Fastest Player

[ozzy]

How come there's no white guys to vote for in that list.
As for speed well it's a funny thing. Did it say fastest over 100m in that poll, because in rugby speed is valuable but being able to stop, start, change direction and accelerate are far more valuable than a guy who can hit a high top speed. Also some of the guys above would be quicker over 30m than they are over 100. 100m sprints don't happen all that often in rugby and runners who can run such a distance in under 11s often don't make for great rugby wings.
Fast wingers are useless unless they can do the above. Guys like Anesi are fast running in a straight line over a 100m distance, but he's a crap running rugby player. The best in the poll above for speed as well as the ability to change direction on a dime is imo Rupeni, that guy has freakish running skills, he'd probably get outrun in a straight sprint by a guy like Chavangha or Habana, but they don't have the "running ability" he has.

 

[jawmalawm24]

I voted Bryan Habana for 40m+ but anything under that It'll have to be caucaunibuca. The last time I saw caucau play was ages ago bout 4 years.

Habana always manages to get into situations where he can show his pace in the wide open. But with caucau hes usually ducking and dodging so its hard to tell sometimes.

What about Sosene Anesi he nearly caught Habana on a intercept try Chiefs vs Bulls Super14 2006

 

[melon]

that flying japanese guy. I'm not entirley sure of his name. Isnt staniforth fast? [/b]

D. Onohato. He's the fastest in Rugby 08, and has been since Rugby 04.

Staniforth isn't in the same league as these speedsters.

 

[Aus_Matt]

my vote is caucaunibuca he is fast

 

[casablanca]

This is an interesting one, as mentioned it is different over different distances. Habana clearly is in the limelight most as a speedster, but doesn't look so capable of upping his speed if that makes sense. Chavanga I've only seen a little of but looks incredibly fast. I don't think Roko or Sivi have the out-and-out straight line gas of some of the other, I'm trying to imagine what Caucau would be like had he just completed the AB's training. Some great clips of Caucau on rugby dump gassing several players without appearing to break a sweat. If I were to bet on a race I would have to say Habana though.

 

[RussianVOdka]

yep i understand peoples problem with this question as it is 2 broad! But just in genereal really, if some1 said who is the fastest player in rugby, who would first come 2 ur head?

 

[j1mb0]

I voted for Habana, but having read what other people have said, I'm inclined to agree about Caucau...I was at the game in the 2003 RWC where Fiji played France, and he just seemed to coast around the entire French team as he scored a try down the sideline. It'd be freaky to see him when he was really trying...

 

[Tin]

What about Fiji´s Ryder?? He the one
[/b]

if i remember rightly from the sevens when england had tait etc
tait was all over ryder constantly, but ryder is still Very quick, like to see him play some 15 a side see how he does

 

[mj44]

Truth is most of them will be a similar speed at any given time since sprinting times are inconsistent, it really depends on the day and situation. Often you'll see one player burn another, but then see the other one burn him back.

Guys like habana and rocko are overrated when it comes to speed. There are faster guys out there, but like I said it really comes down to who performs at the time.

Outright speed only matters for mismatches, eg turinui against habanna earlier this year was a total disaster. It was obvious what the bulls would try to do, and unfortunately Ewan (the 'tahs coach) must have copped a bump in the head earlier that day. Mismatches just won't occur enough between wings for outright speed to matter all that much. Like someone said it's all about how well you perform around defenders.

Islanders are the best runners in rugby. Maybe it's their unstructured game, their sevens or a cultural thing, but they have an unpredictability that other nations don't have. Other nations tend to run harder and straighter, where as the islanders tend to try to be more evasive from what I've seen.

I forgot his name but there was this fast guy for the springboks when the last versed the wallabies. I just no he was a winger, i am not xonfused with habbana

Paulse?

 

[Juan le Roux]

he fastest man in rugby is between habana and robertson but i think habana is just n little faster than the rest

 

[shtove]

I voted for Caucau...
But I think we need to narrow down the question so we know exactly what we are talking about..
Are we talking about athletic fastest, or about rugby fastest?

