World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson has revealed how the sport has changed since his retirement.
Once upon a time, he had the world at his feet. He was playing the game in a way that no one else could, as he forged the next stage in the evolution of a fly-half.
Having been retired for over a decade, he’s now had time to reflect on just how much rugby has progressed since his playing days.
When asked by ITV what’s different about the players now, compared to those from his era, the 46-year-old said: “Probably the inevitable speed, physicality, size, which creates this kind of extra level of power.”
But why have these attributes increased? Well, Wilkinson believes that each generation before is “opening the door” to something new, meaning that the generation below is having “more time to go through that door and do something with it”.
What does that mean for the sport? According to the former England star, players are now reading the game differently, with a toolbelt of skills to call upon.
“It’s no longer your props just pushing the scrum,” he continued.
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“It’s like, ‘well, no, you’re a prop, and you’re actually out on the wing’.
“You look at the French team, you’ve got those guys doing incredible things. And that’s kind of this skilling up, as well as this physicality.
“But with that, all the training and the preparation, so, you know, it’s going in a great direction, as long as it’s still a game that unleashes this inner uniqueness that these players are bringing.
“Because that’s when everyone walks home and thinks, ‘wow, you know, what was that about? That was awesome.’
Is there a ceiling, or are we constantly evolving?
With constant improvement since the emergence of the professional game, surely there has to come a stage where skill levels simply plateau? Wilkinson, however, claims that a spark of ‘revolution’ can still move things forward dramatically.
“You’re always looking for that next generation to bring that energy of revolution, for someone to spot a hole in the game and say, ‘this hasn’t been done before’,” he said.
“You’ve got a Dupont who’s kind of been doing that. He’s probably the most recent revolutioniser of a game, where you sort of go, ‘Is that really possible to do that?’
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“Like you’re kicking off both feet, you’re seeing things that we’re not seeing. Your consistency at this level. You’re making tackles in the corner where you shouldn’t be able to stop that guy scoring, then you’re getting up and doing this.
“It is going to keep coming.
“And with that physicality, there always be this challenge of like, when people get over physical, it leaves space for people like that, the wisdom to come in. So I think there’ll always be space for that next level of revolution.
“The more it becomes physical, the more it becomes too kind of straightforward smash crash, the more I think it’s it has a ceiling, but players are going to constantly look for that little gap and where they can get themselves in the game.”