As the first Lions game approaches, we continue our series of Player Profiles of key players that we believe will feature in South Africa.
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This weekend sees the penultimate round of the IRB Sevens Series, and England star Rob Vickerman was good enough to talk to The Rugby Blog during his trip to London.
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There are a few players in the current Ireland crop that are creating headlines, a few are also capturing imaginations – Rob Kearney is doing both, and at the age of 23, it’s likely that he’ll be doing both for some time to come.
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A Heineken Cup winning captain. A Lion. A Proud Munsterman. A Proud Irishman. A Grand Slam winner and now captain of the British and Irish Lions. Paul O’Connell is at the top of his game, and has a rugby CV to rival anyone in the game at the moment – but can he add a winning Lions tour to the list?
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In our latest series of Player Profiles on The Rugby Blog, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the candidates to wear the Lions jersey this summer. That way, when you are at the pub to watch the Tests, you can talk knowledgeably about players from every country and not just your own…
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Ben Foden is widely regarded as one of the best up-and-coming scrum-halves in the country, and is one of England’s brightest young talents.
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Height: 1.83m (6′ 0”)

Weight: 95kg (15st 0 lb)

Date of Birth: 29th October 1985

Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland

Joe Ansbro has been catching the eye in the midfield of Northampton Saints so far this season, and The Rugby Blog believes he will be one to watch for the future – Martin Johnson: no doubt you read this blog regularly, so take note if you haven’t already.

Despite being a member of the Saints Academy since 2006-07, Joe has been a more familiar face around the cobbly streets of Cambridge during his recent undergraduate years in which he read Natural Sciences at Robinson College. His raw pace, coupled with his quick feet and solid defence earned him top university honours and were the stamps of a solid rugby upbringing at Stonyhurst College, whose past pupils include Iain Balshaw and Kyran Bracken.

Ansbro played a starring role in the U21 Oxford v Cambridge varsity match when one of his trademark scintillating breaks led to the decisive winning try in the last minute for the Light Blues at Twickenham. He went on to win two Blues representing the university first team against Oxford in one of rugby’s oldest fixtures. In his second year, he started at outside centre in the Blues game, and again, was a cut above the Dark Blues backline, but it was in the 2006 Varsity Match that Ansbro stood up to be counted by completely outclassing his opposite man – a certain Mr. Joe Roff (yes, that’s right, the same World Cup-winning Australian international that Johnno selected in his all-time greatest World Cup side).

Since graduating from Cambridge, Ansbro has come up through the ranks of the Saints Senior Academy, stepping up into the first team during the 2007-08 season to great effect, despite an injury-plagued end to the previous season. Ansbro made his Saints debut away at Moseley and a try-scoring first start against Rotherham at Franklin’s Gardens. During the last third of the season, he became a mainstay in the number 13 shirt and a regular on the scoreboard, including in the EDF Energy National Trophy final win against Exeter at Twickenham.

Ansbro will now have his resolve tested by the best that the Premiership and European Challenge Cup have to offer, and has already graced the scoresheet in Saints’ opening matches – definitely one to watch for the future.

Height: 1.70m (5′ 7”)

Weight: 80kg (12st 8 lbs)

Date of Birth: 26th February 1977

Birthplace: Swansea, Wales

Diminutive in stature, but huge in reputation, Shane Williams, the pint-sized assassin is easily one of the best wingers in world rugby, and one of the best Welsh rugby players of all time.

Known throughout world rugby for his raw pace, his jinking runs, and his unreadable side step, Shane has dazzled fans and players alike since his international bow at the age of 21. During that time he has accumulated 58 caps for Wales, scoring 215 points in the process, as well as becoming the all-time highest Welsh try scorer with 43 tries and counting.

Incidentally, his 41st try against France in the 2008 Six Nations pocketed Williams a cool £25,000 following a £50 bet he placed when he was 21 that he would one day become Wales’ leading try scorer. He also was awarded the RBS Six Nations Player of the Tournament accolade – not a bad Six Nations for Shane.

Williams was also one of the stars of the 2005 RBS Six Nations campaign, touching down against England, Italy and Scotland. He was then selected to the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 New Zealand tour earning one Lions cap and he equalled a single-game Lions record by scoring five tries in a tour match against Manawatu.

Williams started his career as a scrum half at Amman United, later moving to Neath and to the wing. He currently plays regional rugby with the Ospreys, having moved into the side with the inception of regionalism. To date Williams has made 68 appearances for the Ospreys and scored 27 tries and one dropped goal.

The 2007 RBS Six Nations saw Williams partake in three games: the win over England and matches against France and Italy, in which he scored a try against the Azzurri. Williams was rested from the touring squad of Australia in May 2007 but was named in Gareth Jenkins’ 41-man preliminary Rugby World Cup 2007 summer training squad in June. He made the final 30-man RWC squad in August and played against France in the Invesco Perpetual Summer Series at the Millennium Stadium.

Williams was included in the starting line-up for all of Wales’ Pool B matches at the Rugby World Cup, and enjoyed a successful tournament personally. He scored six tries in total, two against both Canada and Japan (during which he earned his 50th cap) and one each against Australia and Fiji, making him the joint third highest try scorer of the entire tournament (on a par with Doug Howlett, behind Bryan Habana and Drew Mitchell).

In January 2008 Williams was included in Warren Gatland’s RBS Six Nations squad, and the winger proved a revelation in the championship. Williams amassed an impressive six tries, equalling Will Greenwood’s Six Nations try-scoring record (in the Lloyds TSB Six Nations, 2001), playing in all five matches of the Grand Slam campaign and gaining braces against Scotland and Italy, and single efforts against Ireland and France.

This season promises to continue the meteoric rise of Shane Williams with a grueling Autumn international schedule with Wales, the defence of their Six Nations crown, and the tour to South Africa with the Lions.