by Declan Jordan
This post is prompted by a conversation with colleagues on the changes in some sports over the years and whether players are now "better". It was generally agreed that it most contact sports players are getting bigger and fitter. I was reminded of a comment by George Hook, a rugby analyst on Irish television that one of the virtues of rugby is that the game has a place for players of all different sizes and shapes. The tall lanky kid as a lock, the short stocky kid as a prop or hooker, the athletic kid as a flanker or back and the short kid as a scrum half. Being from Limerick, of course I found myself on a rugby pitch at school (only twice) and my physical stature meant I was played at scrum half. It was a short career, brought to an end when I realised the big guys weren't going to make allowances for my size.
The discussion though got me thinking about whether the development of rugby has meant less opportunities for the small guy to make it to the top in the sport. It may seem from a superficial analysis that scrum halves are bigger each year, though this may be influenced by nostalgic images of Peter Stringer (whose huge heart more than compensated for small stature) and the current penchant (at least for Warren Gatland) for the likes of Mike Phillips. It's easy to fall prey to bias, so it's worth considering whether Peter Stringer and Mike Phillips are noticeable because they stand out physically from their counterparts.
The table below shows the tallest and shortest starting scrum halves in the 2003 and 2013 Six Nations Championships. It's interesting to note, from an Irish and Munster perspective that Peter Stringer wasn't the smallest in 2003, that was Bryan Redpath of Scotland who was a full centimetre smaller than the Irish player. The table shows the range, the simple mean (the total divided by the number of players) and the median (which is the middle value when heights are ranked from smallest to tallest).
Scrum halves are getting taller, although the effect is exacerbated by Mike Phillips who is 6 centimetres taller than then next tallest starting scrum half in 2013, Conor Murray of Munster and Ireland. Without Phillips the mean height is 1.78 metres and the median is 1.79 metres.
While Mike Phillips may be an outlier of sorts there are more taller scrum halves in the 2013 Championship than there were in the 2003 one. Of the 10 starting scrum halves in 2003, 3 were less than 1.75 metres (5'9''). These are Redpath, Stringer and Wales' Gareth Cooper. Only Maxine Machenaud was below that height in 2013 (and both his starts were in embarrassing defeats for France).
While Mike Phillips may be an outlier of sorts there are more taller scrum halves in the 2013 Championship than there were in the 2003 one. Of the 10 starting scrum halves in 2003, 3 were less than 1.75 metres (5'9''). These are Redpath, Stringer and Wales' Gareth Cooper. Only Maxine Machenaud was below that height in 2013 (and both his starts were in embarrassing defeats for France).
So it would seem the small guy is getting bigger in the professional game. However, the scrum half remains the smallest (on average) of the sport's participants and George Hook's comments remain valid. It would be useful (and maybe a future topic) to consider whether other positions have also grown as rapidly (though there is a lot more scope for growth at number 9) and whether a similar experience has been seen in the southern hemisphere. The players there always seem to be bigger in every position. It's also likely that there has been a similar growth in bulk to match the growth in height. The professional era may be brining greater standardisation in shapes and sizes just as it ma be bringing greater specialisation in the roles on the pitch,
RSS Feed