How old is your team on the Weekend.

We always hear how a lack of Caps is a disadvantage in international Rugby. But what effect does age have ?

Are a younger team more likely to take risks and maybe play more open rugby while an older (some might say wiser) might play a more percentage game , only taking risks when they have to.....

Is it an Advantage or a disadvantage to have a young side ? or does age have no effect.

Feel free to work out the Averages for your teams on the weekend and ill add them to the OP


England

Forwards (13)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Tom Palmer (London Wasps)
Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
David Paice (London Irish)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Average Age of Forwards: 26.8 years

Backs (10)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby)
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Average Age of Backs: 24.6 Years

England 23 Average age: 25.56 Years

WALES SIDE TO FACE ARGENTINA

Average age of the Backs is 23

15 Leigh HALFPENNY (CARDIFF BLUES - Cap No 1,060)
DoB: 22.12.88. 5'10" / 1.77m. 13st 6lbs / 85kgs
International record: 35 caps (W 17, L 18; 182 pts - 11T, 11C, 35PG)

14 Alex CUTHBERT (CARDIFF BLUES - Cap No 1,089)
DoB: 05.04.90. 6'6" / 1.98m. 16st 3lbs / 103kgs
International record: 9 caps (W 5, L 4; 20 pts - 4T)

13 Scott WILLIAMS (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,084)
DoB: 10.10.90. 6'0" / 1.83m. 15st 13lbs / 101kgs
International record: 14 caps (W 8, L 6; 25 pts - 5T)

12 Jamie ROBERTS (CARDIFF BLUES - Cap No 1,057)
DoB: 08.11.86. 6'4" / 1.93m. 17st 5lbs / 110kgs
International record: 44 caps (W 23, L 21; 25 pts - 5T)

11 George NORTH (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,078)
DoB: 13.04.92. 6'4" / 1.92m. 17st 3lbs / 109kgs
International record: 24 caps (W 11, L 12, D 1; 55 pts - 11T)

10 Rhys PRIESTLAND (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,080)
DoB: 09.01.87 1.82m / 6'0". 15st 0lbs / 95kgs
International record: 18 caps (W 11, L 7; 53 pts - 1T, 12C, 8PG)

9 Tavis KNOYLE (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,076)
DoB: 02.06.90. 6'1" / 1.85m. 14st 5lbs / 91kgs
International record: 7 caps (W 3, L 4)

Average age of the forwards is 27

1 Gethin JENKINS (TOULON - Cap No 1,006)
DoB: 17.11.80. 6'2" / 1.88m. 19st 1lb / 121kgs
International record: 90 caps (W 41, L 47, D 2; 20 pts - 4T)

2 Matthew REES (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,033)
DoB: 09.12.80. 6'0" / 1.83m. 17st 1lbs / 108kgs
International record: 54 caps (W 23, L 30, D 1; 10 pts - 2T)

3 Aaron JARVIS (OSRPEYS - Uncapped)
DoB: 20.05.86. 6'0" / 1.83m. / 18st 7lbs 117kgs
International record: Uncapped

4 Alun Wyn JONES (OSPREYS - Cap No 1,046)
DoB: 19.09.85. 6'5" / 1.96m. 19st 4lbs / 122kgs
International record: 66 caps (W 29, L 37; 35 pts - 7T)

5 Ian EVANS (OSPREYS - Cap No 1,045)
DoB: 04.10.84. 6'8" / 2.04m. 18st 3lbs / 116kgs
International record: 23 caps (W 12, L 10, D 1; 5 pts - 1T)

6 Josh TURNBULL (SCARLETS - Cap No 1,079)
DoB: 12.03.88. 1.93m / 6'4". 15st 8lbs / 99kgs
International record: 4 caps (W 3, L 1)

7 Sam WARBURTON (CARDIFF BLUES, CAPTAIN - Cap No 1,070)
DoB: 05.10.88. 1.88m / 6'2". 16st 4lbs / 103kgs
International record: 30 caps (W 15, L 15; 10 pts - 2T)

8 Toby FALETAU (NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS - Cap No 1,082)
DoB: 12.11.90. 1.87m / 6'2". 17st 5lbs / 110kgs
International record: 17 caps (W 10, L 7 - 2T)

Average age of the team is 25

Way to show me up mae haha. So. By the looks of it wales have a younger team and a hell of a lot more caps , I geuss that's down to mr Gatts not beeing afraid to introduce young players over the past few years.

