There’s a very high-profile Irish omission from the Guardian’s 50 Greatest Rugby World Cup players list

Did Warren Gatland pick this list by any chance?

History has shown us there is probably nothing that enrages Irish rugby fans more than a failure to acknowledge the brilliance of the great Brian O’Driscoll.

Final test of the 2013 Lions Tour anyone?

With that in mind, the decision to exclude O’Driscoll from a list of the 50 Greatest Rugby World Cup players of all time, published on the Guardian website today, is bound to raise an eyebrow or two.

Only one Irishman (Keith Wood at number 44) makes a list that is dominated by representatives from New Zealand, England, Australia and South Africa (teams who have all won the tournament), with a handful from France and more from Wales, Scotland, Argentina, Scotland, Fiji and Samoa making up the numbers.

Although our natural reaction to the omission of O’Driscoll may be one of outrage, some context is required here.

For a start, this is a list based on performances in the Rugby World Cup and Ireland have never got beyond the quarter-finals.

In the four tournaments O’Driscoll did play in, two resulted in early and fairly ignominious exits. In the other two, though he did have some standout moments, he hardly set the world alight.

Still think he was worthy of a spot?

We’ve listed the top ten below but you can have a look at the list for yourself on a fairly impressive Guardian interactive here, which includes the full list of judges, the rules for selection and the complete statistics on how the judges voted.

Guardian’s Rugby World Cup greatest players: Top 10

1. Jonah Lomu (New Zealand)
2. Martin Johnson (England)
3. David Campese (Australia)
4. John Eales (Australia)
5. Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
6. Jonny Wilkinson (England)
7. Michael Jones (New Zealand)
8. Francois Pienaar (South Africa)
9. Tim Horan (Australia)
10. Joost van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

44. Keith Wood (Ireland)