Giants of the midfield – the rise of the 100kg inside centre in rugby

Over the past few decades the bodyweight of international rugby players has been consistently increasing. In the main such increases have occurred gradually, a reflection of improvements in resistance training and nutrition which have enabled hypertrophy gains without sacrificing speed and mobility.

A comparatively recent development, however, seems to be a deliberate preference for the use of very heavy players in the backline, most notably in the inside centre position. This would appear to reflect a fundamental rethinking of the role of the 12. Consider the following table showing the body weights of midfielders used by major countries in the European Autumn internationals:

Body Weights of Tri Nations and 6 Nations Midfielders - Nov 2010

	Five-eighths		Inside Centres		Outside Centres
Australia	Cooper	84	Barnes	88	Ashley-Cooper	98
England	Flood	91	Hape	102	Banahan	115
France	Traille	100	Jauzion	105	Rougerie	104
Ireland	Sexton	92	D'Arcy	93	O'Driscoll	95
Italy	Orquera	78	Sgarbi	101	Canale	94
New Zealand	Carter	92	Nonu	102	Smith	95
Scotland	Parks	91	Morrison	103	Ansbro	92
South Africa	Steyn	88	de Villiers	100	Steyn	100
Wales	Biggar	90	Bishop	93	Hook	92
Data from espnscrum.com site

The table lists players in the 10, 12 and 13 positions for the nine Tri Nations and 6 Nations teams in matches played on the 19th and 20th of November. It can be seen that six of the nine inside centres weighed 100kg or more. Only three outside centres and one five-eighth met that weight standard.

Of the sub-100kg 12s, D’Arcy of Ireland and Bishop of Wales each weighed 93kg while the Australian Barnes weighed only 88kg. Significantly the Wallabies have also played the 85kg Giteau at 12 on this tour while the All Blacks have made use of the 108kg Williams.

Traditionally the 12 was the more thick set of the two centres although by no means a huge player. He could play a crash ball type game but also had the speed and agility to be able to exploit gaps. He was expected to be a very solid defender who could cover if necessary for the less robust 10.

Reflecting its labelling of the 10 and 12 positions as first five-eighth and second five-eighth, New Zealand pioneered the practice of replacing a conventional inside centre with a player whose skill set and experience were those of a 10. More recently there has been a general tendency and expectation for five-eighths to attack the line rather than playing an essentially “white shorts” game. Having two light-framed players side by side each attempting to explore gaps encourages a very aggressive defensive reaction.

Possibly because of this many countries, including New Zealand, have gone back to a more conventional inside centre but with the important difference that these players are now very large and physically imposing. The notable exception to this trend is Australia.

The Deans experiment

Robbie Deans has now been coaching the Wallabies for just under three years. I have previously written about the physical conditioning regime which Deans and his strength and conditioning coach Peter Harding have implemented (“The Wallabies – sprinters not stayers”). But it is the type of backline structure and play that he has been developing that will distinguish his tenure as national coach.

As can be seen from the table below, when Deans took the Wallabies to Europe in 2008 their body weight and age profiles were little different to what they were two years previously. Two years later the average body weight and average age of the backs have declined dramatically:

Body Weight and Age Statistics - Wallabies 2006 to 2010

	2006 Squad	2008 vs. England (Nov)	2010 vs. England (Nov)
Average body weight (kg)	102.6	102.1	99.7
Average body weight - forwards	111.1	110.6	110.3
Average body weight - backs	91.8	92.4	87.6
Average age (yrs)	26.1	26.6	25.1
Average age - forwards		26.8	26.4
Average age - backs		26.4	23.6
2006 data from “Building bigger and stronger rugby players – the Sydney University experiment”; 2008 and 2010 data from espnscrum.com.site

The 2010 backs are on average 4.8kg lighter than those of 2008 and 2.8 years younger. The inside centre on the earlier tour was Stirling Mortlock who at 100kg was 15kg heavier than his successor Matt Giteau. During his tenure Deans has taken on tour quite a number of very young and small backs while ignoring or discarding heavier and more robust players. His desire to groom such players creates a potential imbalance which would seem to be reflected in the figures in the table.

