The evolution of the hooker in Rugby
Brits won a Rugby World Cup winners medal after coming out of retirement.
Credit: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Despite Rugby’s comparatively young professional lifespan the improvement made across the board; whether it is in safety, coaching, technology or training, has been rapid.
No club or country at whatever level can rest on their laurels any more or they run the risk of being found out by their competitors. It is inevitable then that the purpose of particular positions in rugby has changed and will continue to do so.
Arguably, this can be most seen in the position of the hooker. While the modern fly-half is expected to have a world-class kicking game, the modern lock has to be more mobile and a flanker adept at ‘jackling’ over the ball, the position of hooker has changed most significantly.
Here, The Flanker analyses the changing shape of the hooker, it’s purpose on the rugby field, and the players who stood out form the crowd.
The great early hookers
While it would be wrong to dismiss the great hookers of yesteryear - for instance John Pullin, Frank Laidlaw, Andy Dalton and Bobby Windsor all made a massive influence on the game - it is perhaps easier to point out the change in hookers by looking at the modern era.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, hookers such as Shaun Fitzpatrick and Brian Moore ruled the roost. Smaller than their prop counterparts, there was a certain amount of edge to their game.
Just look no further than Richard Cockerill staring down the All Blacks Haka in 1997 and it is no surprise that Eddie Jones was also a hooker in his playing days.
This edge was complimented with a certain amount of guile however. These were not just lumbering props, their relative small size to in comparison to their front row brethren meant they were forced to be more speedy, wiry, and good footballers to boot.
Hookers like Fitzpatrick fit into this category, as did Irish legend Keith Wood whose kicking game was comparable to any good fly-half at the time. Check out this little gem against the All Blacks for instance.
While it wasn’t common, Wood’s kicking game perfectly encapsulated the hooker’s role during this period. They had the ability to surprise the opposition with a piece of unexpected skill, before dishing out the chat to his opposition number at the next scrum.
A third prop
As Wood was finishing his career however, international teams started the realise the importance of having a dominant set piece. It was more important than ever for scrums to be rock solid and to have reliable line-out operators to lay the blueprint for the backs.
As such, the hooker became almost like a third front rower, with former South Africa captain John Smit perhaps the greatest hooker of this chunkier era.
Having started 14 of his 111 caps for his country as a prop, Smit was a man mountain at set piece time. It was an area that gave Habana and co the platform to win the 2007 World Cup, providing that solid foundation for the backs to play on.
Of course, this is not to say Smit didn’t have the guile of the hookers in the 90’s. After all, he is one of the greatest captains of all time, but spiralling 70 metre kicks into the opposition 22 were not his priority nor skill set.
Clermont and Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma was also a classic hooker of the 00’s era. There is a reason he is known as world rugby’s scrum guru, knowing the ins and outs of the set piece as well as the two prop’s either side of him.
Those with more guile were forced to fit into this mould. Steve Thompson’s England resurgence in 2011 meant bulking up and improving his scrummaging and the enigmatic Rafael Ibanez, despite his quirks, was a solid set piece operator first and foremost.
It often meant hookers had to put their face to the grindstone, the opportunity for dazzlign plays a mere pipe dream. With help from a scrumcap-clad South African, however, hookers would come into their element once more in the 10’s.
The prototype modern hooker: Schalk Brits
Watching Schalk Brits at his absolute peak was inspirational for this 14-year-old, who marvelled at the pace, skill, and sheer un-hookerness of the hooker.
It was unlike anything rugby had seen before. Brits was essentially a fourth flanker on the field, able to scare opposition defenders just as much of a tricky winger or rampaging centre.
His performance at the 2011 Premiership Final, the first of six for Saracens that decade, was absolutely sublime.
Brits brilliantly set up James Short for Sarries crucial try that day in May, but his influence on the game would go further than mere trophies.
Coaches realised the benefits of this ‘fourth flanker’ and quickly started to develop those that appeared, at first, undersized.
For instance, Tom Youngs was converted from a centre to a dynamo of a hooker by Leicester Tigers. If not for this change, 10 years previously Youngs possibly might have not had a career.
Dane Coles, Jamie George and Stuart McInally have carried on Brits’ legacy, with Coles especially able to show week in and week out his winger-like speed for the Hurricanes and the All Blacks, leading to some unbelievable tries.
Even those who are not a running threat have had to add facets to their game. Rory Best and Ken Owens, some of the games more old school operators in the position, have learned to be just as effective at ‘jackling’ over the ball as any good flanker might be.
No longer is the hooker just an extra prop. Now, they must be world-class in the set piece, but also offer something else to their team either in attack or in defence.
It appears this trend is set to continue. With the skill sets of hookers getting more varied, who knows, we could rewind the clock and end up back at the Keith Wood era of the game.
It would seem with the increasingly physical nature of the sport, however, that hookers, as ever, will find crafty and ingenious ways of standing out amongst the rugby crowd.
