Nigel Walker 100m try vs Pontypridd
The debate over the quickest wing in world rugby is one that will continue for as long as rugby itself exists. Over time we have seen some truly fast wings, but perhaps one player who has a pedigree like none other, is former Cardiff and Wales winger Nigel Walker.
Walker represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 1984 Olympics in the 110m hurdles. When he unfortunately failed to make the grade in 1992, he turned to rugby and Cardiff, where he played wing.
He went on to achieve 17 caps for Wales, scoring 12 tries with his incredible speed and ability to change direction while barely slowing down, as he did here against Pontypridd.
We're trying to dig up more footage of Walker at his best, so if anyone has any footage of him that they could provide us with then please drop me an email and I'll gladly stick it up for all to see.
Note: The commentary, for those of you who are wondering, is Welsh.
Walker represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 1984 Olympics in the 110m hurdles. When he unfortunately failed to make the grade in 1992, he turned to rugby and Cardiff, where he played wing.
He went on to achieve 17 caps for Wales, scoring 12 tries with his incredible speed and ability to change direction while barely slowing down, as he did here against Pontypridd.
We're trying to dig up more footage of Walker at his best, so if anyone has any footage of him that they could provide us with then please drop me an email and I'll gladly stick it up for all to see.
Note: The commentary, for those of you who are wondering, is Welsh.
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36 Comments:
Ah what a beaut!
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 1:42 pm
woulda been nice to see it on a wider angle. looked like some shocking defending!
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 1:42 pm
great try like the way he swerves past defenders!!
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 2:35 pm
Nice to hear a different language (Welsh) for a change of pace (although I don't understand a lick).
Would be neat if anyone can get some of the RWC 2007 "minnow moments" in a native tongue, perhaps Japanese, Samoan, Fijian?
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 3:18 pm
he's good but not tht fast
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 4:50 pm
Thats the same thing I was thinking... I mean you have to be fast for Olympic running, no doubts there... But it just seems like someone like Lightning Joe would leave him in the dust... Maybe its just me.
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 5:43 pm
Then again, Caucau looks kinda slow when he's running too except he's rediculously fast.
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 5:43 pm
i speek welsh:)
rwyf yn siarad cymraeg:)
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 7:09 pm
i speak english :)
hello :)
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 7:25 pm
Caucau in his peak would have bitched on him, but to be honest he would have bitched on most people, also he had the ability to swivel his hips when he side stepped to make it look effortless, Nigel Walker looks like a epilectic robot.
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 7:58 pm
Nigel Walker (Wales) - 10.38pb
Brian Habana (South Africa) - 10.4pb
Doug Howlett (NZ) - 10.68pb
Takudzwa Ngwenya (USA) - 10.7pb
Paul Sakey (England) - 10.7pb
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 8:38 pm
haha.. look at the referee trying to put on the gas at 0:11.. brilliant
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 8:42 pm
Anonymous said...
"haha.. look at the referee trying to put on the gas at 0:11.. brilliant"
Hillarious... that referee's gait looks right out of some sports documentary with 1920s black & white clips
By Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 10:17 pm
100m times don't really mean anything because you never run in a directly straight line for 100m
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 12:15 am
plus the fact that the ball in your hand would disrupt your arm motion
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 1:00 am
hands down the fastest rugby player, an olympic sprinter for crying out loud!!! thats a great try!
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 1:34 am
man! anyone who can score a length of the field try is doing something right! beaut!
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 2:06 am
Sheath said...
100m times don't really mean anything because you never run in a directly straight line for 100m
Open your eyes, people were discussing basic speed.
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 2:10 am
Great try - I always thought his name was Paul though.
Shoddy defending, but he really backed himself and was strong on his feet for someone who trained as a hurdler.
Thanks for digging this up guys.
P.S: Bryan Habana still rocks! (Just to piss off the haters out there). :-)
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 10:24 am
Awesome gas.
The ref did look like an idiot, but fair play for almost keeping up with Walker.
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 12:56 pm
Bloody hell guys stop comparing every winger to bryan habana and rocokoko, it's getting boring. It was a different time and a different place, maybe habana and rocokoko would have been faster, but at the end of the day, who cares!?!
As much as it pains me to say it (being a Pontypridd fan and the same as every other Ponty fan, a Cardiff hater) that was a great try. Shame we haven't got these rivalries in professional rugby in Wales anymore.
Cheers rugby dump for this clip, good to have one in welsh as well. Diolch yn fawr!
