For those of you who watched the Cheetahs beat the Sharks on Saturday, you will recall the try Jongi Nokwe scored. Jongi broke down the wing and had a clear run to the try line from the half way line but Sharks, 8th man, Ryan Kankowski chased Nokwe and actually caught the winger and got a hand full of Nokwe’s shorts but somehow Nokwe broke free from Kanko’s grip and continued on to score the try. What was amazing was seeing a Springbok winger have a foot race against a Springbok number 8 and the number 8 caught the winger! Not many people would think that a loose forward could catch a winger. What is interesting is that many have said Jongi is one of the quickest wingers in the game today but Kanko made light work of catching him. The question: Is Jongi not as quick as we think or is Kanko just amazingly quick (as quick as a winger)? Let’s not forget Kanko is much bigger, physically than Nokwe. Consider this (these are stats taken from Wikipedia); Kanko is 106kg and 1.93m tall and Jongi is 84kg and 1.84m!
For those of you who watched the Cheetahs beat the Sharks on Saturday, you will recall the try Jongi Nokwe scored. Jongi broke down the wing and had a clear run to the try line from the half way line but Sharks, 8th man, Ryan Kankowski chased Nokwe and actually caught the winger and got a hand full of Nokwe’s shorts but somehow Nokwe broke free from Kanko’s grip and continued on to score the try. What was amazing was seeing a Springbok winger have a foot race against a Springbok number 8 and the number 8 caught the winger! Not many people would think that a loose forward could catch a winger. What is interesting is that many have said Jongi is one of the quickest wingers in the game today but Kanko made light work of catching him. The question: Is Jongi not as quick as we think or is Kanko just amazingly quick (as quick as a winger)? Let’s not forget Kanko is much bigger, physically than Nokwe. Consider this (these are stats taken from Wikipedia); Kanko is 106kg and 1.93m tall and Jongi is 84kg and 1.84m!
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Ron, it is very simple, Kanko is a freak of nature. Nokwe is by no means slow and certainly is one of the quickest wingers in SA. My conclusion is simple, Ryan Kankowski is one of the quickest forwards in world rugby today. He is definitely quicker than most backs. In fact, i stand to be correced but I reckon he is quicker than 95% of the boks squad.
What does that say about your Boks, Guru? Having a forward quicker than the majority of your backs. So I take it your backline is relatively slow.
don’t quite fully agree it was a great foot race from both players it did a lot to excite us fans. but sayin kanko made light work of nokwe is a bit off, i think even he will tell u it took every ounce of energy he had at the time to get that close
Kankowski is a fast as most wings in world rugby… which is an indication to how quick Nokwe is… he absolutely blitz Kankowski. To say Kankowski caught Nokwe is way way off… Kankowski had the angle and then only managed to get fingertips i.e. fully strecthed his very long frame… but he was “neck and neck” with Nokwe when they broke down the left touchline… and despite the angle Kankowski could not catch him… allthough that he managed to slightly impede him is testament to his speed as a loose forward. In my opinion Nokwe is fastest player in the Super 14. Too bad he only weighs 84Kg.
Ron, Kanko is quicker than most if not all the NZ loose forwards. Off the top of my head, I would say he may be beaten over 100metres by Sivivatu only. He certainly is quicker than Nonu, Smith,Donald,Toeava, Mils and even Masaga. Who would you propose as being quicker than Kanko in the AB squad? He certainly is faster than 90% of your All Blacks Team bro.
Kanko is very fast Ron, do not be fooled.
As a supporter of the soon to be Tri-Nations Champions, the Wallabies, I think I can come in from a neutral perspective. Kanko is not quicker than Mils!!! I would love to see him catch Masaga as well! Even if Rokocoko has lost some pace I doubt that Kanko is quicker than he is.
Just to address Mike’s comment about Nokwe blitzing Kanko and Knako having the angle..I disagree completely. Nokwe was already by the touchline and just had to run straight. Kanko was coming from in-field so he had to cover more ground in order to get to Nokwe…which he managed to do! I just think Nokwe is yet another South African winger who is credited with being “super fast” when in actual fact he is not. Paulse and Habana are two who come immediately to mind.
LOL, Manny, how can you doubt Nokwe’s speed just because Kanko caught up with him? It shows that you underestimate the big man’s pace. In fact, i would like to throw in another SA loose forward who is pacy, Pierre Spies. It is obvious that besides the Chiefs’ Serge Lilo, no other NZ or AUS forward could even compare to Spiesaor Kanko so let us address Sies and Kanko vs the NZ Backs. I insist and would like to find some stats, both Kanko and Spies are defnitely quicker than Rocokoco today. Maybe i may be pushing it(slightly) with Masaga but Rocokoco is definitely slower than both Spies and Kanko. It does not mean SA have better players or anything, my point is simply to say, Kanko is mighty quick and based on pace alone, he can play any position is the backline.
Guru, there is no way those two are quicker than Joey!!! Joey may have slowed down but he will still blitz them. Masanga is a no brainer, he is way quicker than those two and as Manny said, even Mils would be quicker than Kanko. Do not underestimate the pace of the All Blacks even the likes of David Smith at the Hilghlanders or Hosea Gear are much quicker than that Bok loosies. Jongi is just slow…period.
LOL, just 2 weeks ago Murray Mexted the great former AB stated on reunion that Nokwe is probably the quickest winger in the S14. The last time i heard that about Roko was 4 years ago Ron. It has been unanimous in the rugby circles that in the last 2 years the quickest players have been Chavhanga and Nokwe. Where does Roko fit in? Roko was last the quickest player around 2006 when he scored 31 tries in 29 tests or something like that. As much as it is hard for me to admit that Habana has lost his pace, please may you also admit Roko is nowhere near where he was in terms of pace 3 years ago. You are insulting Jongi Nokwe by comparing him to Rokococo. DO not get me wrong, Roko is a better all round winger but he certainly is not anywhere near as quick.
This is when I wish we could just call all the contenders and line them up for a 40m, 60m and 100m dash! Habana didnt lose his pace…he never had any to begin with! The guy scored his tries by getting intercepts and you cant judge someone’s speed on that because the opposition are all moving in the opposite direction when Habana takes off. Nokwe is not the quickest player or winger in the s14..we now know that Kanko is quicker than he is..and we know that Masaga and Sivivatu can outpace Kanko and Spies!