So, the other day, I got curious about who the absolute biggest guys in rugby are, or maybe were. You see these massive dudes on the pitch, right? And I started wondering, who actually tops the list, height-wise mostly, because “biggest” can mean a few things.
My first thought went to maybe some of the big South African locks or something, those guys always look huge. But I wasn’t sure, just a gut feeling. So, I decided to do a little digging, just out of personal interest, you know? Didn’t spend ages on it, just a quick look around while having my coffee.
My Little Search
I basically just started searching online, typing in things like “tallest rugby player ever” and similar stuff. You get a lot of different names popping up, some current, some from back in the day.
Pretty quickly, one name kept appearing for the “tallest international” title. Richard Metcalfe. Played for Scotland, apparently.
- This guy was listed at 7 feet tall (that’s 213 cm)!
- Can you imagine? That’s seriously towering over everyone else, especially in the line-out. Gave him a big advantage, I bet.
So, Metcalfe seems to hold that record for international players. That really surprised me, 7 feet is just massive for rugby.
Then I saw mentions of some other really tall players, especially when looking at club level, like Super Rugby. Two names came up there:
- Andries Bekker from South Africa.
- Rory Arnold from Australia.
These guys are also giants, listed around the 6 foot 11 or 7 foot mark too, right up there with Metcalfe. It seems the second row is definitely where the tall guys hang out, which makes sense for line-outs.
So yeah, that was my little journey into finding the giants of rugby. It wasn’t some massive research project, just satisfying a bit of curiosity. Turns out, Richard Metcalfe seems to be the benchmark for tallest international player, with Bekker and Arnold right there in the mix, especially in Super Rugby history. Crazy how tall some athletes are.
