The Cult of Size in International and Elite Rugby Union

Is the cult of size playing havoc with the game of rugby union? Is the obsession with weight training, muscle and mass, and body weight removing from the game all those players who brought flair, creativity, and inventiveness to the back row of a pack or the midfield of a back division?

Where is the talent once on view in our own North West area from diminutive, sidestepping England RU halves, Bev Risman, Tom Brophy, John Horton and company? Would there be any place in an England RU team today for the likes of a Richard Sharp or a Malcolm Phillips, neither blessed with size, but both the possessors of blistering pace off the mark and an all evading swerve? What price a place for the likes of me in the second row of an England pack at a mere 16 st and 6ft 3ins? Wales today have a scrum half as big as me! Or where a place for former England and Wales flankers Budge Rogers and Hayden Morgan of even less weight and size but with excellent running and ball handling skills?

Will we ever see another with the size and style of Barry John, Jonathan Davies, Phil Bennett, or David Watkins lining up in a red jersey for Wales? Doubtful.

In a recent international clash between Wales and Fiji two centres, Jamie Roberts and Nemani Nadolo, weighing 17st 4lbs and 19st 10lbs and standing at 6ft 4ins and 6ft 5ins marked each other in midfield. Thanks to body building and special diets international prop forwards are tipping the scales over 19st while we have second rows standing well above them at 6ft 8ins and upwards.

Is the power, sheer muscle, and size of the modern union player not taking over from the balanced running, pace, swerve, sidestep, clever handling, and the feint of less muscular entertainers of yesteryear? Yes, if what I was told by the coaches of both the Wales and Ireland Rugby League teams, following their recent hugely entertaining clash at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, is correct.

Querying the number of powerful rugby union playing schools, and both the amateur union and league clubs from which the bulk of the 13 a side players had graduated in both Wales and Ireland, I was told that one strong reason for many of the players adopting the League game was because they felt they did not have the physical size or power to progress in Union but had the handling and running skills to enjoy League whatever their strength or physique.

Worth a thought, surely?  

Ray French, November 2014.