OK, Here comes another epic length post no one will read but now at least when someone asks "how big are rugby players", I can link this.


After reading this it's pretty Southern-Hemisphere biased in terms of players I highlight, but that is probably because the Northern Hemisphere sucks balls. I mean, win a world cup... or at least get in the top three...

Also, if you are wondering why I mentioned player "X" and not player "Y" for a certain position, I was kind of just picking combinations of players I like and players I thought were fairly typical (size-wize) of that position. Feel free to make suggestions.

The players are divided into "forwards" and "backs". Traditionally the forwards are the big guys that do the rough stuff and the backs are the small guys that make the highlight reals, score the points and teh laaayyydeeeez!

Forwards

Front Row
Consists of a "tight head prop" a "loose head prop" and a "hooker".

Three players that pack into the front of the scrum. Probably the guys with the most raw strenngth in the team as they are the point of contact between five of their team-mates pusing from behind and eight opposition forwards pushing from in front.

To be honest, I know little about playing in these three positions. I am lead to believe there is a lot of technical nuiances in the front row of the scrum... So while these guys need to be big and strong, and backs (like me ) just think they are big, dumb, slow guys, skill can make a big difference between "really good" and "world class".

Some current notable front rowers. You can see they usually want to be quite short but quite heavy and strong as they need to get low to the ground for better pushing in the scrum.

As I said, the front row isn'y my forte, so I'm just going to chuck some players in here that I like. They're all internationals, just maybe not the super best-of-the-best.

e.g. The first guy usually starts from the bench for SA, but I included him cause he is a bit of a cult figure. Nicknamed "Beast" and every time he touches the ball the whole stadium (supporters from both sides) give a gutteral roar of "BEEEAAAASSSTTT". It's very lol

Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa). 6'2" / 255.
Adam Jones (Wales). 6'0" / 280.
Neemia Tialata (New Zealand). 6"2 / 280
Australia's scrum sucks and f*ck England

Second Row
Also called "Locks"

While these two guys also pack in the scrum, they are usually the tallest guys on the team because one of their specific roles (even though anyone is allowed) is jumping for the ball in the "line-out".

The "Line-out" is when the ball goes out of play, one player (incidentally it is one of the front rowers) has to throw the ball in, perpendicular to the sideline allowing both sides to contest the ball.

Obviously over time this has evolved so that now it is most common for the throw in to be an overhead throw and the throwing side has different patters/formations to receive the ball while the defending team obviously tries to disrupt/intercept the throw. It's hard to explain... Here's a picture.

http://www.rugbyinasia.com/UserFiles...a-line-out.jpg

Victor Matfield (South Africa). 6'6 1/2". 240lbs.
Bakkies Botha (South Africa). 6'7 1/2". 255lbs
John Eales (Australia). 6' 6 1/2". 253lbs
God of Australian rugby and included here cause he played his club rugby for my club!

These first two guys pretty much own the world in line outs atm (I'm sure the fact that they can call all their plays in Afrikans and no one can understand that sh*t helps), so much so that some teams adjust their whole stratagy against South Africa such that they won't let the ball go out of play (despite sometimes conceeding a positional advantage) so that they don't have to contest a line-out which they will probably lose.

Victor is a God in SA (and highly respected by the rest of world rugby, Bakkies is infamous for being a dirty player (if there is a fight, he is ususally the instigator... notourious eye-gouger so he def makes the cut for the global sport showdown fight )... they are like the ultimate ying-yang and pwn.

I think they are a fairly good representation of the physical size of players in this position too.


Loose Forwards
Two "flankers" and one "Number 8". I always wished I was a loose forward, these are the coolest positions.

The flankers main role is winning the ball on the ground once a tackle is made.

I'm sure you have all seen the "rucks" and "mauls" in rugby where it just looks like a whole bunch of sweaty fat dudes grappling for a ball... well, it is kind like that... but...

