How Lomu changed the way we played
IT SEEMS the spectre of size has raised its head again with my old partner Brian Moore complaining that size is ruining the game as an entertainment for fans because at the top of the game size seems to be all that matters. Players like Shane Williams and Rory Underwood who were quick and skilful, able to see space where others couldn’t would no longer be considered by the top clubs or at international level because they would be considered too small now.
Neither would I be chosen because of the current need for size, rather than skill and technique.
I played throughout some of the best years of English rugby and was reckoned to be one of the best in my position in the world. At 5ft 10ins and 101kg (15st 13lbs), even the hookers are bigger and heavier than I was, but that isn’t anything new as I was out weighed by many of my opponents back then. Players such as Tom Lawton (118kg), Richard Lowe (116kg) Craig Dowd (115kg), and Jason Leonard (112kg) were all a similar weight to today’s props.
The big difference is in the backs where after the selection of Jonah Lomu (119kg) playing on the wing, every thing changed. Until his selection rugby was truly a game for all shapes and sizes, at all levels of the game with the bigger heavier players confined to the forwards and the smaller faster players to the backs. However, once Jonah showed he could literally run through the opposition players and create space or score himself, it took about a year before every other international team had a ‘Lomu’ or two of their own.
However, despite the initial impact that Lomu had on the field and in the media (who can forget the footage of his try against England in the ‘95 World Cup?) he never managed a World Cup win for New Zealand in the two tournaments he played in. In ‘95 the All Blacks lost in the final to South Africa while in ‘99 the All Blacks didn’t make the final.
Teams learned quickly how to cope with his size and there were even times when he was outplayed by ‘old fashioned’ sized players as tackling improved and moved on.
However, the ‘size matters’ selections have continued all across the backs with the likes of Freddie Steward, 6ft 5ins and 106kg, at fullback, whereas before he would only have been considered for a forward position, as a second row or No.8.
Despite the increasing number of coaches ‘managing’ the game, they seem to have adopted playing in the ‘Lomu style’ by running at players rather than looking to create space and having creative players with the ability to exploit it.
This won’t be helped by the idea of a Club World Cup which appears to be earmarked to begin in 2028, as Nick Cain wrote last week, which will probably accentuate the overseas player issue that limits the number of English qualified players currently in the Premiership.
A World Club competition could force clubs to strengthen their squads which could easily encourage not only more foreign players in the Premiership but also increase the numbers who will be offered contracts overseas. And not just like now, for those who are coming to the end of their playing days, or who were forced to find new jobs when clubs went bust, but current international players.
Unlike international games where players must be qualified for the country they are playing for, anyone can play for any club who wants them wherever that is, particularly if the competition has a structured payment system based on the higher you finish in the contest, the more money you get.
It could also lead to a situation where the Professional Game Partnership (PGP) becomes unworkable if an England coach wants to gain access to overseas players for his squad.
The current system only works because the PGP is paid solely to the Premiership clubs for release of their players outside World Rugby international windows. If however a number of current players were playing for clubs overseas outside the Premiership the access to those players would no longer exist.
If that happened the RFU would either have to agree terms with both the foreign clubs and the Premiership for the PGP to be split between them to an agreed level for the extra player release an England national coach may want, or carry on selecting from only the Premiership.
However, the likelihood that there would be an agreement with foreign clubs who would be allowing an advantage to England in any international competition between the countries seems a wing and a prayer. Just as the Premiership refuses to release players outside the international windows to other countries even for the Six Nations, hence the Gregor Townsend complaint that Scottish players playing in the Premiership had to return to their Premiership clubs during the Six Nations fallow weeks.
So, just as Scotland won’t pay the Premiership for player release neither would the RFU pay foreign clubs. If too many players were tempted abroad it would bring the future of the current system of the PGP into question.
Even the much talked about hybrid contracts may not be enough to keep the best players here, so we may have a situation where players may refuse to sign a restrictive contract that is limited just to the Premiership.
“Today, I wouldn’t be chosen because of the need for size rather than skill”