Do you have to be a large man to play rugby as an adult? What positions can a smaller person play?

Question

Do you have to be a large man to play rugby as an adult? What positions can a smaller person play?

Answer 1

No, you can play as a half scrum, Fly Half, and also as a wing.

Answer 2

i guess it depends on if you mean short or skinny and your skills... shorter guys are good hookers.  but if you're skinny little and can run fast- wing, full back, sometimes flankers/ 8 men- if you're tough- it depends on your skills mostly.

Answer 3

If you mean British rugby the answer is not necessarily. There's a guy called a wing forward who scores a lot of the tries. He's usually  a smaller, fast guy. But it's a long time since I played.

Answer 4

Any where in the backline. It doesnt matter what the size of your body is its the size of your heart

Answer 5

if your talking about rugby league you can play a few postions like wing or half back (allen langer was only about 5'6")

Answer 6

maybe scrum half or wings..

Answer 7

no theres a few small players

Answer 8

Mate you don't need to be big at all. Me and my mate's, both 16, went to play for our towns men's team last season. We're in Yorkshire 2nd division and the quality is good and the players are biiiiiig. But my mates 5 foot 7, 9 and ahalf stone, and im not kidding u ive seen hikm dump 19 stone props.

If youve got it mentally, youve got it physically.

Answer 9

Anyone can play rugby for an amateur club for fun and if you're smaller than the others then you'll have to make up for it with pace and skill.

At the top level, unless you're extremely quick and elusive and/or extremely skillful and tough then you stand no chance against modern backlines where most players outside the fly-half weigh over 100 kilos now and I don't know of a forward who weighs under 100 kilos even at club level.

Being "large" is definitely a bonus when you're playing rugby as you're more likely to be able to withstand the shock of having people larger than average charging into you and trying to knock you over. This said, exceptions such as Peter Stinger and Shane Williams who are diminuitive by comparison don't seem to have a problem mixing it up with the biggest and the best.

There's no substitute for pace on the wings in rugby and many good scrum halves weigh in at around 80 kilos (13 stone-ish) so if you're particularly small but determined to play rugby to a reasonable level then I'd advise that you go for wing three-quarter (the paceman) or scrum half (supplier of possession to the backs and link between the backs and the forwards.

Being small in terms of height doesn't necessarily mean not being large. Some of the heaviest players in the game are props who stand at under 6ft and weigh over 120 kilos but generally speaking it's not a good idea to pile this kind of weight on if your physionomy isn't suited to it. Take a look at what you've got and choose your position according to what you think you might evolve into in terms of your physical build. Hopefully that doesn't mean you'll end up being fat and bearded which is where I'm headed if looking at your dad is a measure of this.