Whos the fastest player in Irish rugby?

jack01986

Right so who is it? I was thinking it might be Kearney, Fitzgerald or Earls from what Ive seen anyway these three seem to be the fastest to me.

Digifriendly

Fionn Carr seems pretty quick to me.

Otacon

John Hayes

Snickers Man

Otacon wrote: »

John Hayes

Nah, mate. That's momentum you're thinking of.

M = velocity x MASS

fifth

Fitzgeralds quite fast, so is kearney..

(tommy bowe can be quick too )

PhatPiggins

funkyflea wrote: »

Fitzgeralds quite fast, so is kearney..

(tommy bowe can be quick too )

Are you talking about David Kearney because Rob has little or no real pace.

Otacon

If we are talking about straight line speed then behind John Hayes would be either Earls or Carr, I think Fitz is close but I don't think I have seen him go full pelt for very long, he tends to jink around.

jack01986

Ye I remember reading somewhere that Carr is pretty quick. I thought Rob Kearney is pretty fast havent seen that much of his brother to judge. Fitzgerald does jink a lot I remember seeing him cover back in the Leicester game to cover a chip through a he was covering the ground seriously quick. He beat harry ellis to the ball who had a head start I think.

anonymous_joe

Used to be Girvan Dempsey.

It'd be hard to measure, most of what you'd see on a rugby pitch would be acceleration rather than out and out speed.

RugbyFanatic

I've heard its Girven Dempsey, suprisingly.

Edit : SNAP

funky penguin

Personally, I would have thought Felix Jones after watching teh churchill cup.

magotch07

johny hayes

twinytwo

3 fastest... dempsey, bowe and earls... bowe is fast for anyone who thinks he isnt...wtf:pac:

Stick_man

Jonny Sexton is the fastest, bestest player in the whole world.

twinytwo

Stick_man wrote: »

Jonny Sexton Brian O Driscoll is the fastest, bestest player in the whole world.

fixed that for you

RugbyFanatic

Stick_man wrote: »

Jonny Sexton is the fastest, bestest outhalf in Ireland.

Fixed that for you

andrewdcs

Stick_man wrote: »

Jonny Sexton is the fastest, bestest player in the whole world.

"It's terrible. He has beautiful eyes, and his hair smells like cinnamon."

In terms of scaring the opposition with turn of pace as opposed fastest flyer in an open field (which happens very rarely) Earls and Fitzgerald always look dangerous.

Lets have a race!

Luckycharm

We have no real fliers in the Hickie mode currently
Fitz is quick but not straight line really really quick,
Kearney is not that quick
Bowe I would say is right up there!

little173

Remember McGeechan saying after watching him training with Lions that Earls can accelerate to full speed at an alarming rate, not sure Bowe could be beaten over a 60m sprint though.

outwest

lads if carr. hand down. then earls. hickie would be up their back in the old days:D

chupacabra

Watch the restart in the France game during the six nations near the end of the game where fitzgerald flew along the sideline to make a tackle on the reciever, very Habana-esque. Right now tho I reckon it's between Bowe Earls and Carr. Andrew Conway is another player with searing pace coming up at the moment.

JonnyC

I think Tomas O'Leary should be added to the list of Irish players as a possible fastest candidate

siltirocker

Fitz? Bowe? Kearney?

Folks Fionn Carr is by far and a way the fastest man in Irish rugby atm (thought i was watching Hickie for a bit), Earls isn't short of pace either.

Tuohy, Downey & Jones aren't miles behind though.

RugbyFanatic

siltirocker wrote: »

Fitz? Bowe? Kearney?

Folks Fionn Carr is by far and a way the fastest man in Irish rugby atm (thought i was watching Hickie for a bit), Earls isn't short of pace either.

Tuohy, Downey & Jones aren't miles behind though.

We get it. You like Connacht and it's players.

siltirocker

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

We get it. You like Connacht and it's players.

Actually i am a Leinster man, if you must know but live in Galway so i see as many games in the sportsgrounds as i do RDS.

Leinster/Munster players don't need to be highlighted 90% of the time as everyone see's them on the box the whole time. I am certain half the posters on this forum have probably never seen Fionn Carr play for Connacht.

btw i said Tuohy & Downey were fast, i do however think they are both poor players. All this Downey for Ireland **** is ludicrious!

RugbyFanatic

siltirocker wrote: »

Actually i am a Leinster man, if you must know but live in Galway so i see as many games in the sportsgrounds as i do RDS.

Leinster/Munster players don't need to be highlighted 90% of the time as everyone see's them on the box the whole time. I am certain half the posters on this forum have probably never seen Fionn Carr play for Connacht.

btw i said Tuohy & Downey were fast, i do however think they are both poor players. All this Downey for Ireland **** is ludicrious!

I was only joking but you are quite clearly a Connacht man. Every post you have made on this forum and has been about Connacht

Risteard

Everyone knows it can't be Bowe, George Hook says he has no pace.

r0nanf

Funny this, I'm a few years older than Fionn Carr but I trained with him for some of the same community games - fast as hell he was, won a few county medals afaik.

