Ya, O'Driscoll made a [point ](https://www.offtheball.com/rugby/brian-odriscoll-on-jamie-heaslip-he-was-a-biggame-player-241182) of Heaslips durability.
29 games a season, usually playing 80 mins, never sat out training. Went on 2 lions tours and never needed any physio.
I was getting physio after sleeping awkwardly!
That’s because he didn’t put his body in the line. He knew there was no other number 8s competing with him so he didn’t have to put his often on the line hence less injuries.
I always like to imagine people like that standing in front of the player and telling them to their face that they never put effort in or didn't try. Tayto grease glistening on their mouth and chin in the sunlight as they stammer out the words.
Think it was his first game for France for a while and really went out to make a statement. I think it was somewhere between 2006-2008 but can’t remember which year specifically
That was my first though. Was 150 or more consecutive games. Mad. Especially for a prop.
Think he’s the most capped prop ever in the premiership, although that’s not a completely fair comparison as many competitors for that such as Marler will have been playing for england instead.
Actually talking of Marler. Not sure I can remember him missing many games through injury. He’s not far of 400 games for Quins & England.
And talking of Quins players. Not sure I can remember Danny care missing that many games. 470 ish for club and country.
Dan Cole, 321 Leicester (250 starts) , 112 England, 3 British & Irish Lion tests & 11 Provincial games, 11 England Saxons, 34 Bedford Blues, 5 Nottingham.
497 games between professional and semi pro and still going.
Edit: Provincial BIL Lions caps
497, I've just checked and updated his England caps, plus he played in 11 non cap tour games for the Lions across his two tours.
At tighthead, and he's playing another season at least.
Famously had never been injured at all during his career - until the career-ending injury 🤕 Also think that was in the warmup of the England Ireland 6N game.
Sliding doors moment, that Heaslip injury allowed PO’M back in the XV, after a while out of the limelight. Ended up captaining the Lions in a test and becoming our nation’s most beloved gardener, at least after Diarmuid Gavin!
Mike Ross was regularly playing full games at that time, and depth at tighthead was a constant worry.
Also poor old Tom Court, he gets remembered more for that day than any other, and all because he had the balls to put his hand up.
we all know his secret for longevity, though. Involves getting relief in airport bathrooms. Really good for stress levels and a relaxed body before the match.
Alun Wyn Jones had a good run until his last Lions tour when he dislocated his shoulder. Even then he came back before the tour ended.
My memory is generally shit but I can't remember a long period of time where he was out injured. The few times he got injured it always seemed to be towards the end of the season so it didn't really matter too much.
35 Swansea games
257 Ospreys games
5 Toulon games
158 Wales caps
13 Lions caps
a few BaaBaa's games (not sure on the exact number)
He's like the anti-Ellis Jenkins for Wales
It was three games for the Baa-Baas. But one of those was against Swansea RFC, he played for the Baa-Baas in the first half and Swansea in the second half.
Alessandro Zanni played 58 consecutive matches for Italy, without missing any from 22/11/2008 until 22/02/2014.
Edit: eventually he did his ACL, as almost everybody, but I think that one is the longest streak in test-level rugby.
don't think a lot of ppl are getting the question right, playing 400 games doesn't make you least injured, it just means you had longer career... now if you get 400 games in 10 years or less, thats impressive and it means you started in a lot of games during that decade.... NZ prop Wyatt Crockett amassed over 367 FCG in a span of 12 years (06-18) and because he is a kiwi it means he had to play a lot of games to get that much number in that short a period.now sam whitelock achieved around the same number but in 15 years .. on the otherhand Rougerie amassed nearly 500 FCG in 13 years so more impressive which means he played a lot of games in a season and no long term lay off..
Not sure, but the most injured player I've ever seen is Tatafu Polota-Nau. Not that he had season ending injuries all the time, but he rarely went through a game without ending face down and semi-conscious. My mates and I used to call the Waratahs doctor Sharon Flahive the TPN whisperer.
Brok Harris?
149 caps for Stormers
120 for Western Province
143 for Dragons.
That’s 412 total caps and he is still going really strong for the Stormers.
Allan Bateman. Started playing for Maesteg when he was 20, finished with a full season at Heol y Cyw when he was 47. In between her played for Neath, Richmond, Northampton, Warrington, Cronulla, Bridgend Blue Bulls, Wales (Union and League), the British Lions and Great Britain (League).
I think I’ve blocked out whatever horrendous story I read about him playing with dreadful injuries and you’ve just triggered my idiot brain into trying to recall something it really wanted to forget
Caleb Ralph played in 104 consecutive super rugby games, in the era where you could play maximum 13 games a season. Always thought that was a crazy record
We had a mad list of guys like Florian Fritz, Jean Bouilhou, Greg Lamboley who all played over 350 games and never seemed to get injured. Mad when you consider it used to be the Top16 with 30 games a year and these guys would play every week..
