Keith Wood Inducted in to Hall of Fame

By Prof
August 8 2005

Keith Wood is set to join the International Rugby Hall of Fame on Wednesday 16th November 2005. He is one of 12 new inductees, the others are Fred Allen, Phil Bennett, Andre Boniface, Naas Botha, John Eales, Grant Fox, Dave Gallaher, Martin Johnson, Ian McGeechan, Gwyn Nicholls & Francois Pienaar.

There were fifteen players who were the first members of the Hall of Fame which was started in 1997: Danie Craven, Serge Blanco, Frik du Preez, Gareth Edwards, Mark Ella, Mike Gibson, Barry John, Willie-John McBride, Colin Meads, Cliff Morgan, George Nepia, Hugo Porta, Tony O'Reilly, Jean-Pierre Rives and J P R Williams.

There are dinners every two years when the new players are added to the list, 1999 saw Gerald Davies, Andy Irvine, Nick Farr-Jones, Carwyn James, Jack Kyle, Brian Lochore, Morne du Plessis, Philippe Sella, Wilson Whineray and the first Harlequin in the Hall of Fame William Wavell Wakefield being added.

Two years later the following were added: Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Bill McLaren, Hennie Muller, Jean Prat, Gordon Brown, David Campese, Ken Catchpole, Don Clarke and Mervyn Davies.

The 2003 entries were: Bill Beaumont, Gavin Hastings, Tim Horan, Michael Jones, Ian Kirkpatrick, John Kirwan, Jo Maso and Syd Millar.

So Woody becomes only the second Quin in the the Hall of Fame, ahead of the likes of Jason Leonard, David Wilson, Adrian Stoop, Ronnie Poulton, Brian Moore, etc, etc.

You can find out more about the International Hall of Fame at www.rugbyhalloffame.com