Went to high school with tonderai Chavanga (prince Edward Zimbabwe). This man was a freak of nature. I remember our biggest rivals (Saint george college) asked for a drug test on him when he closed a 30 meter gap on their faster runner to win a 4 x 100 relay for our school. 15 years on, I still remember that day....absolute legend.
@@itsinthetreesitscoming7431 Let's say a good school kid, top speed puts him around 12 sec or 12.5 for the 100. If Chavanga closed him down from a 30m advantage (depends on if he ran anchor or not), that has to have him close to 10 or 10.5. As a _child_ !!! Very impressive.
That was the point I was making - i.e its bollocks....I'm saying 'their fastest runner' would have to be running around 14.5 seconds to be closed down from 30 metres out
@@itsinthetreesitscoming7431 Ah, I get you now. Memories are fickle things. Perhaps it wasn't all of 30 meters, but OP just said to suggest "a really big lead" (even 20m in a 100 is huge). Chavanga did hold national schools and national youth sprint records, I think. He is seriously quick, whichever way you look at it.
@@anesupasipanodya Not exactly a fair race, though. Habana was turning and from a standing start, and Ngwenya had a head of steam up already. That Ngwenya try was tasty, though, and he did skin him on the day. I think Habana has the head-to-head flat line speed advantage over him though. Habana plays on the wing in my GOAT team.
Played against Ngwenya in 2012... to this day it’s that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen someone cover ground on a rainy wet day... field was muddy too. Sireli Bobo wouldn’t be too far off this list either. Was a really humble guy off the field too.
Really enjoyed his video, well done for compiling it. Obviously the times will be debatable but it’s the best compilation of rugby speedsters I’ve seen on RU-vid. A couple of points of correction though, Howlett was quicker than Rockocoko but was a 10.9 runner. Habana’s PB was an 11.0 and the fastest recorded 100m time from his generation of springboks was actually Pierre Spies who clocked a 10.6 when he was 19. Moreover, Taku Ngwenya was a 10.5 runner which also explains how he burnt Habana in ‘07. Chavanga and Isles are definitely 1 & 2 though!
The way I saw it, Ngwenya certainly went past Habana, but it was not an apples for apples comparison. Habana was from a standing start and turning, while Ngwenya was already hitting his line speed. Seriously quick, though!
No Habana ran a hand Time of 10.4, Chavanga ran a stadium clocked time of 10.27. Spies also ran a school hand timed 100m of 10.6, but was 20+ kg lighter. Habana had crazy acceleration and a good top speed, Chavanga had crazy acceleration and crazy top speed. You can't always compare runners on a rugby field, as they run around for 2hours on a field and any hard sprint would kill your legs, recovering from a sprint takes longer than recovering from a long jog.
Those tiger alike reflexes from Umaga at 0:15 to 0:18 are insane! He steals the ball, evades a tackle AND makes a great pass to Howlett! He was a damn predator.
I’ve seen all the wingers ever Grace the rugby field , but when I watch Rupeni Caucaunibuca , he is make all the wingers looks average . Speed, power and balance . He just glide through the defenders effortlessly. The lord of Wings.
No way Caucau runs a 10.38. He's gracefully quick, but not 10.38 quick. That would have him running a 10.1 if he were slimmer than the always unfit way he was. I'm Fijian and this is not hate on Caucau, but he's no 10.38 100m quick.
he actually beat every winger for pace he played against, EVERY, i don't remember a single time a winger or fullback was actually able to catch him, he had a low center of gravity so also impossible to tackle UNLESS you go for his legs, thus why he brushed ppl aside in those runs..
Comet styles I'm pretty sure I seen a lock catch him once haha Dave Dillion, Caucau was quick in his first couple of years and gradually got slower but still a great player
Zimbabwe, we have two in the top 10 fastest of all time. Watching Tonde in High School you knew that he was gonna be a star. It's a shame with injury and all he could hv had a much more successful career than he did. I think the High School he played for (Prince Edward 99-2000) toured South Africa and won all their tour games against the top South African sides (including Pearl Gym). As yet, I do not think another Zimbabwean school has repeated this since the 1999-2000 season
Pierre Spies had an official time of 10.7 when he was still at school. I wonder how fast he was at his peak. I still believe he should have been a winger or outside centre with his pace, power and size.