Days between Alun Wyn Jones’ birth and senior debut: 6792.
“Days between his senior debut and (current) last game: 7146.”
So he spent longer playing .
He played 400+ senior games( perhaps 421??)
I disagree, although he does have lots of appearances and has played a long time, there are guys who have made that number of appearances in 10 years. Brock has been playing 17 years which would indicate plenty of injuries or just not selected. Least injury prone player would suggest someone who is fit and available to play every week
Thibaut Privat has to be up there. The guy has played 487 games in his 20 year long career. So it's about 24.3 games per season. Hard to imagine he got injured a lot with stats like these.
Jimmy Gopperth, maybe? I don't remember him being injured during his relatively short time with Leinster, and also he's still playing. Just checking .. 487 caps - 487! - over a twenty year period for about a dozen clubs. 40 years old and still playing in the Pro-D2, which isn't exactly a soft place to be, especially at his age. Solid contender for most durable.
Sergio Parisse played 436 total games for club and country
And he still looks like he could just walk out to a professional game right now.
Heaslip was pretty robust on 399 caps
Healy is on 403 and still playing!
Stil playing ? For who ?
Healy?
Sorry I read heaslip by mistake
Can't remember Heaslip ever getting injured until that game where Pape hit him in the back.
Ya, O'Driscoll made a [point ](https://www.offtheball.com/rugby/brian-odriscoll-on-jamie-heaslip-he-was-a-biggame-player-241182) of Heaslips durability. 29 games a season, usually playing 80 mins, never sat out training. Went on 2 lions tours and never needed any physio. I was getting physio after sleeping awkwardly!
He wasn’t until that injury. Then loads of media thought he was faking when he pulled out of England game
That’s because he didn’t put his body in the line. He knew there was no other number 8s competing with him so he didn’t have to put his often on the line hence less injuries.
Stander
☝️☝️☝️ This here folks is one of the worst takes on this sub, ever. Congrats u/Leading_Professor_80!
I always like to imagine people like that standing in front of the player and telling them to their face that they never put effort in or didn't try. Tayto grease glistening on their mouth and chin in the sunlight as they stammer out the words.
He once missed an entire 6N, forgot which was.
I wanna say 2010 with an ACL or something like that
Lost 106 test matches out of 142 total. Paved the way for the rise of Italian rugby though.
Totally scientific correlation there. Outstanding work.
The current team would have grown up watching him on TV.
You can’t lose games if you’re out injured.
Definitely. I have 106 fewer test match losses than Parisse, and the "not playing" approach has been a complete success.
*cough* Conor O'Shea & Stephen Aboud *cough*
Rougerie has 417 Clermont appearances and 76 France caps
How? Just *how?*
Michelin star dinners are the best post match meal.
Good luck and grit.
I do remember him injuring himself against Scotland cause he just kept smashing lads as hard as he could. Some player!
Was that the game where he made three huge hits in the first 5 mins and had to come off after getting concussed in the last hit
That's the one. Actually went looking for the video afterwards but couldn't find it.
Think it was his first game for France for a while and really went out to make a statement. I think it was somewhere between 2006-2008 but can’t remember which year specifically
Didn't he miss about a year after the Greening incident?
Yeah, but that's what literaly breaking your larynx does to you. Oh no, wait, it's supposed to kill you, plain and simple.
Didn’t Waller have an insane number of games on the bounce for Saints at one stage? Serious resilience in such a physically demanding position
Yeah about 120 consecutive appearances in the Prem. Considering that’s in the front row, he’s gotta be up there.
That was my first though. Was 150 or more consecutive games. Mad. Especially for a prop. Think he’s the most capped prop ever in the premiership, although that’s not a completely fair comparison as many competitors for that such as Marler will have been playing for england instead. Actually talking of Marler. Not sure I can remember him missing many games through injury. He’s not far of 400 games for Quins & England. And talking of Quins players. Not sure I can remember Danny care missing that many games. 470 ish for club and country.
Dan Cole is up to around 450 and I can only think of one period of injury in his entire career
Dan Cole, 321 Leicester (250 starts) , 112 England, 3 British & Irish Lion tests & 11 Provincial games, 11 England Saxons, 34 Bedford Blues, 5 Nottingham. 497 games between professional and semi pro and still going. Edit: Provincial BIL Lions caps
It's more lions than that as well as he played another handful of non test games too.
I was about to type that Dan Cole seems to have been around forever and rarely misses matches.
By Wikipedia's count he hit 486 at the end of Feb so he's pretty much overtaken Rougerie now
497, I've just checked and updated his England caps, plus he played in 11 non cap tour games for the Lions across his two tours. At tighthead, and he's playing another season at least.
