EVER SINCE the game of rugby union turned professional some 14 years ago, the physicality of the sport has been one of the more prominent areas which has undergone monumental change. The shape, size and body compositions of players have all developed as a result of an exaggerated emphasis on power and strength apparent at all levels of the game. As members of the rugby community, we are forgetting that the brain is the biggest muscle in the body, and this is what needs to be developed if we aim to make the game more of a spectacle.
Jonah Lomu is considered the first man to break the mould when he turned out on the wing for New Zealand in the mid 1990s. The rugby world had never seen anything like it before; a man associated with the stature of a forward was able to match his physical presence with devastating attacking displays. It breathed new life into the game, at a time when there were fears for its one-dimensional future. In the post Lomu-era we have seen the rise of similar types of players in the form of Alesana Tuilagi, Lote Tuqiri, and more recently, Matt Banaham of Bath. But the question we need to pose to ourselves is whether there is room for the smaller man?
MACHO MAN…Jonah Lomu was a catalyst for the changing views in Rugby
Skill will always be king; that rule of thumb relates to all sports. It is not just a philosophy, it is a necessity. Producing gym-honed battering rams will be detrimental to a sport that has been well supported for over a hundred years. It is not only the spectacle of the game that will be damaged, but more importantly the health of the players. I am no expert, but the concept of ‘constructing’ a player, the idea of developing a player beyond his natural size, will surely have its side effects.
Any such side effects are unknown at this stage but experts have pointed the finger at arthritic conditions as one of many problems that this generation of players will face in years to come. The existence of figures like Brian Ashton, who stands by the view that the player himself carries the most importance, are crucial in the improvement of the game. However, he is one of few coaches found on the circuit that follows this line of thought due to the highly pressurized results-based industry of professional sport.
Recent research undertaken on rugby players’ weight concluded with a staggering statistic and one which really places great emphasis on the magnitude of the issue. It stated that since the game turned professional, each position in rugby has gained an average of 2kg every single year, which equates to nearly 30kg in total. This is inevitably set to continue and simply pose an even greater stress on the bodies of the players.
Kingsley Jones of Sale is one man who is a firm believer in training for rugby rather than building a team of ‘gym monkeys’. He has insisted that his new conditioning coach continues to concentrate on rugby skills rather than becoming immersed in weight training. It is these sorts of steps that need to be pushed by the governing bodies of the sport in order to make rugby union sustainable in the professional era.
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