Except for rucking, scrumming, and tackling...
Physical contact is huge in rugby. Yeah theoretically you can play without tackling and the same could be said about football then.
And about the arguement with pads. I don't know how many times our rugby team has tried recruiting some meaty looking guys that played football and they said they wouldn't play because you tackle/get tackled without pads. Pussies. Our best tackler on our team is a guy that's like 5' 5" and a probably like 130lb max.
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