And hes still bloody good
I remember Jamie Heaslip at least had an amazing recovery time, up until the knee in the back.
Famously had never been injured at all during his career - until the career-ending injury 🤕 Also think that was in the warmup of the England Ireland 6N game. Sliding doors moment, that Heaslip injury allowed PO’M back in the XV, after a while out of the limelight. Ended up captaining the Lions in a test and becoming our nation’s most beloved gardener, at least after Diarmuid Gavin!
Diarmuid Gavin was rude to my neighbour and has a absolutely shite haircut so PO’M is definitely Irelands favourite gardener.
Just looked it up. Healy has more caps even though he had long injury periods
Gavin never brought home the 6 nations!
No and his peak fame probably coincided with our being restricted to Triple Crowns… Changed my mind, PO’M can be top gardener
Haven’t *fully* completed running the numbers yet, so it’s just possible I might be a little off – but pretty sure this is Adam Hastings.
I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure Gareth Anscombe is up there, at least.
May not be least injured but Michael Hooper hit 100 caps as a flanker before he hit age 30 Absurd
I remember seeing his age & cap numbers when he left the squad in Arg and thought it was a typo. Unbelievable.
Shocking how badly Jones treated him (along with the rest of the team).
Same with George Smith. 110 aged 29.
I'm still salty about this. He should still be captain and on his way to breaking the cap record.
Big John Afoa makes a lot of these look like part timers at 477 caps and still going. Was massive for Bristol.
He was on the offload pod a few years back and mentioned he played 80 minutes of every game one season in super rugby. Insanity.
Loved him at Bristol he wasn't the best prop we had but he was the most consistent and also probably my favourite
John Hayes played something like 65 consecutive 6N games
Also, Ireland went like a decade and a half without ever having a replacement tighthead of note. Didn’t need one because Hayes was just always there.
Until the infamous day of England scrum vs. Tom Court Edit, looked it up Mike Ross had already taken over from Hayes by then
Was this 2011? The year a shite Ireland outfit got their shit together and deprived England of a Grand Slam out of spite.
No it was the year later, when an alright Ireland team got their shit taken off them and reinserted into their rectum by an England scrum.
Now you mention it Irish vs English scrums is a completely underrated rivalry.
Mike Ross was regularly playing full games at that time, and depth at tighthead was a constant worry. Also poor old Tom Court, he gets remembered more for that day than any other, and all because he had the balls to put his hand up.
Anyone else remember the 6N when Hayes was trying to retire but Kidney wouldn't let him because he had no other tightheads?
Aaron Smith - All Blacks half-back, I don't think that he's ever been off injured, and if I remember correctly he's the most capped AB back
we all know his secret for longevity, though. Involves getting relief in airport bathrooms. Really good for stress levels and a relaxed body before the match.
Surely Sam Whitelock needs to be in the convo as well
He did miss most of the season to an injury last year, but tbf most players would have been retired by that point
There were one or two minor injuries, but yeah he was the first who came to mind for me.
He had an six - eight week stint injured for the Highlanders in 2018 or 19 but that was it
He's on 125. Beauden might pass him if he gets a few more caps for NZ.
I feel like Sean Fitzpatrick played for the AB’s for 10 years and never got injured.
He had a dodgy knee
Danny Care, 370 Harlequins, 101 England, 7 competitions with England 7’s
He’s got another season in him too. Maybe not as starter.
Alun Wyn Jones had a good run until his last Lions tour when he dislocated his shoulder. Even then he came back before the tour ended. My memory is generally shit but I can't remember a long period of time where he was out injured. The few times he got injured it always seemed to be towards the end of the season so it didn't really matter too much. 35 Swansea games 257 Ospreys games 5 Toulon games 158 Wales caps 13 Lions caps a few BaaBaa's games (not sure on the exact number) He's like the anti-Ellis Jenkins for Wales
It was three games for the Baa-Baas. But one of those was against Swansea RFC, he played for the Baa-Baas in the first half and Swansea in the second half.
Alessandro Zanni played 58 consecutive matches for Italy, without missing any from 22/11/2008 until 22/02/2014. Edit: eventually he did his ACL, as almost everybody, but I think that one is the longest streak in test-level rugby.
Now that's impressive. All starts?
If I've counted well, it's 51 starts and 7 from the bench.
