Rugby World Cup 100 greatest players: The best player in history revealed – Lomu, McCaw or Wilkinson?
The Independent reveals the top 20 of it's countdown and crowns the greatest rugby union player to have graced the World Cup
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The culmination of our five-part series can finally reveal who has been voted the greatest Rugby World Cup player of all time, following our countdown from 100 to the No 1 spot.
The best players in the history of the sport feature in the top 20 positions, with our team of rugby union experts voting for who should be recognised as the greatest player in the history of the global tournament.
In the end, the margin between the top spot and the rest of the field was convincing enough to declare Richie McCaw as the greatest player in Rugby World Cup history.
Having captained the All Blacks to World Cup success in 2011 – having already been part of the 2003 and 2007 squads that made the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively, McCaw brilliantly skippered a side to victory in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, which affected the entire nation of New Zealand, and to finally end their 24-year wait for a second World Cup after winning the inaugural tournament brought enormous relief to the All Blacks fraternity.
As if that wasn’t enough, McCaw then did what no other player has done and captained the All Blacks to a second successive World Cup triumph in 2015, where the All Blacks capped four years of domination by claiming the Webb Ellis Cup for the third time.
To mark the accolade, The Independent spoke to McCaw to take a walk back through his World Cup journey.
While the former flanker was the convincing winner, places two, three and four were separated by the slimmest of margins, while the rest of the top 20 represent the true legends of the game who made their mark on the biggest stage.
Click through the gallery below to see our Top 100.
To read the rest of the series, click the links below:
Why we launched the RWC100 list
RWC100 Part one: 100-81
RWC100 Part two: 80-61
RWC100 Part three: 60-41
RWC100 Part four: 40-21
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