Rugby Players Bigger/Stronger Now

The Times & The Sunday Times

Quite interesting. It’s about time that a handful of rugby players started to at least APPROACH the power and athleticism that is standard among american football players. This guy does overstate the case a little though: Wilkinson and Lewsey are both about 190lb, for example.

Why should rugby players approach the power and athleticism of american football players it’s a comepletely different sport requiring different attributes.

[quote]JamFly wrote:
Why should rugby players approach the power and athleticism of american football players it’s a comepletely different sport requiring different attributes.[/quote]

How so? I thought that they were fairly similar, to a degree.

[quote]JamFly wrote:
Why should rugby players approach the power and athleticism of american football players it’s a comepletely different sport requiring different attributes.[/quote]

Exactly, there is a large endurance requirement to run out a rugby match. For this reason the top rugby players will never get remotely close to approaching the strength, power and speed of the top NFL players.

I can’t think of too many rugby players who are anywhere near as explosive as a guy like Devin Hester Devin Hester - YouTube

Here is an interesting article on the athletic requirements for the springboks

http://www.health24.com/fitness/Specific_Sports/16-2175-2176-2049,29985.asp

The vertical jump, bench and squat requirements are actually very low relative to what NFL players are typically capable of. Props for example only require a vertical jump of around 21.5 inches.

I think that this is largely due to the fact that training for endurance tends to greatly decrease your strength and power.

Those requirements for the boks are very low in my opinion, but then I suppose they are given as absolute minimums. However, I found an article a while ago stating the max strength levels of the England world cup winning team and they weren’t anything special - hardly exceeding those numbers. I’ll see if I can track it down.

Here’s another article predicting an increase in strength and power among rugby players: Leicester's giants draw strength from fitness guru in drive for treble | Rugby union | The Guardian

As people have said though, the endurance element of the game makes it unlikely there’ll be 240lb guys with 4.x sec 40 yard times.

[quote]wsk wrote:
Those requirements for the boks are very low in my opinion, but then I suppose they are given as absolute minimums. However, I found an article a while ago stating the max strength levels of the England world cup winning team and they weren’t anything special - hardly exceeding those numbers. I’ll see if I can track it down.
[/quote]

The article actually states that “If these standards applied in 2003, then half the national squad would not have been selected”.

There are a lot of fantastic athletes playing rugby. Many of the top wingers would likely be similar in strength and power to NFL running backs. Bryan Habana comes to mind.

5’10" about 200lbs, sub 11 second 100 meters.

The endurance factor is certainly different that American football, especially for the pack players. But, there are some studs there too. Pack players at the top level would be along the lines of NFL TEs/LBs.

Here is an article that I just got in my email today:

By GEOFF HOBSON
February 1, 2008

It turns out that Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones
is going to make a tackle
in the playoffs.

Not to mention a block. And maybe even a catch.

Never mind that it will be Saturday instead of
Sunday and it will be in
England instead of in Arizona and it will be
rugby instead of football.

It is the playoffs after what is being billed by
the English press as a
crash course at practice this week.

Blackheath, the world’s oldest open rugby club in
its 150th season, against
Launceston in the EDF Cup. And Blackheath coach
Harvey Biljon says Jones
will get about 10 minutes at flanker.

“Flanker is pretty similar to linebacker,” Jones
said Thursday night from
across the pond. “I’ll come back a better tackler
and a better person.
That’s the idea. To meet more people, experience
the culture and break down
stereotypes.”

[Full story at
Cincinnati Bengals News | Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals.com ]

In an interesting parallel(?), Martin Johnson
played football in the late
80’s as a TE for the Leicester Panthers and is
one of a number of rugby
players who have had interest shown in them by an
NFL team.

[quote]LA wrote:
There are a lot of fantastic athletes playing rugby. Many of the top wingers would likely be similar in strength and power to NFL running backs. Bryan Habana comes to mind.

5’10" about 200lbs, sub 11 second 100 meters.

The endurance factor is certainly different that American football, especially for the pack players. But, there are some studs there too. Pack players at the top level would be along the lines of NFL TEs/LBs.

Here is an article that I just got in my email today:

By GEOFF HOBSON
February 1, 2008

It turns out that Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones
is going to make a tackle
in the playoffs.

Not to mention a block. And maybe even a catch.

Never mind that it will be Saturday instead of
Sunday and it will be in
England instead of in Arizona and it will be
rugby instead of football.

It is the playoffs after what is being billed by
the English press as a
crash course at practice this week.

Blackheath, the world’s oldest open rugby club in
its 150th season, against
Launceston in the EDF Cup. And Blackheath coach
Harvey Biljon says Jones
will get about 10 minutes at flanker.

“Flanker is pretty similar to linebacker,” Jones
said Thursday night from
across the pond. “I’ll come back a better tackler
and a better person.
That’s the idea. To meet more people, experience
the culture and break down
stereotypes.”

[Full story at
Cincinnati Bengals News | Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals.com]

In an interesting parallel(?), Martin Johnson
played football in the late
80’s as a TE for the Leicester Panthers and is
one of a number of rugby
players who have had interest shown in them by an
NFL team.[/quote]

Jonah Lomu was another, Charlie Casserly scouted him at one point. How many international-caliber rugby players do you think could make it in the NFL? A dozen? Maybe double that?

