Remember the rule of thumb for picking up sides at school? If you were big you were a forward, if you were small you went to the backs and if you were really tiny then you were a half-back like me. No longer, I’ll bet.
We all know that rugby players, like other members of our race are getting bigger and bigger, but it’s among the backs that the difference really shows and in some teams the size is truly marked. Take the Wales backs who started against Ireland last Sunday and from No9 to No14 no one was under 6ft 1in – that’s 1.86metres in new money – and no one was lighter than just over 15st or 105kg, which gave us an advantage of eight kilo per man over the six Irish guys in the same position.
Don’t get me wrong. There are some very good players who are not giants – guys such as Vincent Clerc, the France and Toulouse wing at 5ft 10in, and Dimitri Yachvili, also of France, who must have the thinnest legs in Test rugby but still kicks the ball a mile – but increasingly bigger seems to equate with better, even if it’s a bit simplistic to say so.
Warren Gatland reckons that to be a Test player you have to tick two of three boxes – be big, be fast or be skilful, Either that or you have to have an X factor such as iron-willed determination or the ability to land 90% of your pots at goal from anywhere on the field. Run the rule over the guys playing in the Six Nations and you’ll see what he means, but the most striking statistic I know is that the 2005 All Blacks were on average 15 kilo a man heavier than the guys who represented New Zealand 12 years earlier.
Why? Well, we’re all getting bigger, but the demands of modern, professional rugby are adding to what mother nature is doing by herself. Guys are in the gym adding muscle to already well-muscled and big bodies, eating huge quantities to fuel their engines.
The rule is eat moderately, but often. When we were in Gdansk preparing for the Six Nations, the guys were eating five times a day and drinking protein shakes which are like another meal. I guess that’s probably like eating seven times a day and there are always sandwiches around for those who need tiding over. For those like the coaches, who were not burning up the calories it was a grave threat to the waistline.
There are clearly guys who buck the trend. Jason Robinson was tiny by modern standards, standing a mere 5ft 8in, Shane Williams, recently retired, was 5ft 7in, and Chris Ashton is 6ft, which seems pretty modest these days, but all three have had something extra, that X factor which Warren talks about.
Otherwise, it seems to be the big men who are catching the eye, guys
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