There is always that one player that when fans see his name on the opposition teamsheet, they take a deep breath and put their heads in their hands.
We all know the feeling. Often he is the star man, sometimes not, but you just know he will cause your team all kinds of problems – a player who always seems to save their best for a particular opposition and seldom underwhelms.
The player who is a team’s kryptonite regardless of the side’s super form, he just seems to be the best player on the park whenever the two teams meet.
We take a look at some of the kryptonite players down the years and who they inflicted pain upon and in some cases continue to do so.
Will Skelton – Leinster
The inspiration for this piece. For a long time, it seemed as if the only thing standing between Leinster and Champions Cup glory was the imposing frame of Wallabies giant Will Skelton.
In 2019, he put in a destructive performance to help Saracens lift the trophy as they defeated Leinster in Newcastle and that was swiftly followed the next year with the Premiership club knocking the Irish province out in the quarter-finals.
He then made the move to La Rochelle where he helped Ronan O’Gara’s side beat Leinster in the semi-finals in 2021 and both the showpiece events in 2022 and 2023. It’s an extraordinary record and one that cannot be put down to just chance.
More recently Leinster can claim to have found the remedy to the Skelton kryptonite after convincing back-to-back victories over La Rochelle last season, but the sight of the big Wallaby’s name on the teamsheet will still make fans feel somewhat uneasy.
Heinrich Brüssow – New Zealand
New Zealand have dominated international rugby for decades and it’s incredibly rare for a player to boast a winning record against the All Blacks, but that was the case with livewire back-rower Heinrich Brüssow.
The Springboks flanker burst onto the international scene in 2009, making his Test debut against the British and Irish Lions. A masterful breakdown exponent, Brüssow was just the kind of player who could cause the All Blacks and Richie McCaw headaches and that certainly proved to be the case as he won the first four of his Tests against South Africa’s greatest rivals. For further context, the Springboks are currently on their longest streak of successive victories over New Zealand in the modern-era which is also just four.
He went toe-to-toe with McCaw in three of those four games with the All Blacks legend getting the last laugh in 2015, handing the Bok his only loss to New Zealand.
Unfortunately for Brüssow, changes to the way in which the breakdown was officiated severely impacted his style of play and ability to influence the match and his career wasn’t helped by Springboks coach Heyenke Meyer favouring bigger back-rowers during his time in charge, with the flanker earning just three Test caps under Meyer.
Duhan van der Merwe – England
The South African-born speedster simply loves playing against England. Duhan van der Merwe has produced some of his best and brightest performances in a Scotland jersey against the Red Rose, dotting down six times.
In fact, Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer has grabbed more five-pointers against England than any other nation that he has come up against in his 44 internationals to date.
Van der Merwe boasts a perfect record of played four, won four against England and has failed to cross the whitewash in just one such fixture. He has also notched up a brace and a hat-trick against Scotland’s neighbours.
To rub salt in England’s wounds, Twickenham is also Van der Merwe’s most profitable try-scoring venue behind Murrayfield of course.
WATCH: Duhan van der Merwe haunts England again with a glorious hat-trick
Kurtley Beale – Wales
Thankfully for Wales, it’s not just all good things that eventually come to an end but the bad too as a record-losing streak to Australia finally concluded in November 2018.
The streak began all the way back in 2009 with the Wallabies winning 13 straight meetings between the two sides with Kurtley Beale playing the villain role against Wales for much of that time.
He came off the bench in the clash back in 2009 and would feature in some big moments throughout the meetings between the two sides over the next decade.
He too would star in these encounters whether it be a clutch kick to win the game, as was the case in 2012, or just producing a standout performance as he did in 2017. Wales fans may have felt the terrible Déjà vu feeling in 2021 when he lined up a winning kick which ultimately sailed wide.
Beale might not be Wales’ kryptonite anymore but for a long time, he very much was.
George Gregan – New Zealand
One has to take in the dominance that the All Blacks had over Test rugby during George Gregan’s career when diving into his impressive 44% success rate against New Zealand. Sure the Wallabies were a real force at the time with their golden generation but the All Blacks were still dominant.
While there are plenty of options to pick out from that wonderful Wallabies team there was no player that annoyed, infuriated or struck fear into the men in the black jersey than the wily and bullish scrum-half.