What do you recon is better ?

A team with 500 caps that has an average age of 32

Or a team with the same amount of caps , that have an adverage age of 25

1. Beast Mtwarira - 27
2. Adriaan Strauss - 27
3. Jannie du Plessis - 30
4, Eben Etzebeth - 20
5. Juandre Kruger - 26
6. Marcelle coetzee - 21
7. Willem Alberts - 27
8. Duane Vermeulen - 26

Pack average - 25,5

9. Ruan Pienaar - 28
10. Patrick Lambie - 22
11. Francois Hougaard - 24
12. Jean de Villiers - 31
13. Jaco Taute - 21
14. JP Pietersen - 26
15. Zane Kirchner - 28

Backline average 25.5

SCOTLAND

1.Ryan Grant, 27
2.Ross Ford, 28
3.Geoff Cross, 29
4.Richie Gray, 23
5.Jim Hamilton, 29
6.Alasdair Strokosch, 29
7.Ross Rennie, 26
8.Kelly Brown, 30

PACK AVERAGE = 27.6

9.Mike Blair, 31
10.Greig Laidlaw, 27
11.Tim Visser, 25
12.Matt Scott, 22
13.Nick De Luca, 28
14.Sean Lamont, 31
15.Stuart Hogg, 20

BACKLINE AVERAGE = 26.3

are people rounding up ages if they are less than 6 month sto the next birthday?

I just used the age in years, so the average is not exact.

likewise, i think Jim Hamilton is 30 on 17th November.

It depends though...someone like former England loosehead Payne at his age with his cap Number is not in the same league as say Marler at what ever age he is with 2 caps (or what ever he has)...

So its got to be in perspective...

I'm an advocate of it does not matter how old/young/capped you are. If you are better then you are better.

a young 6 capper can easliy be better than an "old" 75 capper

likewise it works the otherway round

Someone said "you cannot subsitute for experience" I say you cannot subsitute for skill. Regardless of age or experience!

Biltong wrote:I just used the age in years, so the average is not exact.

Same.

Makes little difference if the majority of the welsh backline are under 25 the average will be predominantly low. Its that old codger Jamie Roberts who is making them look old. 26 years old and Rhys Priestland not far behind him.

average age will shoot up when Phillips come on

Re-call Shaw
and screw the stats up!

LondonTiger wrote:average age will shoot up when Phillips comes on

Yes it will rise.

But the back three are 20, 22 and 24. We have JD2 to come in who is 23, that is still a very young backline. Good job we are trying to get game time to the scrumhalfs looking to take Mike Phillips' place. Knoyle 22, Webb 24, Lloyd Williams 23. These guys will bridge the gap to the real talent Tom Habberfield and Rhodri Williams who are still under 20.

The Welsh backrow, minus Ryan Jones, is 24 or 22. With Lydiate that doesn't change much. Second row are an almost archaic 27 and 28, Davies 25 and Charteris is 29. Front row is getting on so we are working hard to experience Owens 25, Bevington 24, Jarvis 26 and the most promising of the bunch tighthead Sampson Lee 19.

Most of those have won a Grandslam or two and played in RWC semi final.

Not bad for the future.

nobbled wrote:Re-call Shaw
and screw the stats up!

Shaw, Sheridan and Easter

nobbled wrote:Re-call Shaw
and screw the stats up!

And improve the Second Row 1000%

I suppose this really just suggests that we're at the start of a world cup cycle. Most teams are in the process of bringing through new blood.

Wales began that about 18 months ago (in some cases more by happenstance than as a deliberate plan) and so have something of an edge right now - but they do seem to have areas where injuries and strength in depth are an issue.

England and SA are much earlier on the journey. I think England's players have a lot of potential but are also on a very steep learning curve. It's also odd that the group feels inexperienced, even though there are a core of players who have a decent number of caps (Cole, Care/Youngs, Flood plus Ashton, Foden & Hartley). Which said, if Lancaster can settle on a core squad, they should be suitably experienced by 2015 while still being physically in their prime.

