British players growing \u2013 nutrition and size<\/strong><\/p>\n Growth is driven by the changing attitudes to the sport. Where Rugby was once an amateur pursuit, professionalization in 1995 brought new money for players which meant more to spend on training and nutrition. RFU guidelines dictate that a player should consume 2.2-3g of protein per kg of bodyweight. For an 100kg player, that\u2019s between 220-300g of protein \u2013 around 5 times more than the average UK male.<\/strong><\/p>\n This increased knowledge surrounding nutrition means that players around the globe have packed on mass. For British players, the 20 years since professionalization have yielded a massive amount of growth. In 1994, the average weight of English players was 92.3kg \u2013 which by 2014 had increased by 12.8kg \u2013 more than two stone, to 105.1kg.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the RBS teams that have experienced this growth. To see it properly, it\u2019s worth studying the New Zealand All Blacks \u2013 perhaps the most famous and successful rugby team of all time. Between 1947 and 2015, the players experienced enormous growth \u2013 increasing by 6.93 cm and 20kg!<\/p>\n Props, typically the biggest men on the team, increased massively with a 24.5kg increase since 1947. Clearly, players are now far bigger than ever before.<\/p>\n This bigger, stronger player is also tackling more often. In the RBS six nations, players now tackle far more than they used to \u2013 even across short timescales. For example, in 2006 there were 171 tackles successfully completed but by 2014 there had been 250! That\u2019s an increase of 79 tackles in just 10 years.<\/p>\n Rugby has changed heavily over the years.<\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/prooo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/over.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe effect on tackling<\/h2>\n