Typically his backlines contain four players who would be classed as playmakers and inevitably the 12 position is filled by a back-up five-eighth. Having a small 12 and multiple playmakers in the one backline may prove to be an inspired strategy, although it hasn’t yet yielded obvious dividends. Clearly this approach is at odds with the current thinking of the other leading nations who all appear to have identified the inside centre position as requiring a very big player. Presumably next year’s World Cup will determine which approach prevails.
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Robbie Deans on wanting

It's not often you get an insight into the mental processes of an international rugby coach. Here's Wallabies coach Robbie Deans interviewed after his team's win in the Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong:

"James is one of those blokes who wants the ball in those moments as you saw with his carry, and that's what you want.
"The bloke who's got the ball you want to want to have the ball."

Rugby is the most cerebral of games.
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The Wallabies - sprinters not stayers

Two months ago, before the start of the 2010 Bledisloe Cup series, I posted an article titled “Are the Wallabies being properly conditioned for the Tri Nations Tests?” I started off by pointing out:

“A characteristic of the Deans era Wallabies is their seeming inability to sustain their performance over the full 80 minutes of a game. This raises the question of whether their training methods are appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby. In short, is there enough emphasis on strength training?”

In that article I argued that the best way to assess the Wallabies’ performance was in Tests against the All Blacks. This was because “distance travelled is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches.”

We have since played another three Bledisloe matches.

On July 2008, in Deans’s first match against his home country, the Wallabies won the second half 17-7 and also won the match. From then on it has been an unbroken succession of losses in both the second half and the overall match. Here is the record of second half scores:

2 August 08 0-18
13 September 08 14-25
1 November 08 14-19
18 July 09 3-12
22 August 09 6-16
19 September 09 6-33
31 October 09 3-19
31 July 10 14-17
7 August 10 0-3
11 September 10 8-17

So that’s our sorry record. Ten straight games; ten losing second halves; ten matches lost.

In the second half we have scored on average 7 points; the All Blacks scored 17.9.

The reason is glaringly obvious – the physical conditioning of the Wallabies is inappropriate. Forget about half time scores; no one cares which horse is first past the post the first time around in the Melbourne Cup. And to pursue the horse racing analogy further, a horse won’t “get two miles” if it’s been trained to run a mile.

Rugby is a physically draining game played over eighty minutes. It is also not really an aerobic sport but rather an anaerobic sport where there is a huge premium on strength and power.

On June 28 the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled, “Don’t despair – fitter Wallabies might rise from last in Tri Nations rankings”. The author, Spiro Zavas, wrote:

“It is an open secret that many Waratahs and Brumbies players shirked their full training obligations in the Super 14. An unfortunate feature of the Wallabies, this season and last season, has been the way they have faded in the second half of Test matches. A fitter Wallabies team might convert those half-time leads to full-time victories.”

To address this problem “the Wallabies conditioning coach will monitor the entire squad with GPS tracking devices that will record the intensity of their training.” In other words the focus was on getting the players more aerobically fit.

It would appear that the traditional Australian approach of placing less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby countries has become more pronounced in the Deans era. Rather than pursuing maximum strength the Wallabies’ weights sessions have reportedly seen a heavy focus on bar-speed routines using loads as little as 30% of 1RM.

At what point will Robbie Deans and his strength and conditioning coach Peter Harding face up to the fact that the current approach is not working and requires fundamental revision?

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Are the Wallabies being properly conditioned for the Tri Nations Tests?

A characteristic of the Deans era Wallabies is their seeming inability to sustain their performance over the full 80 minutes of a game. This raises the question of whether their training methods are appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby. In short, is there enough emphasis on strength training?