The law of the game is that you (offense and defense) can only play the ball on the ground if you are on your feet. So you can imagine these guys want to get to the "break-down (i.e. where the tackle is made) as quickly as possible as to establish a dominate position with a low centre of gravity to allow them to either secure the ball themselves, or play it back to a team mate.

They need to be strong (because they are fighting for the ball) and fit as sh*t because there are only two of them and you idealy want one at every single tackle in offense and defense.

They also need to be strong because if the aren't able to establish a dominate position at the breakdown (i.e. they don't get their first), they are going to need to either sumo-style push some big fat dude away from the ball, or maybe litterally drag him out so that they (or their team mates) can get at the ball.

Flankers
George Smith (Australia). 5'11". 230lbs.
Richie McCaw (New Zealand). 6' 1 1/2". 233lbs.
Heinrich Brusso (South Africa). 5'10". 220lbs.

Number 8s
These guys are often some of the biggest guys on the team. Usually very powerful. Usually used for making big hit-ups (read: battering ram in offense)

Wycliff Palu (Australia). 6' 4". 265lbs.
Pierre Spies (South Africa). 6' 4 1/2". 245lbs.
Spies is a machine. I have a feeling he was once a hurdler and wiki claims he has a PB 10.7s 100m, a 55" box jump and can do 110lb weighted pull-ups.

Backs

Traditionally the little fast guys who score the points after the forwards get the team into a good attacking position. Although (certainly in some positions) it is becomming more common for these guys to be more of a bigger/powerful type player than a smaller/agile type player.

Half-back
Traditionally (and still most commonly today) the smallest guy on the team. Their primary role is to have a sick pass. They have to be fit because they have to get to every single breakdown because when the ball comes out, they are the one expected to execute the pass to clear the break down for the next phase of play. They feed the ball into the scrum and again, receive the ball when the scrum is won to make a clearing pass.

For these guys strength/power/speed is good, but not as important as good skills. In the modern game they also do a lot of short-ranged kicking.

Incidentally, these guys can often have the best strength:weight ratio on the team because they are often small.

Fourie du Preez (South Africa). 5' 10". 195lbs.
Will Genia (Australia). 5' 9" (Didn't list weight on wiki, but I'm fairly sure I've read he is around 185-190).

Five-Eight
Similar to the half-back, mad skills are more important for these guys than heaps of strength/power/speed - they are bonuses.

These guys run the show, call the plays, read the game and create the scoring plays in attack.

They almost always do a lot of the tactical kicking (punting) and Often do the goal kicking.

A world class five-eight is often the difference between winning and losing.


They are usually small and tbh they are generally terrible in defense and attacking teams often try and target them while the defending team usually tries to use one of their flankers to "protect" the weak point in defense.


Dan Carter (New Zealand). 5' 10 1/2". 200lbs
Matt Giteau (Australia). 5' 10". 187lbs.
These two kind of dominate the world at the moment in terms of creative, or attacking five-eights. There is also another style of five eights who are just incredible kickers. Can boot the ball out of the park and can land penalty goals and field goals from inside their own half.

These guys usually aren't very creative or attacking and are probably even worse defenders as I'm sure they spend their entire lives perfecting their kick.

Morne Steyn (South Africa). 6'. 200lbs.
Johnny Wilkinson (England). 5' 10". 193lbs.
These two guys have got to be the best ever fly-halfs for being crap at everything but kicking and being f*cking awesome at kicking (although Wilkinson's range wasn't really awesome).

For these guys physical stats doesn't even matter, they never do anything but kick and maybe slow down some forward running at them because they are the obvious weak point in defense.

Inside-centre
This is where the line between "traditional" small/agile backs and more modern "big/powerful" backs starts to blur.

Often this position will change in the team depending on their oposition and it is usually a choice between a smaller, more creative or attacking player who can act a bit like an secondary five-eith vs a more powerful, running player who can bust holes in the defense.

In fact, often inside centres play five-eight position for their club teams.

"Creative" inside-centres
Berrick Barnes (Australia). 6'0 0". 191lbs.
Quade Cooper (Australia). 6'1". 202lbs.

