Best XV of professional era: Munster back row

To round off the greatest Munster XV of the professional era, we focus on arguably the most competitive unit within the team, the back row.

While the list of names to have featured in the Munster back row is hugely impressive, when you sit down to actually pick the team position by position, two of the three slots are reasonably straightforward.

Openside flanker

David Wallace is fairly untouchable at 7 with Niall Ronan and Tommy O'Donnell as his closest rivals in terms of specialist 7s.

Wallace dominated the jersey for the best part of 15 years and remains almost criminally underrated to this day. One of the most explosive athletes to have ever played the game in Ireland and a Test-match Lion, Wallace is nailed on.

Candidates: Tommy O'Donnell, Niall Ronan, David Wallace

RTE selection: David Wallace

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Number 8

While the competition at 8 is pretty fierce, with the likes of CJ Stander, Denis Leamy and James Coughlan more than capable, it can only be Anthony Foley who takes the jersey.

No player has typified all that’s good about the province more than Foley. Steeped in the tradition of St Mary’s, Shannon and St Munchin's, not to mention his father’s legacy from 1978, Foley was destined to be the man to finally lift the holy grail of the Heineken Cup in 2006.

A brilliant footballer and respected leader, Foley (like Wallace) was selected to the ERC European dream team in 2010, edging out the likes of Laurence Delaglio and Imanol Harinordiquay for selection. Leamy and Stander are remarkably unlucky to have to compete with Foley for a place in the team.

Candidates: James Coughlan, Anthony Foley, Denis Leamy, CJ Stander

RTE selection: Anthony Foley

Blindside flanker

If 7 and 8 were straightforward, 6 is an absolute nightmare to select.

Alan Quinlan, Jim Williams, Leamy and Peter O’Mahony are the main contenders and there is nothing to separate any of the four. In fact you could pick a name from a hat and be perfectly happy with whoever you ended up with.

I haven’t come across a position in any of the provinces with quite such even competition for a jersey. In an international context, Williams and O’Mahony have had the best careers.

Williams is a World Cup winner and O'Mahony has won multiple medals in the Irish jersey, yet in a Munster context Quinlan and Leamy are ahead by a distance.

Who was the best player of the quartet when all were operating at their peak? You could make a strong argument for Williams but his four years in red is short compared to the others.

Of the remaining three, Quinlan at his best in 08/09 would get my vote. It could be argued that if O'Mahony was around to play alongside Foley and Wallace etc that there would be no argument to be had but he wasn’t, so, in the absolute certainty of inviting plenty of abuse, Alan Quinlan gets our vote in the blindside.

Candidates Denis Leamy, Peter O’Mahony, Alan Quinlan, Jim Williams

RTE selection: Alan Quinlan

Best XV of professional era: Munster back row

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