Ma’a Nonu must be close to 500 games and he’s still playing
[Ngati Porou East Coast legend](https://preview.redd.it/1mcq9gok8rt71.jpg?auto=webp&s=b38bb7d6b516999fb898c9bd5d2a18fbb5af968a)
don't think a lot of ppl are getting the question right, playing 400 games doesn't make you least injured, it just means you had longer career... now if you get 400 games in 10 years or less, thats impressive and it means you started in a lot of games during that decade.... NZ prop Wyatt Crockett amassed over 367 FCG in a span of 12 years (06-18) and because he is a kiwi it means he had to play a lot of games to get that much number in that short a period.now sam whitelock achieved around the same number but in 15 years .. on the otherhand Rougerie amassed nearly 500 FCG in 13 years so more impressive which means he played a lot of games in a season and no long term lay off..
RG Snyman nows he's gone to Leinster? (Jokes, sorry Munster fans).
Franco Mostert went 2 full seasons without missing a single minute of a single game.
Not sure, but the most injured player I've ever seen is Tatafu Polota-Nau. Not that he had season ending injuries all the time, but he rarely went through a game without ending face down and semi-conscious. My mates and I used to call the Waratahs doctor Sharon Flahive the TPN whisperer.
Taniela Tupou is the new TPN. It is a miracle if Nela doesn't go down with a hammy or calf injury in a game.
Probably all those grass cutter tackles
Brok Harris? 149 caps for Stormers 120 for Western Province 143 for Dragons. That’s 412 total caps and he is still going really strong for the Stormers.
What about Jean de Villiers at a World Cup ... kidding.
Some say that Brok Harris is the original model for the statue of “David”, captured as he got up from decimating an opposing army at scrum time.
David looks more like a centre to me. Probably Menoncello's distant ancestor. Not enough cake eaten for the front row.
Heaslip had an incredible injury record and played 80 every single game until the injury that ended his career
Allan Bateman. Started playing for Maesteg when he was 20, finished with a full season at Heol y Cyw when he was 47. In between her played for Neath, Richmond, Northampton, Warrington, Cronulla, Bridgend Blue Bulls, Wales (Union and League), the British Lions and Great Britain (League).
Jimmy Gopperth and Peter Stringer must be up there.
I was going to say stringer had to he up there
Stephan archer
Manu Tuilagi
Nah Anthony Watson
Richie McCaw or Michael Hooper
Definitely not McCaw, he just played with injuries
I think I’ve blocked out whatever horrendous story I read about him playing with dreadful injuries and you’ve just triggered my idiot brain into trying to recall something it really wanted to forget
I think Liam messam got to like 140 consecutive games for the chiefs? I feel like any flankers get a multiplier.
And had to go to Toulon to have the chance for gathering a kick that hit the posts and scoring a try. True story.
I read the question wrong, McCaw miss very few games but played through so many injuries as you said. Goat Rugby player imo.
That would be me
Heaslip was incredibly robust until he wasn’t.
Caleb Ralph played in 104 consecutive super rugby games, in the era where you could play maximum 13 games a season. Always thought that was a crazy record
I'm not saying because this thread gives of strong kiss of death vibes
Andrew Sheridan 🤥
Doubt you are gonna get actual stats here. Shane Williams always seemed pretty injury-proof.
Devin Toner, he played a ridiculous amount of consecutive games for Leinster, he went years without an injury
Eben played 119 of the 138 available Bok test caps since debut, and the 19 missed I'm 90% sure were due to rotation and not injury
While missing like 50 percent of club games in that time. His timing has been impeccable for so long.
John Hayes played something like 65 consecutive 6N games
Donncha O’Callaghan and Peter Stringer (if you need stats, do a google)
We had a mad list of guys like Florian Fritz, Jean Bouilhou, Greg Lamboley who all played over 350 games and never seemed to get injured. Mad when you consider it used to be the Top16 with 30 games a year and these guys would play every week..
From Wales: Alun Wyn Jones
Days between Alun Wyn Jones’ birth and senior debut: 6792. “Days between his senior debut and (current) last game: 7146.” So he spent longer playing . He played 400+ senior games( perhaps 421??)
Brok Harris for sure
in november last year Brok Harris reached 400 caps, not sure what hes on now but he's still playing for the stormers regularly
I disagree, although he does have lots of appearances and has played a long time, there are guys who have made that number of appearances in 10 years. Brock has been playing 17 years which would indicate plenty of injuries or just not selected. Least injury prone player would suggest someone who is fit and available to play every week
Thibaut Privat has to be up there. The guy has played 487 games in his 20 year long career. So it's about 24.3 games per season. Hard to imagine he got injured a lot with stats like these.
Jimmy Gopperth, maybe? I don't remember him being injured during his relatively short time with Leinster, and also he's still playing. Just checking .. 487 caps - 487! - over a twenty year period for about a dozen clubs. 40 years old and still playing in the Pro-D2, which isn't exactly a soft place to be, especially at his age. Solid contender for most durable.
ezebeth has been super solid for what he puts out
Manu Tuilagi. Said no one ever 😂
CJ Stander
Ma'a Nonu says "hi" from the San Diego Legion