It is difficult to draw any firm conclusions from the team’s patchy performances in the June Tests as quality of the opposition and the effects of long distance travel were complicating factors. A more valid measure is how the team has performed against its closest neighbour. In contests between Australia and New Zealand distance travelled is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches.

In the ten Trans-Tasman Tests prior to Robbie Deans assuming control the Wallabies led at half-time in 3 matches, were level in 2 matches and were behind in 5 matches. In the second half the Wallabies outscored their opponents 4 times, scored equal points once and were outscored 5 times. Overall they won 3 games and lost 7.

There have been 8 Wallabies-All Blacks games since Deans has taken over. During this period the Wallabies won an impressive 6 out of 8 first halves, but lost 7 out of 8 second halves and 7 out of 8 matches! The one time when the Wallabies won the second half and the match was in July 2008, when Deans and his assistants had just taken over. Since then the team has lost every second half and every match.

On June 28 the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled, “Don't despair - fitter Wallabies might rise from last in Tri Nations rankings”. The author, Spiro Zavas, wrote:

“It is an open secret that many Waratahs and Brumbies players shirked their full training obligations in the Super 14. An unfortunate feature of the Wallabies, this season and last season, has been the way they have faded in the second half of Test matches. A fitter Wallabies team might convert those half-time leads to full-time victories.”

To address this problem “the Wallabies conditioning coach will monitor the entire squad with GPS tracking devices that will record the intensity of their training.” Distance covered is hardly an appropriate measure of intensity given that rugby players spend much of a training session in prolonged static physical engagements. But having been labelled “shirkers” it is totally predictable that the players will run themselves into the ground to impress their masters.

Unofficial feedback from Wallaby training in the lead-up to the Tri Nations is that the players are running hills three times a week as well as having forwards running 100 metres 10 times with a 20 second rest between and 200 metres 10 times with a 20 second rest.

So the overwhelming emphasis appears to be on trying to improve aerobic fitness which ignores the fact that rugby is a strength-oriented sport, certainly the most strength-oriented of all the football codes. Players need to have a solid strength base to be able to compete for 80 minutes.

Traditionally Australian rugby has placed less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby countries, and it appears that this has become more pronounced in the Deans era. Rather than pursuing max strength the Wallabies’ weights sessions have reportedly seen a heavy focus on bar-speed routines using loads as little as 30% of 1RM.

One of the enduring impressions of the 2007 World Cup was the ferocity of the Northern Hemisphere teams at the breakdown. It is probably too late to do much about the upcoming Tri Nations, but unless the approach to training changes dramatically the Wallabies are likely to be physically overpowered in New Zealand next year.
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Are Deans's Wallabies physically conditioned to last 80 minutes?

While there were some very encouraging signs in the Wallabies' performance against England in Perth it is significant that the home side was not able to build on their 14 point lead at half time and in fact lost the second half. This continues a quite worrying trend.

Last year there was intense speculation over the causes of the poor performance of the Wallabies during the Deans era, but one issue that has not been raised is whether their training has been appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby.

One indication that something is seriously wrong is the fact that the team has very frequently squandered a first-half lead. Of course there are so many factors that can influence how a game plays out that not much can be read into the scores in a particular game. The effects of long distance travel or a country fielding an under-strength team can have a major impact on the pattern of scoring.

However in contests between Australia and New Zealand distance is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches. Let's look at the last ten matches played between these countries prior to Robbie Deans taking over as coach. Australia is listed first with the first half scoreline, second half scoreline and overall result shown for each match.

15 Nov 03 13-7 W, 9-3 W, 22-10 W
17 Jul 04 0-3 L, 7-13 L, 7-16 L
7 Aug 04 12-12 D, 11-6 W, 23-18 W
13 Aug 05 13-3 W, 0-27 L, 13-30 L
3 Sep 05 5-20 L, 19-14 W, 24-34 L
8 Jul 06 7-14 L, 5-18 L, 12-32 L
29 Jul 06 6-10 L, 3-3 D, 9-13 L
19 Aug 06 20-11 W, 7-23 L, 27-34 L
30 Jun 07 6-15 L, 14-0 W, 20-15 W
21 Jul 07 9-9 D, 3-17 L, 12-26 L

It can be seen that the Wallabies won 3 of the first halves, drew 2 and lost 5. They won 4 second halves, drew 1 and lost 5. Overall they won 3 games and lost 7.