No point in calculating the ABs' average age as Richie McCaw is immortal and does not have a human age equivalent and many senior ABs cannot be killed by conventional weapons.

I think youth and experience aren't necessarily mutually exclusive and experience is not always the bees knees. England showed in 2003 that experience and regular match experience together can prove a formidable prospect for the opposition but NZ last year had a mix of youth and experience and their oldest player Brad Thorn was probably one of the fittest. Some players just love playing footy and it's actually harmful to rest them. Kaino played in every game for NZ last year in the RWC or all but one and Jerry Collins was another player who thrived on playing. Some like McCaw probably need to be forced to rest because they are able to play with injury and others are just plain unlucky with injury like Juan Smith, Ferris or Kahui. Youth and experience count little for that.

Sometimes the big difference between older and younger players is temperament and mental fortitude but even this is not always a steadfast rule.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:No point in calculating the ABs' average age as Richie McCaw is immortal and does not have a human age equivalent and many senior ABs cannot be killed by conventional weapons.

I think youth and experience aren't necessarily mutually exclusive and experience is not always the bees knees. England showed in 2003 that experience and regular match experience together can prove a formidable prospect for the opposition but NZ last year had a mix of youth and experience and their oldest player Brad Thorn was probably one of the fittest. Some players just love playing footy and it's actually harmful to rest them. Kaino played in every game for NZ last year in the RWC or all but one and Jerry Collins was another player who thrived on playing. Some like McCaw probably need to be forced to rest because they are able to play with injury and others are just plain unlucky with injury like Juan Smith, Ferris or Kahui. Youth and experience count little for that.

Sometimes the big difference between older and younger players is temperament and mental fortitude but even this is not always a steadfast rule.

Ah, the old "cannot be killed by the hand of mortal man" trick, to which the classic is response is "so he's gonna have to use his feet!" (or "heid" if you're of a Scottish persuasion). Now we know why the IRB banned rucking. Don't suppose there's any chance of an England Women vs New Zealand Men exhbition match any time soon?

But seriously, I agree with all your points. All I'd add is that the two elements of experience that you can't substitute are time spent playing together as a team, and knowing what you can achieve. Quins' gameplan is hard to replicate because you have to know what the players around you will do, and you only get that through experience. England's 2001 89th minute victory over the Wallabies, their earlier draw with the Boks, their 13-man victory in New Zealand were the fuel for 2003. However good a player is, you can't get that knowledge except by going through it. RWC winning teams tend to have had a stable core squad over several years preceding the tournament who know each other and know what they can do.

England Women would probably win that match poorfour as the ABs are perfect gentlemen led by their saintly captain.

I agree that you need a stable core of players who have familiarity with the combinations around them. But you also can't rule out youthful exuberance and the X factor. For example, Israel Dagg bumped Centenary Man Mils Willy Hyena out of the side in last year's RWC 2011 and that proved a very good move. Who can forget Jonah Lomu's impact in 95 in that semi final. Like most things in life, a healthy balance is the best way to go.

Well to be fair, the immortality of McCaw is defintiely not in question.

He does have a date of issue as opposed to a date of birth, doesn't he?

How old is my team? About 150 years old.

Biltong wrote:Well to be fair, the immortality of McCaw is defintiely not in question.

He does have a date of issue as opposed to a date of birth, doesn't he?

Does that imply an expiration date? Will he one day save Sam Warburton from a red card before muttering "I've seen things you people couldn't imagine. A backline on fire off the shoulder of Kieran Read. A forward pass correctly called by Wayne Barnes. The One Ring being melted in the fires of Mount Doom. Soon, all this will be gone, like ball in ruck with my hands on it..."

The rest of us can but hope.

That makes me quite sad............ seeing old McCaw's warrior head (and hair) drop as rain falls silently onto it ....

"All these things will be lost... like Lee Mears in the rain"

I don't have the stats, or the time for the research...but I would wager that every world cup winning team has had an average age of nearer 30.

mr_stonelea wrote:I don't have the stats, or the time for the research...but I would wager that every world cup winning team has had an average age of nearer 30.

England starting XV in 2003 had an average age of 28.5