Johnson v Eales

[DorianWestsHead]

Gonna be a biased vote but who do you reckon was the better leader of Men. John eales or martin johnson both were exceptional but who was the greatest captain. Please try to be unbiased

[ellis9]

My unbiased view- Martin Johnson

[strawclearer]

As a true democrat, I've put this to the vote in our family - that's Mrs Strawclearer and the three little Strawclearers.

As Acting Returning Officer, I now announce the number of votes cast as follows:

John Eales - Queensland Reds & Australia - no votes.

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE - Leicester Tigers, New Zealand U21's, England and The British & Irish Lions - 16,472 votes.

Vincent Hanna: "And there we have it - a sensational win for Johnson! Mr Strawclearer - 5 voters but 16,472 votes - a slight anomaly?"

Strawclearer: "Not really, Mr Hanna. You see, Mr Johnson may look like a gorilla who's been put in rugby kit and strategically shaved but he's a brilliant leader of men. The number of votes we cast is simply a reflection of how firmly we believe in his abilities."

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With thanks to Edmund Blackadder and while we're talking about votes and democracy and referenda...

[drc_007]

As a true democrat, I've put this to the vote in our family - that's Mrs Strawclearer and the three little Strawclearers.

As Acting Returning Officer, I now announce the number of votes cast as follows:

John Eales - Queensland Reds & Australia - no votes.

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE - Leicester Tigers, New Zealand U21's, England and The British & Irish Lions - 16,472 votes.

Vincent Hanna: "And there we have it - a sensational win for Johnson! Mr Strawclearer - 5 voters but 16,472 votes - a slight anomaly?"

Strawclearer: "Not really, Mr Hanna. You see, Mr Johnson may look like a gorilla who's been put in rugby kit and strategically shaved but he's a brilliant leader of men. The number of votes we cast is simply a reflection of how firmly we believe in his abilities."

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With thanks to Edmund Blackadder and while we're talking about votes and democracy and referenda...

As they used to say "vote early, vote often"

[DickyP]

Personally I won't bother to vote but speculate on what a superb pairing they'd have made together.

[jgriffin]

Personally I won't bother to vote but speculate on what a superb pairing they'd have made together.

Contenders for the second row in anyone's ':censored: frightening XV'.

[BarmyBamford]

Not so long ago many retrospective " best of's " were created and some were All Time Rugby XVs.
The 2nd row was usually Eales and Johnson, the captain,nearly always Johnson.

That may strengthen the case made by the landslide vote earlier in the thread.

[Sajerj]

Not so long ago many retrospective " best of's " were created and some were All Time Rugby XVs.
The 2nd row was usually Eales and Johnson, the captain,nearly always Johnson.

That may strengthen the case made by the landslide vote earlier in the thread.

Allowing for the difference in era / sport science, would you say MJ was a better second row than
Maro Itoje ?

MJ of course has the longevity of excellence on his side of the debate, where as Maro has dominated games, and showed skills at the highest level in a way we haven't seen from an English second row ever.

[Old Hob]

Allowing for the difference in era / sport science, would you say MJ was a better second row than
Maro Itoje ?

MJ of course has the longevity of excellence on his side of the debate, where as Maro has dominated games, and showed skills at the highest level in a way we haven't seen from an English second row ever.[/quote]

Interesting question. If Itoje develops into a leader as good as his playing ability I speculate he may surpass MJ. However, it is rare for the leadership/playing ability to be evenly matched. Sometimes it is better to have a lesser player for the sake of the captaincy magic. Johnno had both.

[Stu_F]

Allowing for the difference in era / sport science, would you say MJ was a better second row than
Maro Itoje ?

MJ of course has the longevity of excellence on his side of the debate, where as Maro has dominated games, and showed skills at the highest level in a way we haven't seen from an English second row ever.

Interesting question. If Itoje develops into a leader as good as his playing ability I speculate he may surpass MJ. However, it is rare for the leadership/playing ability to be evenly matched. Sometimes it is better to have a lesser player for the sake of the captaincy magic. Johnno had both.[/quote]
Neither were as reliable goal kickers as Eales. Who let's not forget once kicked a last gasp penalty to win a Bledisloe Cup match.

[Noddy555]

Definitely Eales, Martin Johnson of whom I've always been a big fan was very fortunate that he had a tremendous generation of players to work with both for club and country, Eales however managed to turn a modest bunch into a fine team and that requires very hard work and deep insights in both terms of tactics and personnel management.

[Iain]

I never saw Johno have a bad game. I don't think he ever had one.

[tigerburnie]

Bill Beaumont and Will Carling had men follow them, but neither were great players. Johnno did have both the ability to play and lead, very, very rare individual.