Now let's look at the stats for the eight Wallabies-All Blacks games since Deans has taken over:

26 Jul 08 17-12 W, 17-7 W, 34-19 W
2 Aug 08 10-21 L, 0-18 L, 10-39 L
13 Sep 08 10-3 W, 14-25 L, 24-28 L
1 Nov 08 14-9 W, 0-10 L, 14-19 L
18 Jul 09 13-10 W, 3-12 L, 16-22 L
22 Aug 09 12-3 W, 6-16 L, 18-19 L
19 Sep 09 6-16 L, 0-17 L, 6-33 L
31 Oct 09 16-13 W, 3-19 L, 19-32 L

Here we see that the Wallabies won an impressive 6 out of 8 first halves, but lost 7 out of 8 second halves and 7 out of 8 matches! Once the Deans coaching team had settled in, i.e., after the first Bledisloe match in July 2008, their team has lost very second half and every match. This looks like something more than random chance. The most likely culprit would seem to be inappropriate physical conditioning.
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Too old at 30 - Australian rugby's "scrapheap" policy

The Australian rugby coach and his selectors appear to be following a quite deliberate policy of favouring emerging players over those with significant international playing experience. One consequence of this is that the Australian Super 14 franchises are being denuded of senior players who traditionally mentor and guide those who are just learning their craft.

In the Test against Ireland, the Wallabies do not have a single player aged 30 or more in their starting fifteen. Their opponents have eight, a majority of the team! The average age of our 22-man squad is 25.2 years; theirs is 27.5. Our oldest starter is 28.

Consider the average age of the most recent teams of the top ten rugby countries, i.e., Tri-Nations, Six Nations plus Argentina. Every other side's players are more than a year older than the Wallabies. And every other country has two or more starting players who are at least 30 years old.

Rugby is an unusually complex game. It takes players years to achieve real competency. And yet we are seeing a new generation of talented youngsters rushed from school into professional football and then on to the international level. A minority manage to establish themselves at the top, but I wonder whether even they achieve their full potential. In their development years they should be playing in an environment where they can dominate instead of one where they constantly struggle to survive.

Because of the centralised control of the sport by the ARU, the premature discarding of experienced players has extremely adverse impacts at the Super 14 levels and even down through the clubs. The central body dictates how much players can be paid by the franchises who are basically mendicants surviving on handouts from the centre. It is therefore only those players who are on ARU contracts who earn large incomes. Once taken off the national list players have little choice but to round out their careers in Europe or in the Bermuda Triangle of Japanese rugby.

The effect of this is that all their accumulated wisdom and experience is lost to their Super 14 teams and their clubs; basically to Australian rugby. And then people say that we don't have a large enough talent pool in Australia. The main way in which the great minds who control our sport have dealt with this problem is to buy in so-called rugby league marquee players who then spend years trying to master the fundamentals of our sport. How can young players benefit by playing with extravagantly paid blow-ins who know vastly less than they do?

It has been observed that rugby is basically war without the guns. When you're forced to slog it out in the trenches, who would you want with you? A grizzled battle-scarred veteran or an over-excited kid who believes all the hype and publicity generated about him. Small wonder that we can't string wins together.

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Rugby's Age of the Low Skinfold Giants

In 1991 England's international rugby forwards and backs weighed, on average, 100 kg and 83 kg respectively. Their counterparts in 2003 weighed 109 kg and 90 kg. (England Rugby Injury and Training Audit 2002-04)

By comparison in this year's Test against the Wallabies the England squad's average weight had further risen to 113.4 kg for the forwards and 93.4 kg for the backs. Thus in just 18 years elite level forwards had increased their weight by some 13 kg and the backs by 10 kg. And a much greater proportion of the bulk of the modern player is lean body mass.

