How high are rugby posts?

Goal posts in rugby union have a minimum height of 3.4m (just over 11 feet), are 5.6m apart and made of aluminium or steel. Different heights are used for different ages with junior rugby posts being between 5m and 9m tall.

The top edge of the crossbar should be 3m from the ground, whatever the height of the vertical posts which can also have as much as 30cm of padding on them.

In reality, especially in international rugby, the posts can be as high as 17m and the Guinness Book of Records says the tallest posts in the world were erected at Wednesbury RFC in the West Midlands in 2014. They stood at 38.35m or 125ft 9.84in.

That might be a bit much but they might have done James Hook a favour if they had been shipped out to New Zealand.

At the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Wales’ Hook took a penalty, in Wellington, in the early stages of their pool match against South Africa. His kick went high over the top of the posts but was ruled out by referee Wayne Barnes, even though many watching thought it would have gone through if the posts had been taller. Hook was convinced it went over, and he had one of the best views in the house, but it was chalked off and Wales lost 17-16.

Crossbars have a special place in the hearts of two rugby fans Stuart Tinner and Matthew Rouse.

In 2009 and 2010, at the Saracens games against South Africa and then Wasps at Wembley, the pair pocketed £250,000 each for hitting the bar with a punt from about 30m out in the Sarries’ Crossbar Challenge. Tinner, an amateur rugby player, did the trick in his socks.

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