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
When Sth Africa had Joost and Honiball at 9 and 10 they were almost impenetrable in and around the ruck. Even Jonah couldn't make headway in those channels so they were very hard to get in behind. They had a fantastic side who played a fast, rugged style which won them the Tri Nations during that period. That side would beat their current mob of which I have no doubt.
2 Go to commentsAwesome win by the NZ U20s. They were excellent in the 2nd half with some very patient and accurate phase play, a dominant scrum and decent lineout. Simpson controlled things very well at 10 and it was amazing to see the team maintain their composure and score points when he was in the sin bin for a very harsh yellow card.
2 Go to commentscome on Toulouse
1 Go to commentsNot unless the cartels get interested in rugby like they did w football
1 Go to commentsYes Dobbo, you were absolute crap. Start respecting the ball and possession. If you played rugby instead of basketball against the Ospreys, you would have been n the top two now, not fifth! If you attractively and entertainingly throw the ball around for 80 minutes and lose, WE DON’T FKN ENJOY IT!
1 Go to commentsWe need a system of transfer fees. A club shouldn’t just get to sign Will Harrison when he’s been funded in NSW his entire rugby life because they have more money.
86 Go to commentsThat the pain experienced by SH clubs poached mercilessly by NH friends being now felt by the non-elite NH clubs delivers me an element of schadenfreude but if it expands the amount of poachees and opens the eyes of those new to the group then it serves a purpose. In my pessimistic (realistic?) moments I see Oz clubs in the future acting solely as feeders for France and Japan. It’s a real possibility without change
86 Go to commentswhy is this garbage rival sport that’s poaching rugby talents being promoted on a rugby website backed by world rugby again?
5 Go to comments“Ou Lem” leading that ‘98 team to a 13-3 victory was the stuff of legend! Especially since we hadn’t beaten them for many years. 10/12/13 combo of Honiball, Pieter Muller & Andre Snyman were tough as nails! I remember screaming my head off in the early hours of the morning & my brother hitting a hole through one of the bedroom doors🤭😂
2 Go to commentsWhatever about 2017 - it's seven years ago and irrelevant now. In 2021 New Zealand needed a numerical advantage for 75% of the game and what was then the largest home advantage crowd in the history of the sport in order to just _barely_ beat England.
3 Go to commentsBoth cards were harsh. Yet again highlighting rugby's inconsistencies and the absurd effect of cards
2 Go to commentsExcellent game management in the last 15 or so minutes to close it out. Aussie got a bit panicky.
2 Go to commentsWhile all this is going on… I’ve been thinking more about the NFL draft system and how to make the commercial elements of the game more sustainable for SA teams who precariously live on the fringe of these developments. SA teams play in Europe now, and are welcome, because there’s a novelty to it. SA certainly doesn’t bring the bucks (like a Japan would to SR) but they bring eyes to it. But if they don’t perform (because they don’t have the money like the big clubs) - it’s easy come easy go… I think there is an element of strategic drafting going on in SA. Where the best players (assets) are sort of distributed amongst the major teams. It’s why we’re seeing Moodie at the Bulls for example and not at his homegrown Western Province. 20-30 years ago, it was all about playing for your province of birth. That has clearly changed in the modern era. Maybe Moodie couldn’t stay in the cape because at the time the Stormers were broke? Or had too many good players to fit him in? Kistchoff’s sabbatical to Ireland and back had financial benefits. Now they can afford him again (I would guess). What I am getting at is - I think SA Rugby needs to have a very strong strategy around how teams equitably share good youth players out of the youth structures. That is SA’s strong point - a good supply of good players out of our schools and varsities. It doesn’t need to be the spectacle we see out of the states, but a system where SA teams and SA rugby decide on where to draft youth, how to fund this and how to make it that it were possible for a team like the Cheetahs (for example) to end up with a team of young stars and win! This is the investment and thinking that needs to be happening at grassroots to sustain the monster meanwhile being created at the top.
86 Go to commentsGreat win - but very poor officiating yet again. Even the Aussie commentators slammed the YC decisions.
2 Go to commentsThe game where it felt like RSA was going to lose the most was the England game in my view. Heart in throat after the Farrell drop-goal…Amazing that the boks overcame 3 times in a row…not likely to be repeated ever in my view Also the boys looked emotionally spent in the England game in the 1st half That said, why was World Rugby and Beaumont allowed to stack the pools in England’s favour? Toughest opponents on that side of the draw were Fiji, Argentina (implode central) and Auckland Girls 2nd team
58 Go to commentsOnline trolls - the only ppl who the Crusaders can beat
2 Go to commentsDefinitely some greater nous by the Walleroos and it will take a bit of time for Jo Yapp to have a lasting affect. Canada are a forward dominated physical team and only the top 3 teams can match them, though not so sure about BF’s forwards. Many of Canada’s forwards earn their living in the English PWR, the breeding ground for the Red Roses amazing strength in depth. The next PAC4 matches will be interesting.
1 Go to commentsIs the Club World Cup and the World League, in combination, going to make or break world Rugby? I personally think it’s too much. Established tournaments and competitions’s significance is going to be drowned out by “the new shiney Mall built just down the street”.
86 Go to commentsLoved Carr‘s post match interview. “No, I don’t think so Jean. But thank you.” Good kid. Louw a certain feature for the Boks this year.
1 Go to comments“Where is the challenge to Leinster, Toulouse and La Rochelle likely to come from in future?” Racing 92 ? This has not been a good season for them this year, but they have a very strong squad……players like Woki, Nyakane, Kolisi, Le Roux, Lauret(these two older now), Le Garrec, Fickou, Tuisova, Arundell. With the addition next year of Owen Farrell, that is some firepower to mount a serious challenge ? And with Stuart Lancaster having a year under his belt, things should go better. Northampton will be a year wiser, more streetwise too. And I would expect one or two of the South African sides to mount a more serious challenge, but that would depend on keeping more players at home
86 Go to comments