Present day players are not just bigger, but also stronger and fitter and, certainly with the forwards, much quicker than those of the pre-professional era. Thus there is massively greater force being generated in the game's collisions, even without taken account of the modern two-on-one techniques of tackling. Little wonder then that the coaches' preferred teams have been decimated by injury from both playing and training.

For this Test the Wallaby forwards were outweighed by about one kg per man and the backs by two kg. But there was a very significant weight discrepancy in the front row. England's engine room five averaged a massive 119 kg while their opponents were a relatively puny 114 kg.

One of the greatest differences between the squads was in the players' ages. Ten of the home team's squad of 22 were aged 29 or older. By contrast the Australians, who seem to be taking the view that anyone over 30 is ready for the Golden Oldies, had just three.

There is a ten-year age gap between the ages of the reserve outside backs. Ayoola Enrile is 29 while James O'Connor is just 19. But this is inconsequential compared to the massive difference in their body weights. Enrile weighs 110 kg, a full 30 kg heavier than O'Connor!

Small wonder then that The Australian in late October attributed to Robbie Deans the view that "there could come a time when the Matt Giteaus, James O'Connors and Will Genias of the game simply find themselves too small to survive at the top level.”

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The tackle-shy Bledisloe

The Tokyo Bledisloe match featured the clash of two backlines who basically can't tackle to save themselves. Both the Wallabies and All Blacks backs fall off one in four tackles they attempt.

Let's look at the Wallabies first, using calculations derived from 2009 Super 14 stats compiled by Verusco Technologies. The first figure is the average number of tackles made per 80 minutes played, and the figure in brackets is the percentage of missed tackles:

Wallabies backs
Will Genia 7.5 (27.0)
Matt Giteau 10.0 (15.6)
Digby Ioane 7.3 (25.6)
Adam Ashley-Cooper 7.2 (25.0)
Ryan Cross 7.9 (19.0)
Peter Hynes 5.7 (19.5)
James O'Connor 8.5 (14.5)
Luke Burgess 9.7 (15.7)
Drew Mitchell 4.2 (33.3)
Quade Cooper 8.8 (42.0)
Average 7.7 (23.7)

All Blacks backs
Jimmy Cowan 6.3 (17.7)
Dan Carter - (-)
Sitiveni Sivivatu 5.4 (20.5)
Ma'a Nonu 8.7 (16.4)
Conrad Smith 8.5 (20.0)
Cory Jane 5.6 (21.7)
Mils Muliaina 4.2 (22.0)
Brendan Leonard 7.1 (27.6)
Stephen Donald 5.6 (40.0
Tamati Ellison 6.5 (25.6)
Average 6.4 (23.5)

And the situation gets worse with the rest of the injured and non-selected Wallabies backs:

Berrick Barnes 9.6 (25.7)
Kurtley Beale 7.5 (33.3)
Rob Horne 8.9 (29.2)
Richard Kingi 5.6 (33.3)
Stirling Mortlock 6.1 (38.0)
Tyrone Smith 8.6 (29.8)
Matt Toomua 9.1 (28.9)
Average 7.9 (31.2)

And the man who can't get a guernsey no matter how many players break down? Tom Carter averaged 12.7 tackles per 80 minutes and missed just 6.7%.

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Daniel Vickerman rates MyoQuip strength machines as "absolutely fantastic"

Dan Vickerman is recognised as one of the top lineout forwards in world rugby. Born in South Africa, he has the unusual distinction of having represented both South Africa and Australia at the Under-21 level. In 2002 he made his debut for the Wallabies against France, going on to make 55 Test appearances. He played Super Rugby with the ACT Brumbies from 2001 to 2003 and the NSW Waratahs from 2004 to 2008.

