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In an effort to engage with fans and create excitement ahead of this year’s global event Rugby World Cup’s official youtube channel is interacting with fans on social media including twitter and facebook by asking them to vote for a Rugby World Cup Dream Team.
In the opening week Rodrigo Roncero received 53% of the vote, giving him a clear majority. He was voted in ahead of three players to have won the Rugby World Cup – Jason Leonard (England), Tony Woodcock (New Zealand) and Os du Randt (South Africa).
Roncero played 55 tests from 1998-2012, a number that would have been considerably higher had Argentina joined the former Tri-Nations earlier. He came out of retirement to compete in the 2012 Rugby Championship to end his career which involved competing in three Rugby World Cups and won the Top 14 with Stade Français.
With 41% of the vote Mario Ledesma was selected by fans as the best hooker in Rugby World Cup history. During his time he played in four Rugby World Cups and was also a French champion with Clermont Auvergne. Ledesma was voted in ahead of three previous Rugby World Cup winners – Sean Fitzpatrick (New Zealand), Phil Kearns (Australia) and John Smit (South Africa).
Roncero and Ledesma are now set to be joined by Omar Hasan who played with them at Rugby World Cup 2007. He was, however, used behind Martín Scelzo for much of the tournament. Like Roncero and Ledesma, Hasan was also a French champion winning the title with Toulouse in addition to winning the European championship, formerly known as the Heineken Cup.
Hasan is to shortly be added to complete the front-row. With the voting now having been termed ‘last chance’ by @RugbyWorldCup Hasan holds 47% of the vote. By way of comparison Jean Pierre Garuet (France) has 10%, Adam Jones (Wales) 38% and Ewan McKenzie (Australia) 5%.
Hasan played a total of 65 tests from 1995-2007 while Ledesma played 84 over a period from 1996-2011. Both Ledesma and Roncero started for Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2011 but have since retired. Ledesma’s deputy at the time, Agustín Creevy, is now the captain.
