[Health] Who ate all the pies?

From Tom:

I thought of a good solid rugby stats challenge for you. There was a big news splash the other day about the [Ministry of Health’s] findings that more than half of NZers are overweight or obese. These stats are based on the famously dodgy BMI [Body-Mass Index] calculation (weight in kg / (height in m)^2), whereby a score of 25 or more is overweight and 30 obese (26 and 32 for Māori/Pasifika).

A quick glance at the Hurricanes’ player page shows how the BMI is complete bollocks: Piri Weepu is a couple of kilos off being obese.

He’s right Piri Weepu (1.78m, 94kg) gets a score of 29.7, so he’s overweight. Speedster and try-scoring machine Lome Fa’atau (1.83m, 92kg) gets a 29 but is still overweight.

Wendell Sailor (see below) gets a 29 as well. Maybe he was worried and went on a “coke diet”. Sniff sniff.

Let’s try the forwards: Andrew Hore (1.83m, 110kg) is obese at 32.8 points. The heaviest Hurricane is prop Tim Fairbrother (183m, 119kg), he gets a score of 35.5! He must be SO unfit!

But the Hurricanes are a long way from the largest team. Prop Andries Human of the Bulls is 1.91m and 123kg so he gets a score of 33.7. Fatty.