England are deep into pre-World Cup training as we speak, with the players being put through the wringer with fitness tests, gym workouts, and gameplay drills. A video has today surfaced showing the England backs during a sprint training exercise, which gives us a genuine insight into the speed that some of these lads possess.
Professional players have plenty of data-capturing equipment on them nowadays giving us details on the distance they’re running, the metres per second they’re sprinting, and even the balls now have smart chips in them which details how long a box kick remains in the air.
The real question people want to know, however, is who would win in a race?
Well, fortunately for you, we boffins at RugbyDump have spent the past hour with a stopwatch in hand working that all out for you.
Unable to capture both Murley and Cokanasiga’s time, we have decided that they’re hovering around about the speed of light – but for those we could collect times on the video below, we have done so.
View this post on Instagram
In first place, not known for his out-and-out pace, Caden Murley has proved many people wrong with this insane display of speed, which when you combine this with his powerful running and game-reading abilities is a pretty frightening thought for any defender.
England flyer Jonny May was always expected to be high on this list, but will perhaps be a bit disappointed not to top the list considering his trademark speed. That being said, keeping almost toe to toe with a man ten years his junior is nothing to be ashamed of.
Centre’s Joe Marchant, Guy Porter and Henry Slade found themselves ‘funnily enough’ in the centre of the pack with respectable times between 6 and 7 seconds. Both Marchant and Porter appeared to be pushing themselves to the max, whereas Slade was characteristically relaxed as he glided over the finish line.
Coming up the rear was fullback Freddie Steward who looked as though he had spent the past 5 hours catching high balls from Kyle Sinckler’s boot, and just ahead of him in the rankings was young scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet chasing from behind.
Find the full rankings below:
Caden Murley: 5.74
Jonny May: 5.79
Joe Marchant: 6.06
Guy Porter: 6.19
Henry Slade: 6.69
Jack van Poortvliet: 6:81
Freddie Steward: 6.94
Sign In