If you can't use under 12 county-level Community Games medals as a barometer, I don't know what you can.

siltirocker

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

I was only joking but you are quite clearly a Connacht man. Every post you have made on this forum and has been about Connacht

Pretty much ya, i suppose i've been converted, because i don't feel the need to comment on Leinster matters, there are far more involved people on this forum to post for them. I only caught 7 Leinster games last year, compared to about 10 Connacht games.:o

Come christmas though, it'll be blue i'll be wearing.;)

PhatPiggins

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

I was only joking but you are quite clearly a Connacht man. Every post you have made on this forum and has been about Connacht

Stones.....glasshouses!!

steve french

i remember keith wood making a comment about david wallace being the fastest, very deceiving watching him

twinytwo

steve french wrote: »

i remember keith wood making a comment about david wallace being the fastest, very deceiving watching him

Wallace is very fast for a man his size.. thus why he played sevens

little173

Wallace is very quick for a forward but wouldnt live with the pace of the outside backs. If Fitz ran in a straight line for a bit think would get a better idea if he was the sprint king.

RugbyFanatic

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Stones.....glasshouses!!

Where do I admit I'm not a Leinster man?

RugbyFanatic

steve french wrote: »

i remember keith wood making a comment about david wallace being the fastest, very deceiving watching him

Fastest forward maybe but not fastest in Ireland i'd say there would be at least 30 players ahead of him.

Sparkx

If you raced john hays against say Kearney over 5 meters , you might be surprised who wins. Props are known for thier power & pace over the first 10 Metres.

twinytwo

well the fastest man playing in ireland in douge and he hasnt a tap on his younger self

RugbyFanatic

Sparkx wrote: »

If you raced john hays against say Kearney over 5 meters , you might be surprised who wins. Props are known for thier power & pace over the first 10 Metres.

I've actually heard Cian Healy is the fastest player over 10 metres dont know how true that is though!

ALH-06

steve french wrote: »

i remember keith wood making a comment about david wallace being the fastest, very deceiving watching him

Definitely the fastest forward Ireland has, and has been for years.

Sparkx wrote: »

If you raced john hays against say Kearney over 5 meters , you might be surprised who wins.

No ye wouldn't.

But while Kearney would have the Bull in any kind of sprint (!), he's by no means fast. At all. Some people say he's a 'world-class' full back - what kind of world-class full back has no pace?

Fastest Irish player would be either Carr or O'Leary. Probably Carr. But I've heard Thornley state that O'Leary's currently the fastest in the Irish setup. Neither Fitz or Bowe have top quality pace. They're quite quick, but not 'pacey' a la Hickie / Habana.

RuggieBear

Gary Brown but i suppose he's retired now.

And debate the posts not the poster please. RF you are walking a fine line...again.

snowman87

UCD have 2 very fast wingers Cian Aherne and Vas the Russian guy. would either of these guys be up ther with the fastest in the country?
i recon so!

ki

I know he is not there anymore, but, I remember reading Hicke could run a sub 12 sec 100m.
Bryan Habana can run 100m in 11 seconds.

Eoin

Are we talking over 20m or the length of the pitch? I'd definitely say someone like David Wallace over the first bit because he has massive power in his legs, but then maybe the lighter guys over the full distance of a pitch.

ki wrote:

I know he is not there anymore, but, I remember reading Hickie could run a sub 12 sec 100m.

I think Matt Williams said that Dempsey was the quickest on the Leinster team when he was there, and that would have included Hickie as well. That could have been when Hickie was coming back from injury though, so maybe he was the quickest. Dempsey just didn't look like he was running full tilt, as he had quite a relaxed gait, and his positional awareness was so good that he knew when to be where.

The_Kew_Tour

I would go Earls

LightningBolt

eoin wrote: »

Are we talking over 20m or the length of the pitch? I'd definitely say someone like David Wallace over the first bit because he has massive power in his legs, but then maybe the lighter guys over the full distance of a pitch.

Actually it usually the opposite, speaking from experience after our team did athletics training over the summer. Once a couple of us backrowers hit the 40m-60m mark, we'd pass out the backs.

Edit: Once you get into a relaxed stride the bigger more powerful guys will win out, we don't always accelerate as fast though obviously.

Eoin

Really? That's interesting - I'd have thought the players with more power in their quads would have the pace over the first section.

LightningBolt

Without getting too technical it's just easier for the lighter guys to get into full flight quicker as they've less weight. The heavier you are the longer it generally takes to get top line speed going. We didn't believe the athletics coach when he said it either, we also didn't believe him that by doing a couple of sprints with proper mechanics the first night would leave our groins in agony the day after:D

Amazotheamazing

snowman87 wrote: »

UCD have 2 very fast wingers Cian Aherne and Vas the Russian guy. would either of these guys be up ther with the fastest in the country?
i recon so!

Cian Aherne is back with UL/Boh's now. Strange he went to the Leinster Academy (he's from Limerick), you'd think it'd be easier for a guy with his pace to get into the Munster set-up. His younger brother (Finbar?) is in the Munster sub-Academy I think.

One of the fastest guys playing professionally in Ireland is Brian Touhy, afaik, some of his records are still standing in UL from when he was a Shannon player.

Not sure Fitz or Kearney have great top speed, but Fitz can change direction without losing pace and Kearney has exceptional positioning so his relative lack of pace isn't a huge issue. Earls is fast, but don't think he's Hickie fast.

Eoin

LightningBolt wrote: »

Without getting too technical it's just easier for the lighter guys to get into full flight quicker as they've less weight. The heavier you are the longer it generally takes to get top line speed going.

Don't mean to drag this off topic, but is the first section not all about the strength of the quads? Would sprinters not traditionally be stronger and heavier than longer distance runners?

LightningBolt wrote: »

we also didn't believe him that by doing a couple of sprints with proper mechanics the first night would leave our groins in agony the day after:D

I don't think I even want to know what mechanics combined with groins means!

fullstop

Simon Geoghegan....

nipps

got to be bowe, did ye see when he burnt williams against wales earlier this year?