Having been forced to study online throughout his first degree, a Bachelor of Financial Planning through Open Universities Australia (RMIT), he responded to the opportunity to study at Cambridge by suspending his international rugby career to enjoy the luxury of full time study. He is now reading for a degree in Land Economy at Cambridge's Hughes Hall.

At 204cm, Dan's limb geometry is unsuited for exercises such as the squat. Not surprisingly he acknowledges that "I have suffered from back injuries in the past due to the nature of some exercises in the gym." In fact, a very high proportion of professional rugby forwards avoid squatting because of back problems.

Fortunately, for the past four seasons both in the Waratah's gym and at Camp Wallaby at Coff's Harbour, Vickerman has had access to the MyoQuip ScrumTruk which he describes as "an asset to me during my rugby career." Recently, when forced by injury to take a break from national representation after the Super 14 Final, he went back to his club, Sydney University, to undertake rehabilitation with strength and conditioning guru Martin Harland. At the Uni gym he made extensive use of both the ScrumTruk and the HipneeThrust lying leg press before setting off for Cambridge.

"For me the two machines, the ScrumTruk and the HipneeThrust, have been absolutely great," Vickerman says. "The use of these machines gives the ability to build strength without putting strain on one's lower back. As a forward the strength gained transfers well onto the field due to their practicality and specificity to what we do during the game."

(The Sydney University gymnasium has now replaced its ScrumTruk and HipneeThrust machines with the more advanced MyoTruk and MyoThrusta)



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Benn Robinson popping Phil Vickery in the scrum

I know it's impolite to gloat and tempting the fates for an Australian to boast about Wallaby scrummaging but the Green and Gold Rugby blog site has the most extraordinary footage of the Wallabies tearing apart the English pack and in particular Benn Robinson turning Phil Vickery inside out. The sequence cycles endlessly in the post, Robinson smashes Vickery showing very clearly the delivery of force from the players behind the dominant prop.

It is the most wonderful feeling when you are the 'popper' and both humiliating and often frightening when you are the 'poppee'. I don't know whether that's a word but it is now.
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At last! A dominant Wallaby scrum

Aussie aficionados of trench-warfare rugby will enjoy the video, "Wallabies scrums from Twickenham video highlights" posted on Green and Gold Rugby - THE Aussie Rugby Blog.

It's been a long time between drinks for the Aussie engine room, and great to see them vindicated after the bagging they copped pre-game from the English press and frontrowers. Considering the improved scrummaging on this tour, perhaps the fact that the Wallabies and all four Australian Super 14 franchises use the ScrumTruk is beginning to pay dividends.

Still one egg doesn't make an omelette, and the Green and Golds have to show they can do it again against the French this weekend. I am not sure that the English front row, Andy Sheridan in particular, are going to be in too good a shape to back up again against the Springboks.
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The MyoTruk replaces the ScrumTruk in the MyoQuip range

MyoQuip is proud to announce the release of the MyoTruk, the second release in our Myo range of strength equipment embodying direct-linkage force transmission through heavy-duty industrial bearings.

The MyoTruk replaces the ScrumTruk, the first and only rugby-specific strength machine. The ScrumTruk has proven effective in safely enhancing the strength, power and body mass of rugby players, both backs and forwards, as well as athletes in other sports. Unlike most variable resistance machines the ScrumTruk was designed for complex, multi-joint and large muscle mass movement.

In rugby the ScrumTruk has been adopted by the Wallabies; Emirates Western Force; HSBC Waratahs; Queensland Reds; Auckland Blues; Northampton Saints; Sharks; Golden Lions and other leading clubs and schools.

Already its successor, the MyoTruk, has been adopted by the CA Brumbies; the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS); and Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness

Find out more about the MyoTruk
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Scots overpowered by Wallaby size

Following the Wallabies' emphatic defeat of Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday, it was interesting to note comments by the Scots' coach Frank Hadden:

"It's difficult to front up week after week against heavier sides.

"We've hidden that for a while but the Australian pack were able to create the opportunities for their danger players.

"They have quality backs and when they are going forward they're very difficult to stop."

