Thread: Rugby vs. American football

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

But line up 245 pounds on either side and let them run straight at eachother and if you aren't wearing pads, you're both going to die.

I cracked my sternum by a similar scenario playing pickup football. The lineman I was assigned to didn't rush, so I was just sitting back watching the play. He was about 15 yards away and started running at me at full force, but I didn't notice. I turned at looked at him right as he was slamming into me at full force. I was on the ground for a while, but eventually got up and downed his dumb ass. He was a 6'8" 400+ pound Puerto Rican, and man it hurt like a bitch.

Originally Posted by Mr. E

I cracked my sternum by a similar scenario playing pickup football. The lineman I was assigned to didn't rush, so I was just sitting back watching the play. He was about 15 yards away and started running at me at full force, but I didn't notice. I turned at looked at him right as he was slamming into me at full force. I was on the ground for a while, but eventually got up and downed his dumb ass. He was a 6'8" 400+ pound Puerto Rican, and man it hurt like a bitch.

Imagine a massive Tongan, Samoan or Maori running towards you and trying to take you out its not a fun sight. Now imagine a whole team made out of massive Tongans, Samoans and Maoris. In rugby league the defence and offence MUST be 11 yards apart, many hits happen with a 15-30yard run up so really these guys are hitting each other at full speed. In rugby league its not just arm tackling or tackling the legs, a shoulder charge is absolutely legal.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rxhbaVwY_s"]YouTube - Mark O'Mealy VS Bryce Gibbs Fight[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moKyPMTlpCc"]YouTube - League - Richard Villasanti's hit on Shane Webcke[/ame]

You could even grab your opponents collar and yank them around like a rag doll.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_f5Rr93v_Q"]YouTube - Gordon Tallis' famous tackle on Brett Hodgson[/ame]

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

This is a pretty dumb discussion because the "toughest" sport isn't necessarily the best sport.

But more importantly, on top of that, rugby really isn't a game focused on contact, in the same way that hockey is not a contact-focused sport. Football, on the other hand, requires it. Football players are specialized for their roles; an NFL linebacker doesn't have the build to play rugby, nor is there a single professional rugby player who could be effective as a linebacker (nevermind offensive and defensive line, ha.)

Rugby also has considerably less down-hill running, and therefore considerably less down-hill tackling. That's the reason for a helmet and pads; any idiot can check, make shoestring tackles, or make arm tackles. But line up 245 pounds on either side and let them run straight at eachother and if you aren't wearing pads, you're both going to die.

Rugby not a contact/collision sport? Lol I fell off my chair laughing, have you ever seen a game? I suggest that you check out some State of Origin game highlights on youtube. Rugby league and union has allot more tackling and hit ups than football. One player could notch up 75 tackles in one single game in league, far more than football.

In the early years of american football most of the deaths and severe injuries stemmed from scrums and backward passing, this is why your president nearly banned the game. At that time the game was more like American rugby with plenty of gang tackles, and brutality. The rugby scrum was replaced by the line of scrimmage, forward passing encouraged and the V shape banned. All these banned features are still present in both forms of rugby. Even today scrums are still very deadly with plenty of deaths from broken necks and some punches and headbutts happening unnoticed within the scrum.