"Powerful" inside centres.
Ma'a Nonu (New Zealand). 5' 11 1/2". 228lbs.


Outside-centre
This is where the the "small guys" have all but become extinct by the bigger, more powerful running players.

The bigger guys might lack a little speed, but in most cases it is made up by the fact that they can run through defensive lines and if they get isolated in defense against a wide running forward, they can hold their own.

Stirling Mortlock (Australia). 6' 3". 231lbs.
Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia). 6' 0". 215lbs

The "Back three"
Full back and two wingers.


Wingers were (and usually) still are the fastest guys on the team. As such, in the past, they were traditionally the smallest too. Although now, they are often being replaced by bigger, more powerful guys.

It's fairly common now to see a back three combination of a fullback who is an excellent kicker, a winger who is a decent kicker and a winger who is a bigger, more running player so that they have all three option in a kick-return scenario.


I guess they are a bit like the inside-centre in that regard. If you chose a small guy, he better be f*cking fast or have a really good kick. Bigger guys can get away with having a little less kicking skill as they will usually be able to pass back to the full-back should a kick be required rather than a running return.

Its also common for a player to play both wing and full back, even switching throughout the course of the game. Some of these guys I listed here can play both wing and full-back equally well, some only play one position. Some of them also play wing/full-back, wing/outside-centre or fullback/out-side centre.


Digby Ioane (Australia) 5'10". 205lbs
Shane Williams (Wales). 5'7". 176lbs.
Bryan Habana (South Africa). 5' 10 1/2". 206lbs.
Sitiveni Siviatu (New Zealand). 6' 1". 213lbs.
Francois Steyn (South Africa). 6'3". 220lbs.
Drew Mitchell (Australia). 6'0". 202lbs.

Feel free to ask any questions.

How big are rugby players?

I made a post about it here.

I've been asked to (learn to) prop for our college team next year (college=part of a university, about 400 people). I weigh 80kg, and squat/dl 135/175kg. What do you think my chances of ever becoming a half decent prop are? I normally play flanker now, sometimes prop (uncontested) if we have no front row replacement.

Interesting post. Agree with pretty much everything but...

Maybe I've been baited here but...really?

And I just have to call you out on this...

Wilkinson is/was reknowned for being a rock in defence. I believe he was even told to chill out a bit to prolong his career, you know how delicate he is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tAi0...eature=related

Invictus was pretty good. And the All Black's dance thing is cool.

makes you realize how much of a freak jonah lomu was - 6'5", 254lbs, and fast enough to beat other wings without always having to smash them. fun times.

At 6'0 185lbs I was probably the smallest adult 8-man in the history of rugby. The one game I played there was pretty awful.

Being a flanker rules. Being a wing sucks ass unless the other backs have good hands.

Also: half-back= scrum half. 5/8 = fly half. I assume these are northern hemisphere names?

tankleton is right about wilkinson being able to defend, and he wasn't completely terrible as a runner/distributer, just not nearly as good as his kicking.

also, it doesn't really make a difference but just for the record it's five-eighths, not five-eights. it's a fraction.

Well, you asked about the position I probably know the least about.

I think it depends on a couple of things imo...

Most importantly, what sort of level is it? I mean, if it is low level you'll likely not have any problems. At the lowest level no one is going to have really good scrumming skills so you can probably get up to a nearly equal standard quickly.

If however your opposition (and your own front row) are already much more experienced and have had good scrum coaching you will likely be a week point and get dominated, as will the rest of your scrum.

If you are asking if I think it will help if you weigh more, I would say "yes" for sure, but I'm thinking that learning the skills will be harder than gaining the weight and strength (provided your season doesn't start next month obv ).

I say this because when I hear our front row talking about how the owned some dude in the scrum, I'm like "wot"? And when I'm watching a game with front rowers at the scrum they're all like "zomg! check out what he just did!" and I'm like "Ohhhh... yeah... nice".