Habana is great. Did you see him race the cheetah?

[quote]GDollars37 wrote:

Jonah Lomu was another, Charlie Casserly scouted him at one point. How many international-caliber rugby players do you think could make it in the NFL? A dozen? Maybe double that?[/quote]

Physically, in terms of strength and power, many of the high level rugby players would stand a chance.

I think that football skills would be more the limiting factor than physical attributes.

Then there is contact. Rugby contact and football contact are two different things entirely. The helmet/shoulder pads are every bit as much weapons as they are protection. There aren’t as many “woo hits” in rugby, because guys don’t lead with the head. Also, guys don’t get hit while airborne as much in rugby.

guys don’t get hit while airborne as much in rugby because it’s against the rules

rugby players obviously would never reach the strength or power as a blocker in the NFL, but at the same time a blocker in the NFL wouldn’t last 2 minutes in a rugby game, i can’t even see him making more then 2 phases.

they are two completely different sports

[quote]LA wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:

Jonah Lomu was another, Charlie Casserly scouted him at one point. How many international-caliber rugby players do you think could make it in the NFL? A dozen? Maybe double that?

Physically, in terms of strength and power, many of the high level rugby players would stand a chance.

I think that football skills would be more the limiting factor than physical attributes.

Then there is contact. Rugby contact and football contact are two different things entirely. The helmet/shoulder pads are every bit as much weapons as they are protection. There aren’t as many “woo hits” in rugby, because guys don’t lead with the head. Also, guys don’t get hit while airborne as much in rugby.

[/quote]

Agreed, I’ve played both sports at a very low level. But I’ve watched a lot more NFL and NCAA football than I have test rugby. I’m curious how many rugby players have the athleticism to play in the NFL. I could easily be wrong, but it doesn’t seem to me like there’s more than a few players on each good international team (England, France, South Africa, New Zealand, etc.) who could handle the NFL.

[quote]darraghoconaill wrote:
guys don’t get hit while airborne as much in rugby because it’s against the rules

[/quote]

It’s against the rules when taking a kick and line out jumps… in open play (a runner jumping over someone, getting cleaned) I don’t think it is a penalty, but it doesn’t happen much…

They wouldn’t handle the NFL because they haven’t trained for the NFL. Likewise very few of the ‘big men’ playing NFL would last too long when playing 80 minutes without lots and lots of stops to catch their breath.

Two very different sports.

The original article - more Tait hate. 14st 4lbs too light? Yeah, there’s no guys under 200lbs playing international rugby, one definitely did not take the man of the match award in the Scotland France game today.

Rugby Players are getting bigger and stronger in the last 100 years,so whats a big deal?
Its just an sport evolution.

[quote]LA wrote:

It’s against the rules when taking a kick and line out jumps… in open play (a runner jumping over someone, getting cleaned) I don’t think it is a penalty, but it doesn’t happen much… [/quote]

i don’t really understand what you are saying, but i can guarantee it is in no situation legal to tackle or make any contact with someone of the opposing team while they are airborne in rugby. be it open play, lineout, ruck, whatever.

[quote]darraghoconaill wrote:
LA wrote:

It’s against the rules when taking a kick and line out jumps… in open play (a runner jumping over someone, getting cleaned) I don’t think it is a penalty, but it doesn’t happen much…

i don’t really understand what you are saying, but i can guarantee it is in no situation legal to tackle or make any contact with someone of the opposing team while they are airborne in rugby. be it open play, lineout, ruck, whatever.
[/quote]

OK… what I meant was that I knew that when a player is catching a kick or line out, tackling them while airborne was illegal. But I wasn’t sure that tackling an airborne runner, who jumped for whatever reason, was illegal.

Andrew Sheridan can bench press around 500lbs and squat 600, according to Ash Jones at www.getstrength.com there are a few players in nz that can squat 300kg or 660lbs. The norm for international props seems to be around a 400lb bench and a 550lb squat. Obviously strength/explosiveness is more important in NFL than Rugby because of the short stop start nature of the game opposed to the continous nature of rugby. There seems to be alot of negativity about Rugby players not being strong enough for NFL and NFL players not being fit enough for Rugby. They are different sports, Rugby players are conditoned for Rugby, NFL players for NFL. Its like saying that soccer players aren’t big/strong enough to play rugby, its stupid, international rugby players are incredibly well conditioned for there sport

[quote]jbishop wrote:
Andrew Sheridan can bench press around 500lbs and squat 600, according to Ash Jones at www.getstrength.com there are a few players in nz that can squat 300kg or 660lbs. The norm for international props seems to be around a 400lb bench and a 550lb squat. Obviously strength/explosiveness is more important in NFL than Rugby because of the short stop start nature of the game opposed to the continous nature of rugby. There seems to be alot of negativity about Rugby players not being strong enough for NFL and NFL players not being fit enough for Rugby. They are different sports, Rugby players are conditoned for Rugby, NFL players for NFL. Its like saying that soccer players aren’t big/strong enough to play rugby, its stupid, international rugby players are incredibly well conditioned for there sport[/quote]

Both NFL and international-level Rugby players are supreme athletic beasts beyond any critic IMO.