Australia
'He didn't make mistakes ... even under pressure'
ESPN Staff
August 4, 2015
Alan Jones' favourite Wallaby

Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones was blessed with an array of wonderful players during the 1984 Grand Slam tour; but one man sits slightly above the others as the "best he ever coached".

Mark Ella, David Campese, Simon Poidevin and Michael Lynagh were just some of the household names who helped to secure victories over England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland as part of the three-month, 18-game tour Jones oversaw.

Ella managed a try in each of the four Test wins while Lynagh and Campese would later go on to play key roles in the Wallabies' 1991 Rugby World Cup triumph. But with a Test on the line, Jones told ESPN's Greg Growden there was one man to whom he knew he could turn.

"I think, this is the way I answer that question in my thinking; I think we're playing for a Grand Slam, we're leading 12-10 and we've got no football," Jones said. "But my defensive line, I know the boys will be right defensively. So the only way the other mob can get through with all this ball, and I always thought this way, is they'll put a grubber kick through. They'll put a chip kick through, they'll roof something up and I've gotta have someone who is the safest and most reliable person I can possibly have.

"Mark [Ella]: brilliant. Campo: flamboyant. The forwards; Poidevin: so tough. Roach and those people: so strong. [Topo] Rodriguez, [Andy] McIntyre, [Tom] Lawton: magnificent. But, they're delivering the ball, then we're defending the ball and we've gotta win this bloody Test match and we're up 12-10 and they're at us, and they can't get through and they're gonna kick. Well it's on the ground; forget it … chip-kick; forget it … high ball; forget it. He'll never make a mistake."

Watch the video at the top of the page to learn the player's identity.

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