This being Irish Open week Andy Farrell may decide to play the hybrid.
Ireland hopeful Nick Timoney was into the hammer and other throwing events before turning his love of athletics to sprinting in school.
And, by degrees, that helped get the Dubliner into the Ireland Sevens set-up for a while, which helped him eventually become an Ulster regular.
The back row, who was "chucked out" of the Leinster system before heading north, could feature in the upcoming summer series at Test level.
"I used to do the hammer and the throwing events and did alright in those, but I decided that wasn't maybe improving my rugby directly," explained Timoney.
"So I went to the sprint coach at school in fifth year asking if I could come along and do some stuff.
"He sort of laughed at me first but then told me that if I wanted to, I could do it.
"I wasn't very quick back then so he told me I would have to do it properly four or five days a week.
"I committed to that and we did the relay in school. We came second in the All-Ireland relay in 2014.
"I was the anchor leg, got the baton a couple of metres out in front and lost pretty badly. That was about the height of it, but it was good fun.
"I loved athletics and sprinting especially - there is just something about a race. It's good fun. That was my brief but enjoyable encounter with sprinting."
Timoney admits that his running joke that he is faster than Ulster's wingers is wearing a bit thin.
"The lads are getting pretty sick of it," he grinned.
"When the coaches say 'backs over here and forwards over there,' I always ask, 'Where do the hybrids go?'
"But seriously, some of the wingers here like (Robert) Baloucoune, Jacob (Stockdale) and (Andrew) Conway - they're probably quicker than me, but I like to think I can sort of keep in touch with them."
Timoney, 25, is still friends with a lot of the Sevens side that recently qualified for Tokyo and, having loved the experience, says he "can only imagine how much fun they're having now".
But he has his own history to make this summer, and winning an Ireland Test cap is the aim.
"I was maybe six, seven, eight, just having started rugby - From back then that’s always something you dream of," he said.
"I would have gone to a good few Ireland games when I was younger, and watched the rest of them on TV.
"If I was to get a run-out it would be the proudest day of my life so far, but it’s been a dream for a long time - and it would certainly mean a huge amount to me if I did get to play.”
