 Pichot will be one of the star scrum-halves in Australia |
Agustin Pichot is currently among the world's top scrum-halves, at the very heart of Argentine rugby as the climb the world rankings. At both club level, with Bristol, and internationally he has been one of the most creative forces in the game.
Here he sizes up his rivals at number one for the World Cup.
1 Joost van der Westhuizen (SA)
He is the number one scrum-half for me. Over history there may have been some better scrum-halves, but not during my career. There have been some world-class scrum-halves since I started playing, but none rates more highly than van der Westhuizen.
Even when South Africa have been playing poorly, he still manages to look good which, as a scrum-half, can be tricky.
He always seems to find the gap - the way to open up things from nothing.
He's suffering with a knee injury and won't be at his peak but he is the player I would most love to watch playing because he's so good.
2 George Gregan (Aus)
A lot of people talk about George Gregan as a top scrum-half, but his performance will really depend on the Australian pack. It's just the way the Wallabies play. If they play how they did in their opening two games of the Tri Nations, then we won't expect a lot from Gregan.
Australia's structure calls for continuity and, if that's broken up, everything falls apart.
But Gregan loves a quick game. He can break the line, kick and find space. On his day he is a very good player.
3 Matt Dawson (Eng)
If the England pack does the damage expected of them, Dawson will revel in it. Of course, that's only if he gets the nod ahead of Kyran Bracken. While Bracken is a great distributor of the ball and good at carrying forward England's momentum, Dawson relishes those breaks off the pack.
When England's forwards are at their destructive best, it creates a lot of space to run close to the ruck.
Once he infiltrates the opposition line, it sets England on their way and that's when they become the prolific side everyone knows they can be.
4 Fabien Galthie (Fra)
Galthie has been a great servant to the game. And he's in his last World Cup so will be aiming to prove a lot and make sure people remember him not just over his career but for the tournament in particular.
He is a good player but I'm still not sure how he will do in Australia.
He is a crucial link man between his forwards and the back division - as every scrum-half should be - and has a good brain for every aspect of the French game.
5 Justin Marshall (NZ)
As a rule, it's not good to bet against any New Zealand player, such is the form of the team. I cannot think of any player - well, not one that springs to mind immediately - who has played poorly for them recently.
Justin Marshall has been a solid performer for a long time but it's difficult to know whether that is merely a reflection of those around him.
He will still do very well for them - he's always reliable and rarely produces any glaring errors. On top of that, I like how he's playing at the moment.
MMIX
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