@@darthmong7196 exactly there is no way we know the real times, since they dont have anyone testing it other than the stafs from their teams wich can lie about it
Sabastian Carrat 10.34 official, Nigel Walker 10.47 official stop putting times up that are not official anyone could run a 10.6 with a serious tail wind of 5ms when they only run 10.99. Monye is official 10.6 on the power of 10. Tonderai Chavhanga should be on the IAAF but he is not so most likely not a sanction event. Not disclaiming they are fast but you need to have perspective. Chucking out times is disrespectful to a lot of sprinters I know who are 10.1 10.2. This is a quote from Howletts WIKI page. He calls upon his speed as a sprinter (he once clocked a personal best 10.94 seconds for the 100 meters in an under 20 athletics championship in 1998) to great effect in his rugby career.
disrespectful, maybe to ego monsters who think youtube videos should bow down to their genetics. and a tail wind of 5m doesnt shave but a several hundredths off. humans are not kites so if you think the average person on a rugby pitch can hit 23 24 mph/ 11meters/ second you are delusional.
@@josephmuni6196 Have you ever sprinted before because if you think a 5m/s tail wind is a few hundredths you are way off. case in point James Williams on the power of 10. 2018 10.43 1.9m/s wind same year 10.23 6.7 M/s wind. two tenths off his pb when his pb was just with in legal wind. Do i think the average person can run 23-24 MPH when did I say that what are you talking about?
So actually none of them even compare to the fastest rugby player ever with an official professional world record, that being ken Irvine who was a league player in Australia. The pros ran 100yds back in the day and he was timed at 9.3s which equalled the WR of the time. On modern track he'd be a sub 10s sprinter and is officially the fastest rugby player ever
Jongi Nokwe was one of the quickest men ever on Earth let alone Rugby players. He ran a 4.42 40m he’d have been surely near the low 10s. Crazy quick he was, too bad one of Monyes career highlights of speed had Nokwe in it.
Always easier to chase than to run with the ball under 1 arm. Plus I doubt Ugo actually ran more than 40 at full pelt. I distinctly remember worrying about his hamstrings because he looked like he was tightening up.
@@denisemccarthy5384 In 2009 only 2 men in South Africa had ever run 10.1, and in the noughties only 2 broke 10.2 at any point. The state of professional South African sprinting was pretty dire until Akani Simbine. So whilst no professional SA sprinter could get within half a second of the world record, it's a little ambitious to say a rugby player was one of the fastest men in the world.
Michael Cleary from the 1960s was a Commonwealth Games medalist over 100 yards, and Ken Irvine in the same era was the world record holder for 100 yards professional sprinting. at 9.3 seconds. I suppose we could include Dwain Chambers who had a rugby league trial, and having sub-10s times for 100m is certainly faster than anyone in this list - though personally I wouldn't count him as a serious rugby player.
There is no way Byan Habana is faster than Takudzwa Ngwenya. Look at 2:47 he is leaving Habana for dead. and then the next fastest man on the list is the same Bryan Habana...hahaha
@@Stroh538 So in other words not only is Takudzwa Ngwenya faster than Habana, his attacking line running is poking holes in Habanna's ability to percieved that the attacker might take defensive action ( sidestep ). Bare in mind that running with the all makes you a lot slower
@@Thebudokid87 no, my point is, Habana has a faster 100m time than Ngwenya, but Ngwenya did a well executed inside outside sidestep, virtually impossible for a cross defender no matter who it is, to know what the person with ball in hand will do, the inside outside made Habana stop nearly dead in his tracks, now you have a man who runs a 10.5 on 100m already on speed and you have a man who runs a 10.4 (some say 10.2 has been recorded) that has to catch him from stand still in the matter of 25meters. It'll never happen. That deals with the speed issue, when it comes to skills, please dont even mention these two in the same sentence. One has broken almost every record out there and can me named along side Lomu as the best wing in the world, the other, half the world dont even know who he is.
Would be a completely different list if it was only 15 a side, high ranking international team wingers. Dwain Chambers had a go at rugby does that make him the fastest rugby winger of all time?
Sebastian Carrat France official 10.34 from IAAF he was also 6.6 in the 60m seriously fast. Nigel walker was 10.47 official at power of 10 website. others to look for supposedly Joely Vidiri 10.5 fijian sprint champion not on IAAF. He was on the other wing to Lomu and much faster, he was cut down with the same kidney problems as Lomu and halted has career. Tonderai Chavhanga 10.27 (not on IAAF) Cauca not on IAAF. I don't think people realise it take serious talent to run sub 10.5 and also a lot of training. People chuck these times out but I have trained with Olympians and trust me 10.2 is not something you just walk up to and do.
Pretty sure that when Nigel Walker first switched to rugby at 29 years old, pundits/players/fans asked how well he would adapt to the change, the training etc. What they all forgot is that he had been training as an Olympic standard athlete for a decade already, training 3x per day 6 days per week. Whilst Rugby Union was still training twice per week as an amateur sport.
