Rugby union fans who say the modern game is being dominated more and more by heftier iron pumping players can point to scientific evidence to back their case.
Teams with the tallest backs and heaviest forwards are the likeliest to win the World Cup, according to a study by French researchers published on Tuesday.
Adrien Sedeaud of the Institute of Sports Biomedicine and Epidemiology in Paris collected data for the age, weight and height for 2,692 players who took part in World Cup matches between 1987 and 2007, and compared this with their team’s performance.
The players were divided into 1,457 (numbers one to eight) forwards and 1,235 (nine to 15) backs.
Throughout the 20-year period under study, the weight of all players progressively increased by more than 6.6 kilograms.
In height, forwards were 0.6 centimetres taller over 20 years, and backs 1.09 cms.
But the difference was startling among the teams that reached the quarters, semis and finals.
On average, forwards and backs among these high-performing sides were some two kilos more than the other teams.
Their backs were taller by around two centimetres (0.8 inches), although there was little height difference among forwards.
Bigger did not mean fatter, though. A more intense training regimen and rigourous nutritional regimen led to more muscle, for speed and strength, over the two decades.
The change in size began with the advent of professionalism in 1995, which created a more high-intensity sport with more rucks, mauls and tackles per game among its forwards, says the paper.
Yet the more mobile game has also required greater endurance and speed among its backs, it says.
“The maximisation of builds and the quest for ‘supersizes’ are inherent to international-level rugby as in other sports,” it says.
The 2011 World Cup, which is not covered in the study, had a final with two teams that were almost identical in terms of pack weight.
France’s forwards weighed 903 kilos, and New Zealand’s 902 kilos. New Zealand edged France by a single point, 8-7.
Even so, size is not everything.
Winning teams also had more collective experience among their forwards, determined as the percentage of players who had played in previous World Cups. In teams who hoisted the trophy, this was nearly 40 per cent, compared with under 32 per cent for other teams.
“Collective experience of forwards gives a clear advantage during phases of collective combat,” says the paper, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “The art of working together, sharing the action either on offence or defence, is the essence of rugby.”
Only four teams — New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England — have ever won the global trophy, an elite group that indicates that there are intangible factors in success, says Sedeaud.
“Winning teams in a Rugby World Cup may also owe their victory to their nation’s economic, historical, political and technological investment in this sport.”
Jean-Pierre LeGuerre
Guest
"mace 22 said | February 24th 2012 @ 1:13am | Report comment yes your correct their google. But that is the great thing about rugby their is a playing position for every body type. Their will always be need of small, quick ,nimble players, but the players you mention are the exceptions not the rule." Mace - your thinking there is increasingly out of date. I can't perhaps speak for Australia, but European rugby is dominated by giants nowadays. There are quite simply almost no small guys left playing at a professional level, so when a shane williams etc appears (rarely) everyone talks about it. Young kids are failing to win professional contracts (or even academy contracts) because they are deemdd 'too small' and giant outside backs are becoming the norm (wales) as are 1.94m half backs (wales, ireland). Rugby League in Europe for long sneered at by rugby union fans as '13 loose forwards' etc, at least offers small guys a chance if they are good enough. Little blokes like Rob burrow are running around in SuperLeague (also Sean Long etc) and tellingly, the manager of the Crusaders RL team in Wales explained that they are inundated by requests for trials from young welsh kids discarded from the rugby union academies at 16/17 having been told they are too small. This myth that rugby has a "...playing position for every body type" is just that - a myth. (At the pro level at least. ) Fat blokes can still waddle round the local park, but please stop swallowing the media bull that top level rugby is still played by skinny blokes, short blokes, fat blokes. there are 1 or 2.... but they are a dying breed, and almost extinct. (Sadly).
mace 22
Guest
yes your correct their google. But that is the great thing about rugby their is a playing position for every body type. Their will always be need of small, quick ,nimble players, but the players you mention are the exceptions not the rule.
google
Guest
Not all doom and gloom, James Oconnor, Mat Gitaeu, Kurtly Beale, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie, Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili, Brent russel, Shane Williams, Tim Nani Williams, even fat guys like Piri Weepu can still play at the highest level
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
In America so obsessed with Girdiron are parents that they hold back their children from school so that they will be bigger than the rivals in their year: I wonder how long before the first genetically engineered sportsman? :-) Perhaps one day there will be 30 Frankensteins running around on a rugby pitch.
Johnno
Guest
I agree Tisot time i will read it, sports science and genetics interest me a lot too. Rupeni Thau had it in spades as well explosive power. Melanysian people are very strong too. Radike Samo especially a young Radike Samo is one of the most naturally talented rugby players i have seen , when he was at the brumbies some of the tries and a man of his pace and explosive power unbelievable. Other fijians Noa Nadruku, and joeli Vidiri , Lote Tiquri, and rupeni Thau Thau, and the little master Walse serevi amazing rugby players Fijians, and melanasian people too like the Poylnesians. Dutch are also very tall and heavy boned explains why springboks good. And georgians are a very strong race of people, great scrummagers the georgians as are the romanians. Lithuania apparently is the tallest race off people and rugby is getting bigger in lithuania so look out rugby world. Lithuania one of the top 5 basketball nations in world basketball, and winners of Olympic medals.