The rugby community is gradually waking up to the idea that increased size and strength confers a huge advantage in the sport, and not just in the forwards. Heavy backs are also able to gradually wear down their lighter opponents.

It is difficult for a national coach to do much about the physical attributes of his players - he basically has to work with the available material over a very short preparation period. The groundwork for physical dominance has to be laid much earlier - even at school level.

Those in charge of Scottish rugby would do well to investigate what is being achieved at Sydney University in terms of the systematic physical development of young players.
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Building bigger and stronger rugby players - the Sydney University experiment

It is widely acknowledged that the average bodyweight of rugby players has increased considerably over recent years. Less recognised is the extent to which modern defensive alignments and strategies have transformed rugby matches into contests of attrition where bigger and stronger teams tend to wear down their smaller and physically weaker opponents over the course of a game. Perhaps the most notable change has been the increased importance of physical dominance in the backline.

Responding to this, Sydney University's rugby club has been able to demonstrate that with the right combination of coach and infrastructure, it is possible to fast track the physical development of players outside a professional playing environment. In fact within a couple of seasons these players are able to achieve a body mass comparable to that of seasoned professionals together with a solid foundation of basic strength.

In late May, Sydney University announced its team for the first round of the Tooheys New Cup, the premier competition in Sydney club rugby. All of the fifteen players are past or current students who had been developed through the Club's Colts and lower grade teams. None of them are paid to play for the Club, although the eleven who are still students receive modest scholarship assistance. Only three of the players are on professional contracts.

It is instructive to compare their bodyweight and age profiles with those of squads from four major rugby countries:

Comparative Bodyweight and Age Profiles

Team	Average Weight (kg)	Average Age
Wallabies - 2006 Squad	102.6	26.1
All Blacks - 2006 Squad	102.9	25.5
Springboks - 2006 Squad	102.2	26.8
England - 2006 6 Nations Squad	101.2	27.2
Sydney University - 2006 Tooheys New Cup Team	100.5	22.5

It can be seen that the part-time, unpaid Sydney University players, though three to five years younger, weigh only a couple of kilograms less than the world's best players. This is quite extraordinary as normally a much greater weight disparity would be expected.

For the past three years Sydney University Football Club has been operating an Elite Development Squad (EDS) program for its top grade and colts players. Utilising one of the best equipped gymnasiums in Australian rugby, players train for eleven months of the year and undertake four weights sessions per week off-season and a lesser number while playing.

The program's strength and conditioning components have been devised and administered by Martin Harland, a sports scientist who has previously worked with professional rugby league, Australian football and basketball teams. His programs for rugby players place a high degree of emphasis on basic strength development and rugby-specific fitness. A distinguishing feature of his approach is a concentration on heavy lower body work through exercises such as squats, deadlifts and cleans. In addition, both backs and forwards make intensive use of the MyoQuip ScrumTruk, a rugby-specific apparatus that targets the large mass leg extensor muscles, specifically the gluteal and quadriceps groups. Hypertrophy or increased muscle mass is a natural and not unintended by-product of such training.

Exposing backline players to basic strength training

Another distinctive feature of Martin Harland's rugby training regimen is his requirement that backs undertake the same rigorous basic strength routines as forwards. Many strength and conditioning coaches reserve the heavy "grunt" work for forwards, or even restrict it to the tight five.

Exposing backs to very serious weight training has produced a quite extraordinary outcome at Sydney University, as evidenced by the following table comparing body weights of forwards and backs for the Wallabies, the four Australian Super 14 franchises and Sydney University:

Comparative Bodyweight of Forwards and Backs

Squad/Team (2006)	Av Weight (kg) - Forwards	Av Weight (kg) - Backs	Difference
Wallabies - Squad	111.1	91.8	19.3
ACT Brumbies - Squad	110.3	90.9	19.4
NSW Waratahs - Squad	110.8	92.8	18.0
Queensland Reds - Squad	109.7	92.4	17.3
Western Force - Squad	109.1	92.9	16.2
Sydney University - Team	105.3	95.1	10.2

Not surprisingly, the University's young forwards are outweighed by each of the five professional squads. However, in the backs the situation is reversed. The University players outweigh the national and provincial squads by between 2.2 and 4.2 kg per man.

