Players / High Five / Keith Woods

Sean is simply the best hooker to ever play the game. His longevity was fantastic and Fitzy played something like 92 tests, 63 consecutively, and 70 odd as captain.

 

He was one of the first big ball-carrying front-rows. You could say he was responsible for the growth of the 16stone+ hooker. Sean definitely set the benchmark for the modern day hooker.

 

You only have to look at the role he played with the All-Blacks in the World Cup in 1987, and even more so in all those big Bledisloe Cup games, which were more important at that stage, he always seemed to be a key component and a constant thorn in the Australia side.

I played against Phil on my Ireland debut. I remember the first time I introduced myself to Phil, I punched into his head, and in the second or third ruck, he pulled my jersey over my head and pummelled me within an inch of my life. What was even more embarrassing, my captain then ran over to him and shouted, ‘Jesus Kearnsy! Leave him alone he’s only a child…’

 

Phil was a very big powerhouse sort of player. He was a really big man, a good leader for the team, and a very big ball-carrier.

 

It’s amazing to think he was plucked from a third team and plunged straight into the Test team and he couldn’t throw at all. Mind you, when Fitzy started he couldn’t either, and that was always the lovely thing about the great hookers such as Phil and Sean because I couldn’t throw either when I first started. He showed a rouse to get over his difficulties and that inspired me when I first joined up with Ireland.

Many former hookers wouldn’t necessarily throw him up as world great but he was the most difficult scrummager i’ve ever played against. Technically, in the scrum, he was just fantastic.

 

He was about 5ft 6”, he had no neck, but he was unbelievably powerful and just lived and breathed scrummaging – it’s all he wanted, and by Christ could he scrummage.

 

As I was slightly taller at 6ft, Garin presented an unbelievably different challenge all the time. He made my life hell and I hated playing against him. I had huge respect for him and even though we only played against each other on two or three occasions, each match was equally as tough. It was like getting into something full of barbed wire… just horrible!

He maybe getting on in terms of years, but his standard of play is truly fantastic. He’s a very hard scrummager, a big heavy ball-carrying Argentinean, and he has this ability to cause lots of damage all the time.

 

I remember coming up against him in a European Shield final after I’d been out injured for five weeks, so clearly I wasn’t match sharp BUT (change for AND) it was an unbelievably hard 80 minutes.

 

I remember coming up against him in a European Shield final after I’d been out injured for five weeks, so clearly I wasn’t match sharp but it was an unbelievably hard 80 minutes. To make matters worse, we went into injury time, and David Wilson, our Aussie flanker did his cruciate knee ligament, so I went to openside flanker for the last 30 minutes, but after having had 80 minutes worth of being shortened by Mario, which was not your idea of fun, I just ached all over.

 

Mario’s great in the loose and an imposing guy to come up against face to face, but he’s a great guy, he epitomises everything about the Corinthian spirit of rugby.

Jerry is always there at the breakdown, he’s a constant type of player, if he’s not at every ruck, he’s always there as an option to run the ball, and when he gets over the game line, he sure enough makes the most of his abilities.

 

He had the best first season I’ve been witness too, although he’s been unlucky with injuries since. He came into the team with the most beautiful throw. He wasn’t the most consistent player but his throw was just magnificent and he gave a big level of umph to the team when he first came in.

 

He’s been a bit of an overnight success but it took him five years… it’s an old saying… he went through all levels of things and he’s come out as a good solid player, and once he got his throwing up to a fantastic level, from there on in, he seemed to get an additional boost of confidence.