| Ranking | Name | Nationality | Position | Age | Height(m) | Weight(kg) | Club | Tries | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dupont | France | Scrumhalf | 27 | 1.74 | 86 | Stade Toulousain | 11 | 21 | 3 |
| 2 | Savea | New Zealand | Backrow | 30 | 1.90 | 103 | Hurricanes | 6 | 9 | 4 |
| 3 | Du Toit | South Africa | Backrow | 32 | 2.00 | 116 | Toyota Verblitz | 5 | 17 | 6 |
| 4 | Doris | Ireland | Backrow | 26 | 1.93 | 106 | Leinster Rugby | 7 | 24 | 5 |
| 5 | Etzebeth | South Africa | Secondrow | 32 | 2.03 | 126 | Sharks | 3 | 19 | 6 |
| 6 | Sheehan | Ireland | Hooker | 25 | 1.91 | 110 | Leinster Rugby | 14 | 22 | 6 |
| 7 | Penaud | France | Winger | 27 | 1.88 | 97 | Bordeaux | 28 | 23 | 7 |
| 8 | Jordan | New Zealand | Utility Back | 26 | 1.88 | 94 | Crusaders | 10 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Kolbe | South Africa | Winger | 30 | 1.71 | 76 | None | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | Keenan | Ireland | Fullback | 28 | 1.85 | 92 | Leinster Rugby | 3 | 15 | 4 |
Top 100 Rugby Players 2023/24 Analysis
1 Introduction
The RugbyPass Top100 list is said to comprise itself of the 100 best rugby players in the world. This list is an annual ranking system where the rugby digital media company reviews players yearly performances across various leagues and international competitions and games such as the European Champions Cup and the Six Nations. The list takes into account a players impact on the game which includes statistics such as tries and tackling but also leadership, form and match wins.
This document will analyse the the rankings made for by Rugby Pass for the 2023/24 season and will look into some notable differences between players within the rankings and will also look at the key information surrounding the best 100 rugby players in the world. The main data looked at was players age, position, height in meters, weight in kilograms, nationality, club team, minutes played, tries scored, points scored, matches won, matches lost. This data offers key insights into the best rugby players in the world in the 2023/24 season.
Looking at table 1 below, gives us a brief overview of the type of data within the top 100 rankings. The table shows the top 10 players in the Rugby Pass world rankings.The specific data outlined in the table can offer a better understanding into why each player is given their specific ranking and could also potentially highlight the blueprint for a successful rugby player. Key areas in the top 10 such as height and weight and number of tries, wins and losses can be seen as indicators of success.
2 Age Profile
The data shows that the age of the top 100 players range from 21-35 years old. The chart below shows that the most common age for these top players was 27 years, with 16 players falling into that age bracket and the least common age being 22, with only 1 player being that age. Most notably, majority of the top players in the world are shown to be between the ages of 24-32, with 83 of the top 100 players falling into this age bracket.
2.1 Positional Age Ranges
When it comes to the age profiles of the different positions, the two box plot graphs below show the differences in age ranges of the forward positions and the back positions. The forward data shows that the utility forward is the oldest position with back rows and hookers being on the younger side with the majority of the players in those two positions being between the ages 26 to 31.The position of prop is seen to have the largest age range of the forwards alongside back rows, although majority of props can be seen to be slightly older than back rows, this may be down to the fact that back row is a position that relies more on speed and athleticism compared to props that rely more on size and strength. These positions range between the ages of 23 and 34.
The data for the backs as seen below shows centers and scrumhalves to be the oldest positions with majority of the players in these positions being between 27 and 32 years of age. The youngest player group can be identified as the wingers with the youngest winger being 21 and majority of the players at that position falling between the ages of 22 and 29, again this may be down to the fact that wingers require much more speed and athleticism than the other positions with the older position groups of scrumhalf’s rely more on technical ability and centers possibly relying more on size and strength.
3 Nationality
The data shows that when it comes to the different nationalities of the top100 players, all 100 players only come from 13 countries. Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga and Wales. The countries found to have the most players within the top100 were Ireland and South Africa with 18 each with the next closest nation being England with 15, as seen in the bar chart below. The nation with the least amount of players in the top100 was Samoa with 1. These numbers would make sense paired with the worlds nations team rankings at the time with Ireland and South Africa being 1 and 2.
The second graph below is a box plot of the number of matches played by each player within the top100 for their respective nations.The data from this graph shows that majority of the players had played between 5 and 15 matches for their country within the season with the lowest being only 1 match from a french player and 18 from an English player. This data shows how the 100 best players in the world in majority tend to play a high amount of international games per season, with top teams such as Ireland and South Africa having their top players playing between 7 and 15 international games.
