• Ask Steven

The most-capped pack of all time

Martin Castrogiovanni brings a wealth of experience to the Italy pack © PA Photos

Enlarge

Was the Italian starting forward pack named against Wales the most-capped Test pack ever? Paul Johns

Yes! Italy's starting pack against Wales in Cardiff recently had 587 caps to its name before the match started, overtaking the previous record set by New Zealand against England at Twickenham in November.

The cap numbers for the run-on Italian pack compared with the corresponding New Zealand eight (ie.caps before the respective games started) were as follows:

Italy v Wales 2014

Michele Rizzo - 11
Leonardo Ghiraldini - 59
Martin Castrogiovanni - 101
Quintin Geldenhuys - 41
Marco Bortolami - 99
Alessandro Zanni - 80
Mauro Bergamasco - 95
Sergio Parisse - 101

Caps before Test: 587

New Zealand v England 2013

Tony Woodcock - 106
Keven Mealamu - 109
Owen Franks - 52
Brodie Retallick - 22
Sam Whitelock - 49
Liam Messam - 27
Richie McCaw - 122
Kieran Read - 59

Caps before Test: 546

John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd