Required skills: The scrumhalf, with his role of feeding the ball into scrums and retrieving it from the base of scrums, rucks and mauls, stays close to the ball and acts as the link between the forwards and the backs. He tends to have a relatively small, compact build to match his speed, agility and balance, and must be able to pass and kick fast and accurately. In addition, he should be good at ‘reading’ the game, because he needs to rapidly assess available options for attacking the opposition’s defence.

Required fitness level: A scrumhalf should manage 1.68 seconds in the 10 metres, 5.25 in the 40 metres, 130 kg in the bench press, 160kg in the squat and 65cm in the vertical jump. Body fat should be no more than 9%.