@@tombutcher3021 talent nah, you have to basically have two variation of active actn 3 genes , high pelvis, perfect diet for turnover and stride length that allows for 10.2 speed. yeah you have to work hard as hell but very few people who work hard as hell will break 11.2 you need a lot of type 2 fibers in your hamstrings to go faster.
@@dawiebenjamin3249 Both were rapid, but I doubt those times as the SA national record was 10.26 for most of the 80's. Reinach although a sprinter, had no official time for 100m but specialised in the longer sprints.
Bit of a fail mate, You missed the quickest rugby winger ever, Nigel Walker of Cardiff and Wales. This lot are quite pedestrian in comparison. He qualified for the 1984 Olympics 110m hurdles and got to the semi final, he also ran 7.6 for 60m hurdles in the World indoor championship and 22.4 for the 200 hurdles in the European championships. but of course he's Welsh, you would'nt be interested in him.
How do you miss Nigel Walker? Actual Olympic sprinter and the only one who actually has a real 100m time. Oh, and anyone else from more than 15 years ago of course.
Peniasi Dakuwaqa runs the 100m at a personal best of 10.09 seconds. He plays rugby and league in the Cook Islands and isn't even a pro. To make it even more scary is he is only 23 years old now
sevenhelmets what made him extra quick was not just the speed though, it was his speed of mind ie. anticipation for the intercept which allowed his acceleration to put him way ahead before anyone had a chance
David Kelliher habana was trotting/strafing sideways/backwards whilst ngwenya was moving forward, also carrying the ball doesn't slow you down that much, it's not like football. Plus that was 1 instance, as you can see there are a few clips of each guy
Sonny some of my favourite players there! (Yes, I like speed hehehe). If we’re talking pure speed, I’m not sure if Jason Robinson belongs there, but he probably made more breaks and tries than many on the list. Nice one 👍🏾
I presume the list was based on official times, & there is 1clear reason why I don't like it: monye is halfway up the list, yet you see nokwe turn around, accelerate & close the gap down, yet he's not even o the list - yes monye may not have been running at full face, certainly for the last 10-20m. Also people should note the size of players eg. habana (short & stocky), vs baker (exact opposite: tall, super thin & lanky)
The fastest rugby union player would be Nigel Walker of Wales (1993-1998) previously an international high hurdler who won World and European Indoor 60m hurdles bronze medals. Best 60m flat time of 6.65 would leave most other wingers for dead. 110 hurdles pb of 13.51....60 hurdles, 7.65, flat 100 that he rarely ran, 10.47.
Sinnott Liam, Jan harm van Wyk, played for free state in super rugby, late 90s to early 2000s. S A team. Second at Sa champs in 100m , 10.41. Currie cup final, 1997, runs around James Small, who himself was 5 th at s a champs early 90s, 10.54. You can view this match on yt, this happens last couple minutes. You will see a player with real speed.
Bit of a false analysis really. Its not a standing start and Jason Robison and lomu would be on here. To Give you a better idea how fast at a running start they are Usain Bolt did a split time of 7.9 seconds in the relay around 2 seconds off his standing start time so these guys are in the 12s barrier I did 12.5s at school when I was 15 so there not that quick
Precisely.. There seems to be many people in the comments confusing top international rugby finishers with ex track and field athletes that had a go at playing rugby.
If the USA had our NFL DBs, LBs, RBs, WR, and S playing ruby. No one in the world could ever beat us. Be glad for the NFL all the ruby powers in the world.
Thats just simply not true... Rugby players are fast as fuck, and way fucking harder... The USA will never be at the top, not even with your cute little NFL players. Btw it's rugby, not ruby.
The average american is small and slow compared to the average Fijian, kiwi, afrikaner, etc. Keep that in mind. Although i do wish america would get more in to rugby coz yall got some fast black people
That's because NFL players are hyper-specialised. Each player just does one thing. A rugby wing, however, must be fast, be able to step, be able to pass, be able to receive, be able to kick, be able to ruck, be able to tackle...and crucially...be able to do all of that for 80mins...
Apluks , no, kak ,man, no olympics anything, 200 m a bit under 21sec, not 20 sec. 400 m 45.01. In 1980s. Was sa recordholder in 400. I ran against him once or twice. I should know.
This doesn't really seem to be the fastest rugby players, just the best at utilising their speed. Sosene Anesi, Brett Stapleton, Francis Fainifo are faster than a lot of these guys. You need more than just speed to be able to make the most of it though.
You are forgetting Nigel Walker who played for Wales. I'm sure he was a sub 10.5 sprinter. Shit at rugby but fucking lethal if all he had to do was catch and run it in.
