The 10 worst haircuts in international rugby - ever!

(by Planet Rugby)


Planet Rugby once again searches through the archives to bring you the statistics and facts that really matter - this week we take a look back across the years at the worst hairstyles ever to grace the international field.

1. Percy Montgomery (SA)
A mop of blonde hair cut with a Timotei wave and blow-dried quiff. The Springbok fullback looks like he should be lead singer of a boy band rather than an international rugby player. For a country that claims their players tackle wilderbeest for fun, Montgomery's salon coiffured barnet is a real disgrace.

2. Scott Quinnell (Wales)
Peroxided hair on the whole is pretty distasteful. On French stand-offs like Thomas Castaignede it is bearable, if slightly annoying. But when you're a pasty-faced, 18 stone Welshmen it's a disaster. Whoever told Quinnell he'd be the trendiest man in Llanelli if he bleached his hair should not be employed as anyone's style counsel.

3. Eric Champ (France)
Not content with having the silliest name in international rugby, this former French flanker also felt compelled to have one of the silliest haircuts. The original 'spaghetti head', Champ boasted a white man's Afro. He was 6ft 3 to start with, but with his noodle extensions he stood an impressive 7ft 3.

4. Any All Black backrower circa 1986
These guys perfected the 'gooner', characterised by the shaved sides, spiky front and long, straggly bits at the back. Zinzan Brooke may be a fashion icon of Chelsea, London these days, but the great No.8 had this style perfected in the mid-eighties. Others modelling classic Kiwi 'gooners' included Jamie Joseph and Wayne Shelford.

5. John Taylor (Wales)
He played like Neanderthal man but he also looked like Neanderthal man. Hair growing from every available orifice in every concievable direction, a truly terrifying sight for any No.10. Not known as 'Basil Brush' to his Wales team-mates for nothing, even in the style-free 1970s, Taylor's noggin was a shocker.

6. Philippe Sella (France)
Sella was unarguably one of the hardest men ever to play international rugby, but his legendary reputation was not enhanced by his haircut. The 'pudding bowl' is rare in rugby. Let's face it, such barnets have been pretty thin on the ground since the early 15th century. Dean Richards almost had one, Jeff Wilson got close in his early years, but Sella's was unsurpassed for every one of his staggering 111 caps.

7. John Jeffrey (Scotland)
The Borders flanker known as the 'White Shark' looked like he had been dead for 10 years and his haircut didn't help. It was white as snow and sort of stuck up from his head in a thick mass - almost like someone had put 10,000 volts through him.

8. Tony Daley (Australia)
Ever the individual, the Wallaby prop decided to take the 'Champ Noodle' and combine it with the 'Brooke Gooner'. The end product is an extraordinary sight which resembles a squirrel lying at full stretch over his head. Imagine Queen's Brian May with shaved sides and you're not a million miles away.

9. Dean Richards (England)
Richard couldn't get away without a mention. He doesn't have a ridiculous haircut persay, just a ridiculous haircut for an international No.8. In his heyday Richards sported a computer technician's cut. You know the sort of thing, flopping forward with a badly placed parting which spends more time across one eye than slickly brushed to one side. It says "I'd rather be changing the RAM in my new PC than spear tackling my opposite number back across the gain-line".

10. Clive Norling (Wales)
This is a little unfair because he's a referee not a player but Norling's barnet was unacceptable. Long, black, straight, usually greasy and accompanied with a moustache. Nevermind that he was an inspired referee, he should never been allowed to appear on global TV networks looking like that.

Runners-up: Honourable mentions go to Neil Back (England), Kobus van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Neil Jenkins (Wales) and Trevor Leota (Samoa) who were all in contention for the final placings.