POWER PLAY
The changed nature of rugby is such that the key collision positions – loose forward and midfield – have seen the athletes grow disproportionately more powerful in the last 12 years.
Sam Cane, for example, is five kilos heavier than Richie McCaw was playing in the same jersey in 2005. He’s managed to gain that extra bulk without losing his mobility and he needs it so he can handle the power of the other big men at the breakdown. He is often being hit by men who are 130kg-plus.
Looking at the All Blacks this year, they will have two other bruising figures in the loose trio – Read and Kaino – who would be close to the height and weight of some of the international locks who were around in 2005.
It’s the same in the midfield where, potentially, the All Blacks could field Sonny Bill Williams and George Moala as a combination who would bring a combined 208kg to the No 12 and No 13 jerseys.
That would compare with the combined 195kg that Tana Umaga and Aaron Mauger brought to the same jerseys in the first test 12 years ago.
But the impact of the 2017 pairing would be massively higher – with both men estimated to be at least 50 per cent more powerful than Mauger and 30 per cent more powerful than Umaga.