000, switching to Ospreys when Welsh rugby was regionalised three years later, before first featuring for Wales in 2003.
Three World Cups followed in a glittering career where he was the cornerstone of a Wales scrum that allowed Warren Gatland’s fearsome side to flourish.
The power in the scrum was an integral part of their Slam-sealing victory in Cardiff, while Jones was a vital part of a defence which conceded just two tries across the course of the 2008 Six Nations.
Now imparting his vast set-piece knowledge as a coach at Harlequins, he remains one of just six players to have won three Grand Slams for Wales.
Nicolas Mas
One of those rare front-row players who can operate on either side of the scrum, Mas - known as “The Bus” - was a key pillar of a Les Bleus pack and led the team as captain on several occasions.
Interestingly, he made his first club European appearance again Rotherham way back in October 2000 before a France debut followed three years later - the first of 85 in the famous blue jersey.
He started the 2003 Heineken Cup Final where Perpignan lost narrowly to Toulouse at Lansdowne Road before making his Test debut for France on tour to New Zealand later that year.
A short, stocky prop with a powerful neck and a square, solid head, Mas had the typically ideal frame for scrummaging and was part of the side that secured a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2010.
Alongside Thomas Domingo and William Servat, he was part of a formidable Gallic trio who ground their way to the 2011 World Cup Final.
Upon his retirement from Test rugby in 2015, former French coach Phillipe Saint-Andre said he was one the “last of the great French scrummaging props”.
Rodrigo Roncero
Although compatriot Marcos Ayerza may put forward a strong case to be included on this list, the man given the rather cuddly nickname of RoRo was a mainstay of the Pumas’ front row.
He made his international debut in 1999 in a 44-29 loss to Japan while playing amateur rugby for Deportiva Francesca in Argentina.
Roncero enjoyed a spell at Gloucester from 2002 to 2004 before switching to Stade Francais, playing in the 2005 Heineken Cup Final in a narrow extra-time defeat.
Despite being a veteran of three World Cups, it was the 2007 edition where he and front-row colleagues - Martin Sclezo and Mario Ledesma - took the tournament by storm.
The dominant Argentina front row at the 2007 Rugby World Cup
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He played in every game of the Pumas' remarkable march to the semi-finals, with Roncero considered by many to be the best prop at the tournament.
In 2009, columnist Stephen Jones included Roddy in his top 10 players in the world - with his scrummaging power causing restless nights for many a tighthead.
Owen Franks
Much like the Waugh brothers for the Australian National Cricket Team, although sibling Ben was a top-class player in his pomp, Owen Franks was always the dominant rugby star.
Franks made his international bow as a replacement against Italy in June 2009, following his brother Ben through the ranks at Canterbury and later the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
A mobile, powerful tighthead prop, you don’t win two Rugby World Cups by being a poor player and scrummager. The brothers were two solid slabs of New Zealand steak, both capable of squatting 240kg squat in the gym.
Winner’s medals from the 2011 and 2015 editions saw him start both finals, amassing 108 caps in a stellar career that makes him a modern great at tighthead.
He played against the British and Irish Lions in 2017, a series that ended in an epic draw and saw him lock horns with England’s Mako Vunipola and Ireland’s Jack McGrath.
At the end of the 2019 Super Rugby season, Owen Franks left New Zealand and signed for Northampton Saints and played alongside his brother Ben for one final stint.
Rory Best
Another one to feature on Joe Marler’s toughest opponents list, Best is our sole hooker on this list and a modern great of Irish rugby.
A relatively late bloomer, he made his debut for Ulster aged 22 in 2004, eventually replacing his brother Simon as captain of the province in 2007.
Five tries during Ulster's Heineken Cup campaign earned him an Ireland debut against New Zealand in the 2005 Autumn Internationals, later being selected for Ireland’s disappointing 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign.
In 2009, Best played second fiddle to long-term rival Jerry Flannery as Ireland won a Grand Slam before earning the number 2 shirt after the Munsterman’s retirement in 2012.
In total, he amassed a whopping 124 Ireland caps which places him third in their all time list. A strong scrummager, he was a constant in a strong front row which could boast the likes of Tadgh Furlong, John Hayes, Cian Healy and Marcus Horan among others at various stages.
He is the only Irish captain to claim wins over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa after taking on the job when Paul O’Connell retired, along with playing on two British and Irish Lions tours in 2013 and 2017.
Tendai Mtawarira
There was no chance a man nicknamed “The Beast” would not make it onto this list. Arguably the greatest South African prop of all time, the Zimbabwe-born loosehead won 117 caps for the Springboks in the famous green and gold.
He also played more than 150 games for the Sharks in Super Rugby after a first appearance way back in 2006, before an international debut against Wales came two years later.
Siya Kolisi, Tendai Mtawarira and Bongi Mbonambi at the Rugby World Cup 2019
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In the first test of the British & Irish Lions tour in 2009, Beast tore apart Phil Vickery which lead to the former England skipper being substituted after 45 minutes and a man-of-the-match award for Mtawarira.
He repeated the trick a decade later and destroyed Mako Vunipola in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final which allowed Handre Pollard the chance to help himself to a hatful of points.
A spell in America with Major League Rugby side Old Glory DC bookended a marvellous career not solely built on scrummaging - as he was a fine ball carrier and possessed a great engine around the field.
A top all round bloke, he started the Beast Foundation in 2020 which aims to help and empower young people to forge their futures by giving them access to sports training, skills development and education opportunities.
