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Scrumhalves: Michael Claassens, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana
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%.
Injuries to watch out for: Scrumhalves have the lowest injury rate of all rugby player positions. Nonetheless, they are still vulnerable to leg injuries as a result of running, swerving and side-stepping at speed, particularly torn tendons and ligaments of the ankle and knee. Injuries from being tackled hard at speed include fractures and sometimes concussion. Neck, shoulder, back and trunk injuries may also occur.
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