He played a mammoth 27 Tests against New Zealand, winning 12 times; a remarkable record against any generation of All Blacks.
One will never forget his ‘four more years’ chirp at the World Cup but Gregan was not all talk and is still regarded as one of the greatest scrum-halves to ever play the game and rightfully so.
Rugby’s most infamous chirps, trash talk and sledges ever
Jonah Lomu – England
The late great All Blacks winger struck fear into every opposition and their fans in his heyday but Jonah Lomu was particularly destructive when he came up against England.
One cannot mention Lomu and England in the same sentence without going back to Will Greenwood’s famous remark about the legendary winger ahead of the two teams colliding in the 1999 World Cup.
“There’s absolutely nobody I’d swap man for man,” England coach at the time Clive Woodward boldly stated.
But Greenwood injected: “Clive we’re all with you, but on behalf of all the team I think we’d swap Austin Healey for Jonah Lomu.”
That was how highly the great winger was rated by opposition teams and Greenwood wasn’t far off as Lomu would go on to score in that game, breezing past Dan Luger and Matt Perry en route to a key try in the All Blacks’ victory.
That was one of Lomu’s less active games against England after he scored four tries when the two sides met in the World Cup four years prior while he also crossed the whitewash in New Zealand’s 64-22 thumping of the Red Rose in 1998 at Twickenham.
In 2002, he also crossed for a brace albeit in defeat at Twickenham in what was his final outing against England.
The ridiculous Rugby World Cup records that Jonah Lomu still holds
Cheslin Kolbe – England
There is a bit of a theme here with England struggling to contain wingers originating from the southern hemisphere, with Cheslin Kolbe also tormenting the Red Rose.
Just last year, Kolbe produced arguably his finest outing of 2024 against England and the speedster was certainly no slouch for the other 12 months.
Then one cannot forget the pocket-rocket’s first game against the Red Rose in 2019 when he put the final nail in England’s coffin in the Rugby World Cup final as he sidestepped the likes of Owen Farrell, Joe Marler and Billy Vunipola to score one of the most memorable tries in the tournament’s history.
Kolbe has played just three times against England but has walked away with three victories. However, his knack of getting the better of English players extended to the British and Irish Lions series where he again left Farrell and Luke Cowan-Dickie in his wake en route to a special try.
Morne Steyn – British and Irish Lions
For many rugby players, the opportunity to play for or against the British and Irish Lions just once is a dream come true but for Morne Steyn, it marked the start and pretty much the end of a special career.
In 2009, he came off the bench to make his debut against the tourists as he saw out the win for the Boks, but it was his impact in the next match that was telling as he nailed a clutch long-range kick to seal the series with a game to go.
Fast forward 12 years and Steyn recreates that moment in the deciding Test match in 2021, nailing near identical penalty in his penultimate game in Green and Gold. His efforts against the tourists earned him the fitting nickname the ‘Lion Slayer’.
Manu Tuilagi – New Zealand
Much of Manu Tuilagi’s Test career was ravaged by injuries leaving a feeling of ‘what if’ for so many but when fit and firing, he was a force of nature.
Few teams know that better than New Zealand with the England centre saving his best for the All Blacks. Two of arguably his best performances were against the men in black.
His barnstorming outing at Twickenham in 2012 was arguably the crown jewel in his England career closely followed by the World Cup semi-final in 2019.
England and New Zealand faced off sparingly during the midfielder’s Test career but he certainly made his presence known when tackling the All Blacks.
Beauden Barrett – Australia
Beauden Barrett has terrorised many a team during his illustrious career in the All Blacks jersey and really could be regarded as the kryptonite for several teams but perhaps none more so than the Wallabies.
His current record against Australia reads 27 Tests, 23 victories, one draw and three defeats. However, there is no team that has felt the brunt of Barrett’s class more than the Wallabies with Barrett also scoring 11 tries in that time including one in the Rugby World Cup final that sealed Australia’s demise.
The score in the final is arguably his most memorable against Australia but his 2018 masterclass ranks amongst one of his grandest performances. He scored four tries in the clash at Eden Park and knocked over five conversions in a 30-point haul as the All Blacks thrashed their rivals 40-12.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/10-players-who-were-kryptonite-for-opposition-teams-including-all-blacks-legend-jonah-lomu-who-terrorised-england
