Is Rugby turning a bit, erm...metrosexual?

[fckvwls]

Christian Cullen

Probably my favourite ever player to watch in Super 15.

[Mich the Tester]

I was a pretty winger. A pretty bad winger.

As for Lomu, awesome player, what people often overlook was his speed off the mark, impressive for a big guy. But he played with a lot of passion and vision as well, looking for work, hitting the line at pace while in support. He gained a lot of hard yards as well through the middle of the park and sucked in plenty of defenders creating lots of space. Not the best defender but when he put a big hit in we all felt it.

Arguably Jeff Wilson & Christian Cullen were better players in that era, but Lomu won a lot of games for the ABs.

Yes, speed off the mark for a big guy and power were what set him aside from the rest in his day, but the exaggerated claims about his 100m time are just silly. 120kg men don't do 10.4 for the 100m.

[doomage]

Yes, speed off the mark for a big guy and power were what set him aside from the rest in his day, but the exaggerated claims about his 100m time are just silly. 120kg men don't do 10.4 for the 100m.

It takes a pretty big cannon.

[Gibbon]

I don't know if you've been watching any rugby, but you might have noticed that players these days are bigger, faster and fitter than they were when Lomu was at his peak. That doesn't make Lomu a bad player, he was in fact very good in his day. Now, however, his speed and strength would not be so exceptional as they were then.

You can argue all you want, but you can't prove it ergo facile argument. Lomu too would have benefited from the modern training methods. It's an age old argument esp with boxers and whilst it can be interesting is unprovable and therefore no more than a diversion over a few pints.

[shaunbhoy]

Shane Williams has brought out his own line of clothes

SW11 Clothing

Just like that big Shandypants Fran Cotton. Sheeesh!!
What next?

[Mich the Tester]

Just like that big Shandypants Fran Cotton. Sheeesh!!
What next?

Gavin Henson's designer lingerie?

[shaunbhoy]

Gavin Henson's designer lingerie?

Now Charlotte Church's...............MMMmmmmmm

[Mich the Tester]

You can argue all you want, but you can't prove it ergo facile argument. Lomu too would have benefited from the modern training methods. It's an age old argument esp with boxers and whilst it can be interesting is unprovable and therefore no more than a diversion over a few pints.

As does everybody. Lomu used a modern approach well before others; now everybody's using modern methods. Sure, he was good, but his speed has been exaggerated and he simply wouldn't plough through modern players the way he did then.

Campese was clever, but I don't believe he'd get away with half the tricks he played, simply because defences are well organised now, andd back in his day defence training was basically an afterthought, even at the highest levels. Now you have defence coaches, video analysis, well worked out defence theories, and perhaps even more important, many forwards are now just as quick as backs so there's nothing like as much space. Just look at the first try in this vid. If NZ defended like that now the whole back line would be dropped; it's shoddy, just what you expect from amateur teams. Dog legs everywhere, isolated tacklers, back row too slow to get across, no line of defence or second line of cover, all pressure applied on fly half and nothing on the centres, no coordinated rush including wings and outside centre starting outside their opposite number to push play back infield, I could go on. Good in their time, but shamateur days and professional days can hardly be compared.

Yes, Campese was good, but could anyone play that way today? No.

[SimonMac]

Now Charlotte Church's...............MMMmmmmmm

I have a good GIF for her, but I keep getting trouble for making threads NSFW!

[Gibbon]

As does everybody. Lomu used a modern approach well before others; now everybody's using modern methods. Sure, he was good, but his speed has been exaggerated and he simply wouldn't plough through modern players the way he did then.

You can't prove it.

Circa 1973 there was a boxing match.

Boxer X was bigger, stronger and @10 years younger than boxer Y
Both X and Y had recently fought boxer Z. Boxer X had knocked out boxer Z in 2 rounds and knocked him down numerous times in the first round. Boxer Y had lost to boxer Z over the distance and had his jaw broken.

The result is well known, but completely against the informed opinion. Unless Lomu was playing now at his peak all your definitive statements are no more than speculation and opinion, not fact.