Trying to be objective, I would have to point out that Brett Stewart and Matthew Bowen have all of Tomkins' attacking skills, but are bettter at taking the high ball and as defenders. I also believe that both these Australians are faster than Tomkins. Bowen can give many wingers a head start and then run them down. Tomkins is famous for his sidestep but Bowen's sidestep is faster than Tomkins'.

I would love to see the top ten run a 100 metre race. My prediction would be that Slater, Barba and Bowen would be the top three in such a sprint, though I don't know in what order.

i am sure i read somewhere in the pess over here that inglis used to run the 100m , and he did it in less than 11seconds, not bad for big chap

Isn't Hayne a decent sprinter too? Obviously he and Inglis aren't close to the correct physique for sprinting at the moment but if they geared themselves for it they'd probably be the best sprinters, though obviously the smaller guys like Slater, Barba, Tomkins and Bowen should get them over shorter distances.

I recall reading an article about 20 yrs ago where all of the GB team did timed sprits over 10m, 20m, 30m etc to 100m. Some did better over shorter sprints, some over longer sprints but they reckon 40m was the key distance as the quickest players here (Offiah, Edwards, Schofield, can't remember who else) were all the most prolific try scorers at the time.

Gavin Dodd innit.