All Blacks legend Justin Marshall has sung the praises of Wallabies captain Harry Wilson, saying he rates him as the best number eight in the world at the moment.
Although New Zealand cruised to an emphatic 50-19 victory over Australia at Eden Park in Auckland last weekend, Wilson was arguably the visitors’ best player as he came to the fore with an excellent performance.
As the scoreline suggests, the Wallabies came off second best in most facets of play but despite that, Wilson shone on attack and his efforts were rewarded with a well-taken try.
However, he made his biggest contribution in defence, where he finished with a match-high 27 tackles while also winning a crucial turnover, and Marshall was hugely impressed with his all-round display.
‘It looks effortless to him’
“He makes it look effortless. Harry Wilson is my man because he’s here and he’s everywhere, but that doesn’t come without effort, but it looks effortless to him,” he told The Good, The Bad & Rugby Australia & New Zealand podcast.
“The ability for him to get around the field as a ball carrier and as a defender was just incredible. Like he’s an absolute machine.
“27 tackles he made in that Test match, and he scored a try and he put some clean shots on quite a few players. If that Wallaby forward pack had seven more of him, I’d hate to face them because they would just be absolutely relentless.
“And his attitude, his hunger, his care for what he’s doing out there. You can see that he bleeds for his country. For me, he’s the best number eight in the world at the moment. And he is the epitome of exactly what being a Test number eight is all about.
“He was in a team that got beaten by 50 points, to be noticed and to put in an effort like that, super impressed with him. Incredible.”
Ex-All Blacks captain and number eight Kieran Read revealed that he has been a fan of Wilson’s play for quite a while but did not agree entirely with Marshall’s assessment of the 26-year-old.
“Marshy, I love it. I’ve had big raps on Wilson for a long time,” he said. “I would question your ability to say it’s effortless from him. I see him with his headgear popping down over his eyes.
‘Fantastic player’
“You could actually see the effort is 100% there from that guy. And that is someone who leads men and you can tell in the team, right? So, fantastic player.
“Those hits that he put on a few guys on that near touchline in the first-half were just brutal, concrete shoulders. And a guy who just keeps working very hard, puts his hand up, makes tackles, runs the ball.
“So, 100% puts in the effort. And as you say, he’ll need a bit more of that next week.”
The podcast’s host, Andy Rowe, then asked Marshall to expand on his claim that Wilson is currently the world’s best number eight and he replied: “Jasper Wiese (Of the Springboks) is a very good number eight, but he’s still a work in progress in my mind.
“Not as good as Harry Wilson. Not as good as Harry Wilson. Not at the moment. He hasn’t got the presence across 80 minutes that Harry Wilson has in both offence and defence.
“He’s a great ball carrier and he’s a strong carrier for South Africa and he works hard defensively, but he’s not having anywhere near the involvements that Harry Wilson’s having in a game.
“That might clearly also be because they’ve got other tools they can utilise. If he’s not carrying, Pieter-Steph’s (du Toit) carrying, or Malcolm Marx is carrying, or (Eben) Etzebeth is carrying, but Harry Wilson, for me, he just has a work ethic that is superior to any other number eight I’ve seen in the world at the moment.”
Although Read did not give his verdict on who the leading number eight in the world is, he feels Wilson is amongst the best players in the position.
“Around the work ethic part, there’s second to none of Wilson. I think you have to add the all-round skills, right? He’s got a left foot. He’s got skills to pick up for a big man, offload, whatever.
“Scores tries. It’s a good debate to have. I think most definitely he’s in that conversation.”