If you have wide feet, you've probably sized up, tried a model described as roomy, or waited for a leather upper to stretch. The question is: do any of these band-aids actually create a good fit? I'd argue no.
I've played soccer for 25 years, I have wide feet, and I design and print custom cleats at Prevolve, including rugby cleats. My interest is in giving players a fit that doesn't compromise performance.
Give the foot room to work, get the studs under its bone structure, train it, and build a cleat that can handle the demands of rugby. A forward needs a stable platform, but I don't want that platform to make the foot's movement an afterthought.
What a scrum actually asks of your foot
In a scrum, forwards need to maintain grip while driving against the opposing pack.
Researchers at Bath put 34 forward packs from six playing levels against an instrumented scrum machine. At international level the pack held roughly 8.3 kN through the sustained push and peaked near 16.5 kN on engagement. Those are pack-level measurements, not measurements of the force under each player’s feet.
Now look at where your feet are while that is happening. Heel off the ground. Ball of the foot planted. The toe joints bend as the player holds the position. That is one movement the cleat needs to accommodate.
That position is one reason we consider forefoot movement when designing a rugby cleat.
Width under load
For a forward with wide feet, the question is whether the cleat fits under load.
Volumental analyzed 1.2 million in-store foot scans. Inside a single length, the middle 90% of customers span about 16 mm of forefoot width, and the paper estimated that a single stock width could fit at most 40% of the feet in a length class. You need at least three widths per length to cover 90% of people. Check which widths are offered in the models you are considering.
The wider industry problem is explained in Why Wide Cleats Are Hard to Find. Here, the focus is what to inspect in a rugby cleat.
Three places to inspect
We review three areas when checking fit and construction.
The heel counter. Check whether it holds your heel securely and whether that changes as the cleat wears. A cleat can look intact while the heel starts moving inside it.
The toe box. Check the room across the forefoot in a loaded stance. Repeated pressure or wear at the outer forefoot is something to discuss during fitting.
The stud plate edge. Compare the platform with the shape of your foot. When we design a custom plate, forefoot width is one of the dimensions we use.
A 30-week study involving two professional rugby league squads found fewer injuries and better comfort ratings in the squad following a footwear program. The program changed several things together. I take the practical point seriously: footwear and how players use it deserve deliberate attention.
Studs, soft ground, and the eight-stud plate
On a soft, muddy pitch, stud selection becomes especially important. Our soft-ground plates use removable aluminum studs, with six- and eight-stud options. The choice should be discussed in relation to the player and the playing surface.
We use the shape of your foot to guide stud placement around the forefoot and heel. See the stud placement article for the full discussion.
Grip also has to suit the movement. Older football research on rotational traction and injury is one reason I look beyond how hard a stud bites. For a rugby cleat, I want the player, the surface and the demands of the position to drive that choice.
Stiff plate or flexible plate
Reviewers argue about whether soleplate stiffness matters. It does, and the argument only sounds unresolvable because both sides are right about different parts of the cleat.
Stiffness through the midfoot buys you a base. It usually comes with stiffer studs that don’t wobble under load, and the more force you generate the more you need something under you that doesn’t fold. That is the scrum, the maul, the moment you are holding your own weight and somebody else's.
Flex at the forefoot lets your foot do its job. A plate that bends lets your foot adjust its angle to the ground, which is traction, and changes how the cleat moves with the foot. Too much of it and the plate folds under you on a hard step and you end up standing on the edge of it.
Where the plate bends matters as well as how stiff it is. In our design, we consider midfoot stiffness and forefoot flex separately.
We also consider your foot strength and level of play when setting the build. A stiffness choice needs to account for the person wearing the cleat.
Fit and training
I believe foot training belongs in a rugby player’s preparation. Strength, balance and control are worth developing before asking the foot to work in a more flexible cleat. Our foot strength level guide provides the progression, and the barefoot training article explains why I believe in it.
We may also discuss toe spacers or toe socks during fitting. They belong within the wider fitting and training process.
What to actually do about it
If you are buying off the shelf, the fitting rules that matter for a forward are not the ones on the shop wall:
- Check fit while standing and moving. A seated fitting doesn’t tell you how the cleat feels when you load the forefoot.
- Check width and length together. Extra length is not a reliable answer to a narrow forefoot. Check that the heel stays secure as well.
- Inspect the outsole. Compare the platform and toe-box shape across cleats. A removable insole can help with an initial fit comparison, but it is not a measurement of the outsole.
- Compare forefoot flex. Check where the cleat bends and discuss the resistance you feel during fitting.
- Match the studs to the ground you actually play on, not the ground in the advert.
- Plan training in the off-season, not the week before a fixture. Leave time to practice in the build you will use for matches.
If you have not found a suitable shape on the shelf, our foot scanning page explains the custom process. We build the cleat around your scan and check the fit through our fitting process.
A rugby cleat needs to fit the player who is pushing in it. Start with that fit, then work through the flex and stud options for your game.