If we look at the column showing the difference in bodyweight between backs and forwards it can be seen that for Sydney University it averages 10.2 kg, against 16.2 to 19.4 kg for Australia's professional squads, a very substantial difference.

The Sydney University experiment seems to be providing clear evidence that the bodyweight of rugby backs can be dramatically increased through serious weight training, but the question arises as to whether this has benefits in terms of playing performance.

One answer is that the other strength-oriented football code, American football, has traditionally used training methods similar to those of Martin Harland. All players, whether linemen or running backs, are required to do heavy gym work. Surely no one would seriously suggest that their quick players have inferior dynamic abilities to rugby players.

Another justification for building heavier backs with superior leg drive lies in the already mentioned importance of physical dominance in the rugby backline. With the modern emphasis on structure and coordination in defensive alignments, bigger and stronger backs are better able to continually repel opposition attacks and also over the course of a game are likely to create physical and mental fatigue in their counterparts.

Having achieved a strong foundation of basic strength and greater body mass, Martin Harland is then able to focus on speed and explosiveness in his players. It is clear that the Sydney University approach yields results on the playing field. 2005 was the Club's most successful year, winning the Sydney Club Championship, the First Grade Premiership and four lower grade Premierships.

Even more importantly, players who graduate from such a program are much better equipped to withstand the rigours of modern rugby.

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ScrumTruk
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Is Australian rugby finally getting the message about power?

Today's Sun-Herald [Sydney] has a brief article titled "The Brumbies turn to power." It makes the point that the "multi-phase attacking style" used by both the ACT Brumbies and the Wallabies with success in the late 1990s and the first few years of the new century "has been superseded by a more robust forward-oriented play."

ACT coach Laurie Fisher is quoted as saying: "I think we've lacked it [forwards getting to the advantage line] every year but it hadn't been as important until last season. You can't just outskill a side with a quality back line now. You've got to have a quality set piece, you've got to have a power game."

Let's hope that the Brumbies have been making good use of the ScrumTruk that they installed a few months ago.
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McKenzie says no to Wallabies job - for now

[Summary: Ewen McKenzie's decision not to contest the Wallaby coaching position highlights the need for the organizational structure of the coaching team to be decided by the head coach rather than the ARU bureaucrats.]


Ewen McKenzie's decision to withdraw his application for the Wallabies coaching position highlights a couple of interesting issues.

Firstly it draws attention to how unusual it is for the position to be filled by an ex-Wallaby player. To my knowledge there have been only three: Bryan Palmer, John Solomon and Dave Brockhoff. So it is 26 years since Australia has had an ex-international as coach. McKenzie, of course, had a very long and distinguished incumbency of the Wallaby tight-head position.

Although I am not really familiar with the rugby history of other nations, it would appear that the Australian situation is by no means unique. Most international coaches have not played at the top level. I would be grateful if someone can post details for any of the other rugby playing countries.

The other point of note is the suggestion that the Australian Rugby Union is attempting to specify and impose a particular structure on the new coach. It has been reported that McKenzie was concerned that the proposed structure involved "an armada of assistants" and queried whether it would be "an orthodox coaching job."

It is interesting that one member of the selection panel for the position is Rod McQueen who in his tenure as Wallaby coach pioneered the use of multiple specialist assistants. This approach reached its apotheosis - or more correctly its nadir - in the hordes of functionaries who accompanied Clive Woodward's Lions to New Zealand.

The Wallabies are just a single team, therefore requiring "an orthodox coaching job." In any event decisions about the organizational structure of the coaching team should be the province of the head coach, not the ARU bureaucrats or board. After all, he is the one whose head rolls if the team is not sufficiently successful.
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