Some statistics in rugby are barely worth collating. The “most carries” column, for example, does not necessarily reveal whether a player had a good or even a moderate all-round game. “Metres made” does not show the speed or subtle angles at which they were covered. The number of passes a team makes matters less than their accuracy, their timing and how often they split the opposing defence.
One list, however, never lies. It remains the original and the truest measure of a player’s ultimate worth: how often was he or she deemed good enough to represent their national side? To play international rugby even once is an achievement; to play it virtually non-stop for well over a decade, collecting more than a century of caps and multiple trophies, is to enter the realms of the superhuman.
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2019/feb/19/wales-alun-wyn-jones-six-nations-england under the title “Wales gladiator Alun Wyn Jones rages against the dying of the light | Robert Kitson”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