Tissot Time
Guest
Gary, hybrid vigour has been well known in agricultural, horticultral and horse breeding circles for a long time. Iceman Michael Jones would be an example in rugby where the two distinctly different gene pools of his parents (Polynesian / European) have resulted in an enhanced superior offspring. The Brazilian melting pot with the diverse ethnic origins of its people is another example relevant in he sporting context.
mania
Guest
tissot i agree with u, KPM not so much
mania
Guest
cullen could bench 160 kgs and weighed about 75kgs. only normHewitt could bench more than cullen but cullen said it wasnt fair because norm had a huge chest and short arms so didnt have to lift it as far.
Tissot Time
Guest
Johno if you get a chance to get read a copy of Philip Houghton's book People of the Great Ocean alot of what you ask will be explained. Houghton was an anatomist at Otago University and a tutor of mine many years ago and a great bloke. Speed and endurance relate to different muscle fibre twitching speeds. The following old (still relevant) article titled Lomu and Polynesian Power Packs summarises the issues. Habana is a product of his muscular twitch as too Evans and Armstrong. http://www.silkassociates.com/information.php?info_id=8%3E
Gary Russell-Sharam
Guest
I attended a sportsman's dinner at Wests Rugby in Brisbane a few years ago and the head scientist for the cattle industry Australia was the guest speaker (he was a past player from the 60s) He was an expert in genetics and he espoused the theory that we are evolving genetically because of necessity, he also mention the inter breeding with Polynesian races to NZ races so that we now see a much bigger All Black than we did 30 to 40 years ago. It was one of the most interesting of subjects to hear at a rugby dinner and seemed quite logical in it's point. There is no doubt that size does matter when at the top end of the scale, most coaches will go for the big bloke rather than the little bloke given they have the same talent pool.
Johnno
Guest
True KPM too true mate. SIze i think can be over rated at the elite level, coz by that stage the smaller guys are less intimidated and punned for pound are still very strong. JOC is apparently one of the strongest men in the wallabies squad. ANd christian cullen apparently was the strongest or weight to height ratio the biggest bench presser or the strongest man in the All Black's squad. Cullen had such explosive speed and strength, as did sivivatu.
Johnno
Guest
What about hand eye co-ordination, cardio and muscular endurance, explosive speed surely speed like Habana has value. And endurance why don't we see cadel evan's and lance armstrong's of this world. Dave Pocock seems to have it all especially endurance man id love to know dave pocock's resitng heart rate, he has lots of natural endurance.
Markus
Guest
So in essence, success can be heavily attributed to a team's size, strength and collective experience at the highest level of the sport? Whoda thunk it.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Johnno in fact the Wallabies backline would suggest that size is a luxury not given to everyone!
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Hoy I know nothing about this, but I think part of the change is diet, part that species slowly increase in size. For example if you ever land in an airport in Spain you'll find hoardes of middle aged midget taxi drivers waiting for you: going to a bar in the evening however the young generation are about double the size. This is because of eating meat and eating properly all year round: the same is true in the south of Italy. The older generations were not able to do it. However, even in places where undernourishment wasn't an issue, we have been getting bigger.
Tissot Time
Guest
Hoy and Mania, Darwin's Origin of the Species Treatise deals with the evolution of species as an advatptive response to survival in a particular environment. That is no better seen in the many Polynesians who play the rugby codes and more recently NFL. These Island peoples had to endure ocean voyages of great distances over many months and the fittest and strongest survived were selected out. A negative from this evolution is that Polynesians have a greater predisposition to develop diabetes and hypertension, as a requirement to store fat for these long voyages would have been beneficial but in a more sedentary lifestyle with a significantly different diet this adaptation is not necessarily required.
Hoy
Roar Guru
Obviously the more weights would be the cause of heavier players etc, but I would also say that generations are getting taller naturally perhaps? They say that the world wars put human growth evolution backwards because everyone in a certain height and weight range was drafted, and so as they died in the war, countries lost that generation of breeding. It stunted population growth, if you will pardon the pun. Over twenty years you would see the next generation coming along and growing. Just a thought on height anyway.
mania
Guest
stats like these by themselves dont tell the whole story. more analysis needs to be done. brains will always beat brawn http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/6456754/Moneyballs-mantra-helped-ABs-win-World-Cup
Johnno
Guest
Wales wingers : both 6'4 george north, and the new winger who was not at world cup is 6'6. France winger: rouagrie who is playing centre now is 6'4 , another new french winger is massive too, they had a centre who didn't play int eh world cup who was 6'6. Matt Banaghan is 6'7 he plays wing or centre for england. So much for Jonah Lomu being one of a kind. Radike Smao had a game in the world cup vs russia he is 6'5 our wallaby no 8. SBW is 6'3, robbie freun and richard kahui are big men too. Greg Inglis rugby league player is 6'5. Maybe the wallabies should get Inglis he would be handy, as would Uate from Newcastle big and fast and strong. And big Jamal Idris has a rugby background too. So a lot of big men too, and the Tuilagi brothers are big men as well. But Digby Ioane is not that tall and he is a powerhouse, of Samoan heritage is Wallaby Digby.