Fantasy women's rugby XV (and guess what's 8th "most influential" rugby blog in the UK)!

Mike has passed on an interesting item - apparently this is the 8th most influential rugby union blog in the UK. Not just girls' rugby, or club rugby... any rugby union blog, including professional ones run by journalists. In fact we are also the 91st most influential blog on any sport. And when it comes to club - sites aimed just at one club - or junior sport blogs we are number one!

Quite how the people who run this - Wikio - work all this out I am not entirely sure - its something to do with how much a blog is quoted elsewhere I think - but overall its rather neat. Not to say ever so slightly scarey...

Looking at the other rugby blogs listed we are also probably one of the oldest. And there are some quite interesting blogs out there. I rather like this one - imaginatively called The Rugby Blog - and especially the latest article which tries to pick a fantasy rugby XV from sportsmen who never played rugby. There's some rather predictable picks - a current and present World's Strongest Man as props - but there is some nice ideas in there, including Muhammed Ali at outside centre, and Frankie Detorri as scrum-half.

Not only did I wonder if its possible to pick better XV, I also wondered about a women's XV. A shade more difficult, being as women's sport has nothing of the profile of men's sport, but what do you think? If not a full XV - how about a few choice picks for specific positions, for instance I might suggest (and at the same time indicate my age and sporting interests!):

• Kelly Holmes - centre?
• Victoria Pendleton - wing?
• Jane Smit (England wicket-keeper) - fly-half [will catch any pass, however bad!, and pretty accurate passing too]?
• Denise Annets (Australian batsman) - scrum half [short, but lightning fast. Brilliant hands]
• Fatima Whitbread (javelin gold-medalist) - hooker [no problem hitting the back of the lineout!]
  
• Mary Peters (pentathlon gold medalist) - prop
• Rachel Heyhoe-Flint (managed to overturn the MCC's all male-member policy - just think how useful someone like that would be in the women's game!) - Manager
  

I did wonder about all those former East German shot-putters as forwards, but presumably they'd be caught and banned for doping these days!


Any other ideas, anyone?

Or failing all that suggestions for a better men's XV?