4 Clubs
Similarly to the national teams the club sides with the more players ranked in the top100 tend to be the better teams. A total of 40 clubs make up the the top 100 players, as can be seen in the bar chart graph below. The club with the highest amount of players in the top100 are Leinster Rugby with 14 players followed by Stade Toulousain(Toulouse) with 9 players. 19 clubs make up the teams with the lowest amount of players in the top 100, with a total of 1 player.
5 Positions
When analyzing the position types of the top100 players further, it can be seen in the graph below that the position with the most amount of players is the backrow with 20 players followed by the centers with 14 and the props with 11. The position with the least amount of representation in the top100 is the utility forward with 2 and the scrumhalf with 4. The results shown in the table below may offer insight into what position groups have the greatest influence in a rugby game as with certain positions having more within the top 100 players in the world than others shows that players in the backrow for example, overall could be considered to be a better position group than scrumhalf’s.
Following on from previously mentioned, analysis of player positions is important. The two graphs below show the individual players in the top100 height and weight in relation to position group and ranking. When looking at the forwards it can be identified that the second rows are the tallest, ranging around 2 meters tall and hookers are the shortest, ranging around 1.8-1.9 meters. The lightest forwards are seen to be the backrow at between 95-120kg and the props are the heaviest at between 115-150kg. This is to be expected considering the physical demands and requirements of each position, with regards to the ranking it can be observed that the higher ranked second rows tend to be heavier and taller, the higher ranked props tend to be lighter, and the higher ranked backrows and hookers tend to taller than the others.
When analyzing the backs height and weight in relation to the position group and ranking it can be seen below that centers are the heaviest position ranging from around 90-105kg. Scrumhalf’s are the lightest players ranging between 80kg and 90kg. These two positions can also be identified as the tallest and shortest back positions too, with the centers ranging from around 1.7m to 1.95 meters and scrumhalf’s ranging from 1.7m to 1.8 meters. In regards to the rankings, the better scrumhalfs were smaller and lighter, the higher ranked flyhalf’s and centers seemed to be taller and heavier, Fullbacks and utility backs seemed to be higher ranked in the middle ground of height and weight for their positions, not being too tall or too heavy. Finally the wingers, this position group showed no real trend when it came to ranking apart from either being very short and light or being tall and heavy, with one of the highest ranked wingers being the shortest and lightest of the whole position group. These results can also be expected like the forward positions, each back position group requires specific physical and athletic demands such as speed and agility or strength and power.
6 Wins and Losses
When looking at the the differences between the top 10 ranked players and the bottom 10 ranked players it is visible in table 2 and 3 below that there is a difference between wins and losses. The top 10 ranked players tend to have more wins (164-158) and less losses (47-95) than the bottom 10 ranked players. The top 10 also have a considerable number of more tries (90), than the bottom 10 (75). Finally the top 10 also outscore the bottom 10 in total points (450-396). This alone showing how there is a large difference when it comes to game success and scoring success between higher and lower ranked players in the top100.
| Ranking | First Name | Surname | Total Points | Tries | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antoine | Dupont | 55 | 11 | 21 | 3 |
| 2 | Ardie | Savea | 30 | 6 | 9 | 4 |
| 3 | Pieter-Steph | Du Toit | 25 | 5 | 17 | 6 |
| 4 | Caelen | Doris | 35 | 7 | 24 | 5 |
| 5 | Eben | Etzebeth | 15 | 3 | 19 | 6 |
| 6 | Dan | Sheehan | 70 | 14 | 22 | 6 |
| 7 | Damian | Penaud | 140 | 28 | 23 | 7 |
| 8 | Will | Jordan | 50 | 10 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Cheslin | Kolbe | 15 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | Hugo | Keenan | 15 | 3 | 15 | 4 |
| Ranking | First Name | Surname | Total Points | Tries | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | Zander | Fagerson | 5 | 1 | 17 | 13 |
| 91 | Duhan | van-der-Merwe | 90 | 18 | 16 | 14 |
| 92 | George | Furbank | 71 | 10 | 18 | 6 |
| 93 | Fletcher | Newell | 5 | 1 | 12 | 12 |
| 94 | Jac | Morgan | 10 | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| 95 | Alex | Mitchell | 60 | 12 | 24 | 8 |
| 96 | Tom | Wright | 60 | 12 | 17 | 5 |
| 97 | Uluoano | Seuteni | 30 | 6 | 13 | 12 |
| 98 | Dewi | Lake | 55 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| 99 | Uini | Antonio | 10 | 2 | 22 | 9 |
7 Conclusion
Overall the analysis of the 23/24 top100 data has shown interesting trends in player demographics, with most top rugby players being aged between 24 and 32, and shows how physical attributes like height and weight can effect how successful a player may be at a certain position. Additionally, the data highlights the dominance of countries like Ireland and South Africa, as well as club teams like Leinster having majority of the top 100 players in the world in their teams. Finally, this data has shown that the RugbyPass rankings may be useful for understanding what makes a player successful in the sport of rugby.