The fastest rugby players on the planet and the speeds they're clocking
As the sports cliché goes, there’s no substitute for speed. Rugby has had its fair share of flyers down the years; be it former Olympic hurdler Nigel Walker speeding down the wing for Wales in the 1990s, Springbok Bryan Habana in the noughties, or more recently England’s Jonny May, the sport has enjoyed some genuinely lightning-quick athletes. But who are the fastest rugby players on the planet?
What’s changed is how fast a rugby player runs no longer belongs in the realms of hearsay, hyperbole and conjecture. Now it’s largely a matter of some scientific certainty. While the 100m times were once the gold standard, now GPS units between player’s shoulder blades measure metres per second, capturing a ‘moment in time’ maximum velocity.
It leaves a lot less room for argument.
Speed testing in professional rugby typically involves 40 metre electronically timed runs, while GPS units are picking up maximum velocity attained during training sessions. As a result, you’re more likely to hear of about a player’s 40-metre time or ‘metres per second’ (m/s) stat. These can vary of course. ‘In game’ speeds, where the opportunity to reach maximum velocity, in the fifteen man code at least, is few and far between, are naturally less likely to reach does of a controlled environment in training.
Take the Rugby World Cup for example. According to Stats Sports, the average max speed of a rugby union back three players is around 9.1 metres a second (m/s) for a wing and about 9.2 m/s for a fullback. That’s the average maximum of speed of a player in that position, taken during live games. Those speeds are an average, so the top speed of the fastest players in each of those positions will have been significantly higher.
According to their numbers, South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe was able to maintain a speed of 33.66kmh over the course of one of his famous runs – a number different to his maximum velocity – which would have been higher again.
Former England flyer Christian Wade regularly ran top speeds of 11.1 to 11.2 m/s a second according to teammate Brendan Macken, who told Patrick McCarry’s Hard Yards podcast that: “He’s going about 11 metres per second [at top speed] and I don’t think any other rugby player is touching that. The really, really quick guys would be getting 10.5 or 10.6 while Christian is regularly getting 11 and sometimes hitting 11.1 and 11.2.”
Current England speedster Jonny May has been clocked at 10.49 m/s which was clocked during a 40 metre speed test in 2017. “I was gobsmacked because I had just tweaked my hammy the week before,” May said at the time.
Auckland Blues’ Rieko Ioane is fastest in the current All Blacks outfit, and apparently has hit 37kph, or 10.3 m/s +. According to ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, “Gilly (Nic Gill) has timed him and he’s running 35-37km/h.”
Perhaps the fastest man to play 15-a-side rugby meaningfully is Sebastien Carrat, a former track athlete who ran a PB in the 100m of 10.34 seconds. He played for the Brive in the 1990s and scored a lot of tries.
Sevens is a different kettle of fish of course, and merits discussion separately from the 15-man code. Sevens athletes – rugby union’s speed specialists – regularly hit ranges between 35 to 38kph (or 9.72 m/s to 10.55 m/s) on the HSBC World Series; speeds rarely seen in Test rugby.
USA Sevens specialist Carlin Isles, the former sprinter, has a lock on the ‘rugby’s fastest man’ moniker. Isles recorded a wind-assisted 100m PB of 10.13 clocked in 2012. In 2016 he clocked a legal 10.15 second effort at an athletic meet in California.
The fastest metre per second speed Isles has recorded on the pitch was a stunning 11.5m/s or 25.725 miles per hour (41.4 kph). That’s a full 3kph faster than the 37kph the American regularly hits at Sevens tournaments and it is unlikely anyone will ever run that fast on a rugby pitch again. Isles also bagged a 4.22 second 40-yard dash, timed during a brief stint at the Detroit Lions in the NFL, although it has never been entered into the official record books (it would equal the fastest time since records began).
That’s not to say the American is without competition. His title has been under threat of late thanks to the addition to Australia Seven team of fellow sprinter Trae Williams. Although we couldn’t source a m/s speed for the man known as ‘Quadzilla’, he has clocked a 10.1 100m in 2018, suggesting he’s almost certainly capable of running at 11 metres a second plus.
