Outspoken flank Tom Wood says rugby has become too “sterilised” and is morphing into rugby league, and he misses the days of “fat props and gnarly back rowers”.
The 50-cap England loose forward will hang up his boots at the end of the 2021-22 season after 12 seasons with Northampton Saints in the English Premiership.
He made 240 appearances for Saints, scoring 22 tries, but the 35-year-old will retire from professional rugby to become a full-time carpenter.
In a wide-ranging interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, Wood, who earlier in his career played in New Zealand, bemoans the direction the sport is going.
“There’s loads of reasons why we might have to clean the game up,” he said. “For me, personally, I loved the game the way it was. And I am a bit sad that those days are over.
“It also suited me and I’ll tell you what, the faster they make the tracks, the cleaner they make it and the more they make it so you can’t have all the off-the-ball niggle and the enforcers, the more you’re just making it into a kind of rugby league.
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“You’re sterilising it a lot. And you’re making everybody into the same sort of cyborg of a player. I would rather have the old days where you had your big fat props, your big tall second rows and you have gnarly, horrible back rowers and fast wingers. Then it was more like a game for all shapes and sizes.
“Very quickly, it is going to become a game for players who are all six foot and 17 stone and fast and athletic. That’s rugby league isn’t it?”
Wood added: “One big thing about being a rugby player in those days when it was a lot more gnarly, was that there were a lot more sort of scraps so you had to be able to physically handle yourself.
“I was a black belt in jujitsu when I was 14 so I felt quite capable of handling myself. I actually loved all the scraps and because I wasn’t intimidated or worried it meant I could focus on the rugby and the skills, which gave me a huge advantage in those early days with everyone else my age.”
He also slammed the overemphasis on size and conditioning, over ability and character, in youth players.
“By the time they turn up to academies they look like Mr Olympia,” Wood said. “With everything that is done for you in academies, there is a risk you become dependent and institutionalised and you don’t actually think for yourself.
“When you are on the pitch and there is a big decision to be made you need to have the confidence to do it. You can’t be looking at the touchline and the stands for guidance.”
