Wynne Gray: Big boys are making their presence felt again

Ben Tameifuna, playing for the Chiefs this year, tips the scales at around 130kg. Photo / APN

Details about Ben Tameifuna's weight vary from media guides to Chiefs pronouncements - but not by much.

Whichever way you start dicing the 20-year-old prop's frame, it is massive - in the mid-to-high 130kg range.

That's about the same weight Fijian prop Bill Cavubati carried when he was lolloping about in Super rugby though Big Bill later ballooned to 160kg when he appeared for Fiji against the All Blacks in 2005.

When the high-paced style of Super rugby became professional in 1996, the days of the "fat-trackers" started to shrink. Or so we thought.

The game was too expansive to involve those who wanted to work at the setpiece and just patrol narrow strips of turf. The pace was up, the weight was down.

In that opening year only two players in New Zealand sides, Joe Veitayaki and Lio Falaniko, weighed more than 120kg.

Since then the game has got even faster, but the players have stacked on the beef.

A scan of the guide this season finds a dozen New Zealand players weighing in at 120kg or more.

Highlanders lock Calum Retallick is close behind Tameifuna at 135kg, with Charlie Faumuina, Filo Paulo, Angus Ta'avao, Ben Afeaki, Brodie Retallick, Ma'afu Fia, Jamie Mackinstoh, James Broadhurst, Ben May and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen breathing down their necks.

Intriguingly, not one Crusader is on that list - their heaviest squad member is prop Nick Barrett at 117kg.

Over the Ditch, the Reds match that statistic while the Waratahs have a massive squad with seven players tipping the scales over the 120kg mark.

Thirteen men are listed over that same mark in the South African sides, although the Sharks match the Reds and Crusaders in keeping all their crew below that weight.

The lightest men in the competition?

Highlanders halfback Aaron Smith lines up at 82kg to nudge out 84kg Chiefs first five-eighths Aaron Cruden.

Two halfbacks in Oz, Nick White and Nick Stirzaker are also listed as 82kg while Jano Vermaak is 1kg heavier behind the Bulls pack.

But the nifty Stormers wing Gio Aplon wins the lightweight gong for the competition, nudging the scales at 79kg.

In Hamilton last night, Blues hooker Keven Mealamu extended his record as the most capped New Zealand player in the competition when he played his 137th game, two ahead of Caleb Ralph.

Mealamu made his Blues debut in 2000 as a 98kg hooker. When he was overlooked by the Blues in 2002, Mealamu was picked by the Chiefs and made the All Blacks' end-of-year tour.

The Blues then reasserted their selection rights and Mealamu has gone on to lead the franchise with distinction into multiple campaigns.

He has also improved his skills and speed while nudging the scales up to 106kg. Just imagine the speed Tameifuna will generate when he fills out his frame.