They now have impressive physiques, REALLY impressive.

Not only are rugby players big but in general but they are lean. This takes a lot of hard work and especially a focus on rugby training and rugby fitness sessions.

Sonny Bill is an undeniable beast and not only is he a force on the rugby field he is also a heavyweight boxer with a 6-0 record with three wins by knock out. His last fight was in Feb of 2013 but he has postponed his boxing career to focus on rugby.

He was formerly the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association Heavyweight Champion and World Boxing Association (WBA) International Heavyweight Champion. He can also bench 310lbs for 3 reps. Long story short there isn’t much Sonny Bill can’t do and do well.

Pierre Spies is a South African Rugby Union player. Spies just may have the most impressive physique on this list. He power cleans 300lbs, deadlifts 530lbs and bench presses 360lbs. He also does pull-ups with an extra 110lbs hanging between his legs. Not to mention the fact that he is totally ripped.

The Wales fullback isn’t the biggest on the list, not by a long shot. Halfpenny has put on some serious size over the years and is a solid unit on the field. He has a great shape and very lean, women’s choice it seems!

Another Welshman known for bulldozing his way through defences, North has made his name by being monstrously strong.

His sheer strength was most notably demonstrated on the 2013 Lions tour to Australia when he picked up Israel Folau and carried him… while the ball was in his hand!

SPT_GCK_280613_British and Irish Lions Tour 2013, Australia, Melbourne. Picture Graham Chadwick. George North and the Lions team take a dip in the sea at St Kilda[/caption]

Parisse embodies everything positive about Italian rugby. He is 6ft 4in, ripped to the hills and hits his opposite number like a train.

The flanker is an English professional Rugby Union player who currently plays for Northampton Saints. He is a gym rat whose workouts can be found on the web and Youtube. He benches over 400lbs and does not skip leg day either.

At 6ft 8 and 280lbs, Eben Etzebeth must scare the sh*t out of his own family. This rugby player is still just 26, but is such a tank he had to have custom made dumbbells (source) specially made for him, because the 65kg (145lb) ones were, and I quote, ‘too light’.

According to this article, Manu Tuilagi also has a neck measuring over 20 inches and has to get his shirts custom made by the squad leaders. He runs the 100m sub 12 seconds and he also benches about 200kg for reps. I don’t even want to guess what he squats…

Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira is a Zimbabwean-born South African Rugby Union player for the Sharks. Fans don’t call him “The Beast” for no reason, he hits like a beast on the field and lifts like one in the weight room benching 340lbs and squatting 540lbs.

Anyone nicknamed ‘Gorgodzilla’ for his exploits in the school for hard knocks that is the French Top 14 means the 6ft 5ins 18st 10lbs Tblisi-born back rower is not one of life’s shrinking violets. Back home his rampaging style of play and passion for the physical side of the game has earned him two monikers, ‘Gulliver’ because he is a giant among men and the ‘Georgian Animal’... enough said.

The 22-year-old Leinster tighthead is a huge carrier, massive in the scrum and is renowned for his freakish ability in the gym.

Cudmore is a straight up beast. The Canadian was a troubled youth that was lucky enough to have rugby turn his life around for the better. Take note of the cauliflower ear on both ears. Anyone with cauliflower ear is not someone to be messed with. You don’t get cauliflower ear from being in the chess club. It only comes from doing lots of rugby, boxing, MMA or wrestling. Just a word to the wise.