Size Matters: Still a game for all sizes?

Former England and Northampton lock Martin Bayfield is a huge man. 6'10 and 106kg at his peak. So huge in fact that rather than waste money on intricate CGI, he was used as the body double for Robbie Coltrane in his role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.

Scotland and Sale Sharks lock Richie Gray is another huge man. 6'10 also but weighing in at 130kg. He's not as yet broken into the movies, but if there was ever a calling for a giant Kurt Cobain I'm sure he'd be in the mix.

These are two players that are considered to be giants of their time in the game. However, a twelve year gap in their playing days has somehow accounted for a 24kg difference in weight.

Yes, I know Martin Bayfield played most of his career in the amateur era and yes, I know the advent of sport science's inclusion into the lives of all modern day professionals will inevitably lead to a more muscular and larger athletes. Despite this, the size difference is still staggering.

I remember when professionalism came in when I was at my age group club, Ruislip RFC. All of a sudden rugby fitness wasn't about a few press-ups during pre-season or aimlessly runnning bewteen try lines until someone was sick. This was about the first time I'd heard the terms 'sets' and 'reps', 'core-stability' and 'power-to-weight ratio'. There was an influx of 'fitness experts' from other sports ready to offer their two-pence about what rugby players needed physically to have the edge over others. Overnight it seemed like players went from being differentiated between along the lines of god-given genetic difference to who could shift the most weight in the gym. Front rows went from being short, squat balls of human to massive juggernauts whose sole purpose was to smash rucks, mauls and scrums, with the occasional lineout thrown in.

The toughest game I have ever had in the front row was back when playing for Saracens Amateurs in the national cup against Kingston about five seasons ago. I came up against a prop who was about 5'2 and couldn't have weighed more than 13-14 stone. I thought I was in for a very easy day at the office.

I was wrong. So very very wrong. He got under me at every oppertunity, put colossal pressure on my neck and back and turned me in with ease. I learnt a very important lesson that day, that technique and skill trumps bulk and size if used in the correct way. At key points in a players development and selection for higher plains, this often goes overlooked. In my time I have been involved with representative rugby through coaching and grading and seen very average players being pushed through by various people on the basis of their size and projected body mass, regardless of a poor trial or not even trialling at all.

I am encouraged by the recent trends I have witnessed in the fitness and conditioning of players. This is mainly because of two new methods and regimes being brought in. One is the advent of 'CrossFit' and the other is the introduction of more Mixed Martial Arts style fitness. These concentrate a lot more on bodyweight being the main source of resistance in training and it focus on explosive power from standing to sprinting and jumping rather than stationary weight lifting  It's sometimes circuit based so it is about all over fitness rather than just being about how much you bench or squat. This more functional approach to training helps with knowing the limits of your physicality, improves core and I think will ultimately leads to less injuries in players because they are not constantly overloading their joints with gargantuan proportions of added weight.

However, whilst conditioning can help you become more resistant to injury, it can also have a negative affect on those players you play with and against. Ben Woods and Craig Newby are both recent retirees from the professional game. Woods a wrist injury, Newby his knee. Woods is 30, Newby 33. Ok, not in the prime of their careers but a big loss to Leicester Tigers nonetheless. Some injuries can't be solved by surgery, and occasionally you are going to get ones that just can't be helped. But you can't tell me that the power, weight and speed of hits doesn't have a bearing on the abilities of some players to return to the game. Were you more likely to come back from an injury like theirs in the 80s or 90s than you are now, despite advancements in medical science?

I suppose the final message is this. Rugby is definitely still a game for all shapes and sizes, even at the elite end of the game with players like Christian Wade and Shane Williams showing us that the litte 'uns can still punch above their weight. However, the scope for their inclusion is becoming smaller and if you look across premiership squads these days, they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Also, outside of scrum-half and the wing, where do you see this smaller players realistically making it at the top level? The amateur game is still wide open, and the 'all shapes and sizes' mantra is still very much alive, but even lower down the leagues with conditioning coaches at all standards and affordable supplements on the market, size and power can often be the difference between success and mid-table mediorcrity, something coaches at this standard are twigging on to.

I'm hoping Saracens fitness and conditioning coach Andy Edwards can set me right in our interview later this week.