If you are in fact more worried about your weight/strength. I don't think there could be much better for front rowers than eating lots. Deadlifts, squats and presses. Maybe some other PC things like cleans. And probably things like sled pushes and tire flips. Actually, those things are all probably pretty good for flankers too.

Yah, it was more of a troll than anything, but that said, it is true that there are no northern hemisphere teams in the top three world teams right now. And while England and France have had pleanty of 2nd places, England is the only Northern hemisphere team to win the cup and only once.


But yeah Aussies just hate England/Johnny, that's all. You're right, his defense was ok (as are some of the others I sort of just lumped in with the small-creative but weak defenders, like Berrick Barnes) although I maintain wilkinson's playmaking sucked.

Haven't seen it yet which is much T_T and lolBrazilianMoviesaments.

Youtube "all blacks haka" for some more coolness.

This was probably the coolest one, mostly because the Tonga's response we totally unexpected... All of a sudden the crowd just start going spastic and the camera men are like. lol wot?

But yeah, the all blacks hakas are sweet.

And... for the sake of completness, "the" haka is actually "a" haka, being that a haka is a style of dance traditionaly used by the maori and have different meanings depending on the actual haka performed...

I think they are mostly about scary the enemy, getting pumped up for battle and sh*t, but I have a feeling they also have like "celebration" hakas and entertainment hakas and things welcoming hakas and things like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka

This. I actually credit Lomu with starting a real shift towards bigger, running outside backs from the small, agile outside backs.

Love this try from Lomu and French anouncers are fkn rofl lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvR8CsGcwyQ

Much praise in Invictus is given to a character on the All Blacks that is shown immediately on that video - the enormous looking Maori guy. Do you know who that is, and what his height/weight stats are? I imagine he must be one of the strongest rugby players on Earth.

tankleton . . . are you the tankleton i know? im tmcd obviously.

he is the jonah lomu mentioned ITT

at his peak yes whole teams basically spent their entire energy containing him. since then rugby players have made massive progress in being ****ing beasts, but he is probably the most physically dominant player in his time ever.

oic, makes sense

Hrrrmmm, you're right. I should have explained that different hemispheres and even different countries call the positions different names...

In Australia and New Zealand, we usually say half-back. I think South Africa and the rest of the world usually say scrum-half.

The second rowers are also known as "locks".

I have a feeling the Number 8 has a different name in South Africa...

Everyone uses different names for the five-eighth... fly-half, some people just say number 10 and also first-five in New Zealand and hence the inside centre becomes the second-five in New Zealand.

Flankers are sometimes called "break-aways" because they leave the scrum first.

I think they are the most common names, but there is a whole lot of the position names and what countries call them what here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_positions

If you're nitting my typo, shame on you.

But this is correct. The name is the fraction (although if we are in fact nitting I'm fairly sure it is usually said as "five eighth" sans the "s"). The significance is that 5/8 is half way between 1/2 (half-back) and the 3/4 (which is what they used to call the wings)... kind of lol.

I haven't seen Invictus and I have been trying to avoid as much information about it as possible, but it's about the '95 world cup, yes?

If that is true then what tmcdmck said is likely true because Lomu really made his impact on the world in the '95 world cup. It was his first world cup.

Then in '99 he set the record of 8 tries in a world cup which has only been equalled in '07 by Bryan Habana.

Yes, it's about the 1995 World Cup.

Cool.

Also, I just checked his wiki again, I totally forgot that he entered a body building comp after he retired from rugby. He also claimed that before entering the comp he hand't lifted a weight since he was 19...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_lomu

lulz

Also, iirc... I remember something about him competing in those competitions where you try and get a really loud car stero... fkn kiwis...

Good movie, its hard to do rugby in a film. I particularly enjoyed the ref who used diving over gesture for any penalty. I wish they showed some real Lomu/Haka clips as they cant be reproduced.

After the 95 world cup the professional era took off and now there a lot of freaky athletes out there, harder to dominate like he did.