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 1:36 pm
100m + try is a good try anyway you see it! nice work! hands down certainly one of the fastest to play the game - an olympic sprinter for crying out loud!
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 9:45 pm
I know the commentary is in Welsh, but the commentator sounds familiar, like he does games in English nowadays.....
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 10:05 pm
Do credit the ref with keeping up..
In many referee socities, awarding a try from outside the 22m is a foul (buy a round for the entire referee society).
note the emphasis on "awarding" the try (your whistle), rather than scoring (when the player puts it down.
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 10:06 pm
Just to answer cheyanqui's comment, no he only does commentary for s4c (the welsh language program), i think his name is Huw Llewelyn Davies.
Also Brynmor Williams and Gwyn Jones commentate on s4c, ocassionaly Gwyn Jones does work for BBC2 wales but none of them do commentary in english (or at least the one on this clip doesn't anyway).
By Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 11:00 pm
i think it is the same guy who does commentary in english for wales matches on BBC1, i recognise the voice too
By Anonymous, at March 05, 2008 3:18 am
Steps like a welshman alright :P
By Anonymous, at March 05, 2008 12:08 pm
No he isn't, you're probably thinking of Jonathan Davies
By Anonymous, at March 06, 2008 3:57 pm
Bryan Habana (S.A) 10.2 pb
Rupeni Thou Thou (fji) 10.28pb
Doug Howlett (nz)10.3 pb
Jonah Tali Lomu (nz) 10.3 pb
Z Ngwenya (usa)10.31 Pb
Quickest Five Players Ever...
By Anonymous, at April 01, 2008 11:20 am
Dabbz, etc
where do ppl come up with these retard times? for example Doug Howlett has a PB of 10.8 as on his OFFICIAL website. No one knows Habana's best time, on his myspace he claims 11s, he prob is like most of the top wingers in the 10.8 10.9 range. The South African all time record is 10.06 with a +2.0m/s wind limit( which in sprint terms is a lot )The South African 2007 100m final was won in 10.54, with the 8th placed finisher coming in at 10.9. If 90kilo+ Habs could run 10.2 then, he could just make a guest appearance and add the national 100m title to his trophy collection. His 40m is supposedly 4.63. Hes not even the quickest or fastest wing in South Africa.Try Russell, Nokwe, Chavanga...
By Anonymous, at April 01, 2008 3:43 pm
Yeah I have to agree with Anonymous above.. That's absolute rubbish from Dabbz.
I can't provide the real stats myself, but I just hope that people don't take random false statements as gospel.
By Anonymous, at July 17, 2008 7:01 pm
You have to remember growing up in wales Walker regularly competed at the same events as Colin Jackson and beat him on several occasions, now colin jackson is a very fast man so there is no doubt that on pure speed walker is one of the fastest rugby players of all time.
By Anonymous, at September 28, 2008 2:43 pm
Nige pretty much started running from his own goal-line at 3 seconds and crossed the opposing tryline at 18 seconds. So it took him approximately 15 seconds to run from one end of the pitch to the other, not in a straight line and avoiding tackles. You cant deny that that's fast.
-Dune
By Anonymous, at October 01, 2008 6:14 pm
Tonderai Chavhanga fastest player with an OFFICIAL pb 100m time of 10.27s in 1999 aged 16 (which was also the Zimbabwean 100m Record until 2003)
surprised noone seems to mention him in these debates.. He also holds the world record for the most number of tries scored in a test (6)
Caucau, Rocoslowco, Habana, Ngwenya eat your hearts out!
By Anonymous, at January 02, 2009 5:29 am
Fastest rugby players are(not in order)
walker
chanvanga
caucau
howlett
varndell
monye
rokocoko
habana
ngwenya
Don't know whos the fastest, if anyone knows their times(real times not the ones dabbz made up) i would like too know, thanks
By Back Line Boy!, at June 07, 2009 6:06 pm
Tom Varndell and other speedsters such as William Ryder will also be amongst these lot but officially.:
Brian Habana (SA)-10.20pb (spikes on track)
Rupeni Caucau-10.3pb (with football boots on grass)
Tonderai Chavanga-10.5pb
Nigel Walker (Wales) - 10.38pb
Doug Howlett (NZ) - 10.68pb
Takudzwa Ngwenya (USA) - 10.7pb
Paul Sakey (England) - 10.7pb
By usamabutt12345, at January 02, 2010 1:23 pm
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