If you want to stay busy, this is the role for you. Ceteris paribus, no player will carry the ball more often than the No 8 and as one of the team’s heavyweights you will be expected to make good yardage and offload out of the tackle. As the player controlling the ball after it’s hooked in the scrum, the No 8 is a key decision-maker because you can elect to pick it up and run. So good hands are a must, but then pretty much everything is a must for the No 8 because this is one of the all-singing, all-dancing positions – two of our top ten have even dropped a Test-match goal!