ERC Honour O’Gara, Wallace & Foley

ERC have recognised Ronan O’Gara, David Wallace & Anthony Foley as the best players in their positions over the past 15 seasons of Heineken Cup rugby.

In addition O’Gara has been hailed the best player over the period named as outright winner of the ERC European Player

In celebrating 15 years of European Club Rugby Competitions, ERC appointed an independent panel that included Sir Ian McGeechan, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthie, Donal Lenihan, Michael Lynagh, Stuart Barnes, Stephen Jones and Jacques Verdier, and charged them to decide the principals in the following categories based on performance over 15 years of European Club Rugby

ERC European Player Award; ERC European Coaching Award; ERC European Fair Play Award and ERC European Dream Team .

The leading Candidates for the Dream Team were:

Full Backs – Josh Lewsey, Geordan Murphy, Clement Poitrenaud, Tim Stimpson, Mark van Gisbergen. 

Wings – Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans, Dafydd James, Josh Lewsey, Emile Ntamack 

Centres – Pat Howard, Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Lamaison, Brian O’Driscoll, Fraser Waters 

Outside Halves – Diego Dominguez, Austin Healey, David Humphreys, Stephen Jones, Ronan O’Gara 

Scrum Halves – Philippe Carbonneau, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Austin Healey, Rob Howley, Peter Stringer 

Props – Christian Califano, Pieter de Villers, Peter Clohessy, Darren Garforth, John Hayes, Sylvain Marconnet, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Rodrigo Roncero, Graham Rowntree, Julian White. 

Hookers – Jerry Flannery, Raphael Ibanez, Mario Ledesma, William Servat, Keith Wood. 

Second Rows – Ben Kay, Martin Johnson, Paul O’Connell, Fabien Pelous, Simon Shaw. 

Wing Forwards – Neil Back, Jean Bouilhou, Martin Corry, Rocky Elsom, Greg Kacala, Oliiver Magne, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Martyn Williams, Joe Worsley.

No 8s – Lawrence Dallaglio, Anthony Foley, Jamie Heaslip, Christian Labit, Scott Quinnell