Rugby: All Blacks are no 'gym monkeys'

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw goes through his routines at the captain's run held at Eden Park in Auckland on the eve of the second and deciding Bledisloe Cup rugby test match. 22 August 2014 New Ze

Brian O'Driscoll, the former Ireland and British and Irish Lions midfielder, believes the All Blacks will win next year's World Cup because of their much higher skill factor relative to other nations, and the fact the team doesn't seem obsessed with the gym culture threatening to overwhelm the game in the Northern Hemisphere.

As concern in the United Kingdom mounts about players becoming ever bigger - with dangerous impacts seemingly becoming the norm - O'Driscoll, the most capped test player of all time with 141, has added to the debate by saying pushing weights rather than focusing on improving skills can be counter-productive.

He told the Daily Mail: "I never loved doing weights the way these young guys do. Their technique is phenomenal but it's as if they're winning if they have great scores in the gym. They're not . . . they're rugby players.

"I'm not privy to the English set-up but at the academies in Ireland there is a huge focus on the weights room, as opposed to whether they can throw a 10-metre pass on the run. They should be rugby players becoming athletes, not athletes becoming rugby players."

O'Driscoll, 35, who retired from international rugby this year and will attend next year's World Cup as a media pundit, believes the All Blacks will deserve to be favourites.

He said: "I don't think the gym monkey thing applies to them as much as it does over here. They have farmer strength. The Polynesian guys are pretty strong without going to the gym.

"In New Zealand, they focus way more from an early age on skills. They do everything with a ball. They do all their fitness work with a ball and that's why they have better skill levels. They have the balance; they have that physicality but they are able to mix their game up."

O'Driscoll was described as a "spindly little kid" when he began his international career and still has no love for the gym.

"In more recent years I got into it because it was a necessary evil. You have to adapt. You have to get a passion for it, but I don't just know if that balance is there at the moment."

The Daily Mail stated that last season's England under-18 side were, man for man, heavier than the senior England side who reached the 1991 World Cup final. The potential for youngsters to suffer worse injuries, particularly to the head, as a result of the greater weight and power is obvious.

"There have always been head injuries in the game," said O'Driscoll, who suffered several concussions during his career. "The impacts are getting bigger, but we are more aware of concussion these days.

"It's not a cool thing to play on with a head knock any more. It is not manly, it is not heroic; it is just stupid."