We asked the question and you responded in droves and at the end of it all, there was one clear winner.
It should come as little surprise that arguably Ireland’s greatest ever rugby player came out on top of the poll in which we asked JOE readers to vote from a cast of five of the greatest leaders of the Irish rugby team throughout its history.
Since the poll was published on the site on Tuesday, almost 1,500 JOE readers cast their vote, with O’Driscoll claiming a massive 67.7 per cent of votes ahead of Keith Wood in second place with 17.54 per cent of the vote, Willie John McBride in third (9.84 per cent), Ciaran Fitzgerald in fourth (3.2 per cent) and the late Karl Mullen, captain of the 1948 Grand Slam winning side, in fifth (1.68 per cent).
In defence of Mullen, McBride and Fitzgerald, a significant percentage of voters would have seen precious little of them in action, but it is still hard to argue with O’Driscoll’s candidacy given his inspirational stewardship of a side that won Ireland’s second ever Grand Slam as well as the Triple Crown on four occasions.
While O’Driscoll would make a good case for selection in a fantasy rugby team made up of the all-time greats, you can still put your managerial abilities to the test in The Irish Times Fantasy Rugby League which kicks off in tandem with the Six Nations this weekend.
You’ll want to act fast though because the deadline for entry is Saturday, 1 February at 2.30pm. While you’re at it, you might as well enter the JOE League by entering the code 51898 and if you’re looking for some help, you can find some general advice here, some stats-based tips here and see who our resident rugby *cough* experts *cough* Malcolm O’Kelly and Jerry Flannery opted for with their selections right here.
Let the games begin!