Jamaican sprinter Warren Weir also spent some time in that country’s Sevens programme in 2018. Although a 200m specialist, his PB for the 100m 10.02, which would technically have made him the fastest man in rugby at the time, even if he wasn’t playing at the game at an elite level and it was for a very brief period.
While rugby players ‘moment in time’ top speeds are inevitably extrapolated out as an average over 100m and compared to Usain Bolt’s 100m World Record, naturally even Isles would be left in the great man’s wake. Bolt, at his fastest in Berlin in 2009, hit a speed of 12.4 metres a second.
Rugby’s fastest players do compare favourably with other field sports however. In rugby league, Super League’s Warrington Wolves forward Daryl Clark hit 35.82kph, roughly 9.97 metres per second, during a match. Teammate and former code-hoping Sale Sharks wing Josh Charnley has also run 9.83 m/s.
In Association Football, PSG striker Kylian Mbappe is touted by many as football’s fastest player. The Frenchman has recorded speeds of 10.55 m/s (37.98kph), which put him in the mix with top rugby players. However it is Blackburn Rovers Tyler Magloire that can claim the bragging right here, the English man has been clocked at 10.6 m/s or 38.1kph.
Former rugby player Christian Wade was the third fastest in the NFL pre-season in 2019, clocking 21mph (33.8kph) dead playing for the Buffalo Bills, a speed just 0.1mph behind the fastest. While NFL players wear pads and helmets weighing 3-4kgs, it’s a still a good 2km behind the speeds top rugby sevens players record. The benchmark for speed in the NFL is the 40-yard dash, where each year the fastest draft prospects clock speeds under 4.4 seconds. In 2017, John Ross ran a 4.22 40-yard dash, an all-time record in the sport.
Here’s a list of reported times and metre per second speeds across the sport, all either reported by teammates, coaches or the players themselves. To be clear, this list is not necessarily a list of the top speeds ever run in rugby, rather a collection of legit times and speeds run by some of rugby’s fastest players.
RUGBY UNION XVS
Christian Wade 11.1 m/s
Adam Radwan 10.85 m/s
Louis Rees-Zammit RZ 10.8 m/s
Kieran Marmion 10.7 m/s
Jesse Mogg 10.6 m/s
Aaron Sexton 10.5 m/s
Jonny May 10.49 m/s
Barry Daly (Leinster) 10.44 m/s
Rieko Ioane 10.3+ m/s
Joe Cokanasiga 10.0 m/s +
Rory Scholes (Connacht) 10.0 m/s
Stephen Ferris 9.98 m/s
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 9.97 m/s
Simon Zebo (Munster) – 9.85 m/s
Marika Koribete 9.8m/s
Tommy Bowe 9.7 m/s
Alex Dunbar 9.4 m/s
40m SPRINT TIMES
Sosene Anesi 4.53
Bryan Habana 4.58
Rodney Davies 4.59
Shane Williams 4.66
Joe Rokococo 4.66
Sbu Nkosi 4.71
Toni Pulu 4.78
Mike Rowe 4.81
Charlie Sharples 4.82
George North 4.97
100m TIMES
Sebastien Carrat 10.34
Conan Sharman 10.38
Tonderai Chavanga 10.4
Nigel Walker 10.47
Brett Stapleton 10.51
Aaron Sexton 10.52
Sergeal Petersen 10.55
Seabelo Senatla 10.6
Ugo Monye 10.66
Doug Howlett 10.68
Pierre Spies 10.7
Tom Varndell 10.83
Thom Evans 11.26
Lionel Mapoe 11.4
*Edward Osei-Nketia 10.19, but hasn’t played professionally
SEVENS
Carlin Isles 11.5 m/s
Perry Baker 10.3+ m/s
Jordan Conroy 10.3+ m/s
Alosio Naduva 10.3+ m/s
Dan Norton 4.78 40m
SEVENS 100m
Warren Weir 10.01 100m*
Trae Williams 10.1 100m
Carlin Isles 10.15 100m
Perry Baker 10.58m 100m
*An Olympic silver medalist, Weir briefly switched from track to rugby in 2018 and featured for Jamaica in the Central American and Carribean Games that year.
Have a verified speed time for a player that we could add to the list? Email: ian@rugbypass.com
Comments on RugbyPass
smith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
36 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
36 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
36 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
36 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
36 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
36 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
36 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
36 Go to comments