By athletic fastest i mean they can run 100m the fastest, and by rugby fastest i mean they can cover 25m faster than anyone else.. cuz if you can cover that first 25m with a ball in hand faster than anyone else then the rest dont matter really, you will be very hard to run down..

and for that reason i chose Caucau.. i dont think he would be able to run 100m fater than a lot of people, but i'd like to see someone cover him over 25m.. he can just put it on and off, and thats how he beats people.. [/b]

Yeah. Acceleration does the crucial damage, and speed finishes it off. BOD doesn't have long-distance speed, but he creates space with a burst of pace and change of direction.

I voted for Caucau, because he does that as well, plus he almost caught a BOD intercept run from the other side of the pitch in the HEC a few months ago. About half-way through the chase it looked like he decided he might as well give it his full attention. Cool attitude, but lame as well.

I'd say Habana is the speediest, but he's a finisher rather than a creator. Don't know about the Zimbabwe guy who can do 10.4 on the track. Anyone who shifts much faster than that is probably on powerful drugs - the last clean 100m Olympic win was by the pasty Scot, Alan Wells, in 1980.

Caucau for acceleration and speed.

 

[william]

jason robinson - 32 but lightnin

 

[Caledfwlch]

don't u mean daisuke ohata? that guy has the record for most tries in test matches. more scored than campese i almost half as many matches

 

[jawmalawm24]

don't u mean daisuke ohata? that guy has the record for most tries in test matches. more scored than campese i almost half as many matches [/b]

Yeah thats all good and all but he would of been playing lower grade teams where as Campese would of face the likes of the All Blacks and Springboks.

I watched a video from a few years ago and flippin Cullen was quick Caucau got a runaway but Cullen caught him so if he was still at his prime I'd vote for Cullen just for that play.

 

[Dmx#1]

Imo i dont really think Rokocokos overall speed is that fast compared to other wingers, but he does have good acceleration though. I voted for Caucau although i agree with jawmalawm24 Cullen was a quick bugger in his prime. Though i think he lost acceleration after his leg surgery. Just wondering though, was it true Cullen could bench 180kgs?

 

[candybum]

Yeah no doubt he lost some of his pace, his career changed because of it (and because of mr mitchell)

Not too sure about the benching, i have heard he could bench the most in the ABs when he was there, explains the Weetbix advert, the one of this kid benching these big as tires, and captioned "cully could do 8" or something. So its possibly true. He was talented.

But yeah i rate cullen the fastest in his prime aswell, i know he was the quickest in the agility test apparently holds the ABs record?. i haven't seen anyone come into the line and run onto the ball like he does, how he magically turns up in support whenever theres a break, watch the youtube vids you'll know what i mean, hes pretty fast!

and jawmalawm24 not to bag Ohata i mean thats a great achievement! So he didn't get to play against big nation teams often, he'd still have to work off a japanese forward pack etc not bagging them too.. Is he playing in this years WC?

 

[Hughie]

Onohato, I think thats how you spell it... Japanese player.

 

[An Tarbh]

How come there's no white guys to vote for in that list.
As for speed well it's a funny thing. Did it say fastest over 100m in that poll, because in rugby speed is valuable but being able to stop, start, change direction and accelerate are far more valuable than a guy who can hit a high top speed. Also some of the guys above would be quicker over 30m than they are over 100. 100m sprints don't happen all that often in rugby and runners who can run such a distance in under 11s often don't make for great rugby wings.
Fast wingers are useless unless they can do the above. Guys like Anesi are fast running in a straight line over a 100m distance, but he's a crap running rugby player. The best in the poll above for speed as well as the ability to change direction on a dime is imo Rupeni, that guy has freakish running skills, he'd probably get outrun in a straight sprint by a guy like Chavangha or Habana, but they don't have the "running ability" he has. [/b]

You're absolutely right, in terms of straight line speed Girvan Dempsey wins all the sprints in the Irish setup but as soon as he changes his lines of running he just loses the speed and doesn't have the ability to continually break the tackle and make valuable ground.

 

[candybum]

Onohato, I think thats how you spell it... Japanese player. [/b]

i assume you got him out of the rugby 06 game? lol his name is actually Daisuke Ohata, he's a pretty good Japanese international.

Wikipedia has him 65 test tries in 55 test matches. Not to bad

 

[doc1224]

My vote would go for Chavanga.



This guy was on the shortlist for the Zimbabwean Olympics team (200M sprint) when he was 17 years old.Not sure what his time was though. :bana: