Thread: Rugby vs. American football

Originally Posted by djwolford

Strong first post, but a fail. You realize that the fridge would kill a rugby player the first time he made contact right? Not hurt, kill.

What you're failing to realize is just how athletic some of those "fat" guys are. For a lot of the people who do run a lot, their average practice is very endurance oriented. I doubt that many of them would have troubles playing a full game of rugby.

You do realise that a typical rugby league player has far better stamina than your typical soccer player right? I dont think you understand how much running is involved in a typical game of rugby, how there is only one team for attack and defense, how there is basically no rest in between plays, how you can only have 10 interchanges and 4 reserve players on the bench. Perry Williams or the fridge wouldnt last 5 minutes in a rugby game and would get owned in a one on one tackle and a gang tackle.

William Perry is only 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and weighed 382 lbs (173.4 kg), there are rugby players with slightly less weight but taller, more muscular and far more powerful who are better conditioned for severe impacts. If you are after tall and fat people then just look at those rejected by rugby teams especially the Polynesian variety. There was an article once that said how NFL scouts wants to mine the richer and more athletic rugby loving players in Western Samoa and about how American Samoans are 40 times more likely to be picked in NFL than those of non Samoans blood.

As for what William Perry eats:
Breakfast: six eggs, grits, bacon, cheese, toast, jelly and a quart of orange juice
Lunch: eight cheeseburgers, six portions of chips and six shakes
Dinner: five chickens, steak and ribs

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

James Harrison did it without a problem.

I like that the example goes for NFL players unable to compete in rugby, but there are few-if-any rugby players that could make or break NFL tackles, either. There are few if any rugby players who could make or shake NFL blocks. Football is a game of specialization.

I wouldnt exactly say without a problem and thats just 100 yards. A rugby pitch is 109 yards long and allot wider. I cant imagine Harrison lasting 5 minutes on a fast paced and continuous rugby game.

Big Play by Steelers’ Harrison Took His (and Others’) Breath Away




James Harrison collapses after scoring a touchdown


Harrison, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ All-Pro linebacker, had just intercepted a Kurt Warner pass and rumbled 100 yards for a touchdown that was heart-stopping not just for a worldwide audience, but, it appeared for a few minutes, perhaps Harrison himself. Exhausted from the longest play in Super Bowl history, Harrison lay supine on the side of the end zone all but motionless, trying to catch his breath.

“To be honest, I really didn’t think I’d make it all the way back,” Harrison said. “My teammates threw some vicious blocks.”

Just before the goal line, Arizona’s Steve Breaston smacked into Harrison from behind while Larry Fitzgerald tried to wrestle him down, but Harrison’s momentum was too great. He slumped to the ground helmet-first just beyond the goal line.

Harrison rolled over and lay face up, his arms and legs extended, as if making a motionless snow angel. He did not get up for a full two minutes while being visited by the Steelers' medical staff. During that time, not only was a penalty flag 100 yards away ruled an Arizona infraction, but the video referee also looked into whether the ball had crossed the goal line before the tackle. It was a crucial call — Harrison had taken all 18 seconds left on the clock to run the length of the field, so if he was ruled short of the goal line, Pittsburgh would have to choose between going for a field goal or a touchdown on its last play with no time remaining.

“I’ve never been more emotionally drained in my life,” he said.

Just as Harrison began to inhale oxygen through a mask, the referee Terry McAulay announced that the play would stand.

Actually there has already been an ex rugby player playing for a third tier team making it into the NFL without any problems, check out Richard Tardis. Even an ex AFL player has taken some punishing tackles and has made a tackle himself without any problems. Imagine what a first tier team like New Zealand, Australia and South Africa can do to the game of football, they would surely dominate.

Richard Tardits grew up playing rugby, then, one day, as a student at the University of Georgia; he walked on to preseason football practice. "He didn't even know how to put his pads on," said then head coach and now Georgia Athletic Director Vince Dooley. "We put him in tight end and asked him to fire out and block and he fired out and tackled the guy. So we figured that we better put him on defense pretty quick."

As a linebacker who had never played gridiron before, Tardits learned quickly, and in one scrimmage
sacked the quarterback five times. "I gave him a battlefield promotion right there," said Dooley. "I gave him a scholarship. He had such explosiveness." Upon graduation, Tardits made all-conference as a linebacker, and had set a record for sacks at Georgia that still stands. He went on to play for the NFL for New England and Arizona.

After his NFL career was over, Tardits returned to rugby, playing for the United States 24 times.
"All those things he learned in rugby, mobility, running, reaction, and tackling, can help develop a young

Now turn around and ask me if a top-tier Wide Receiver, Corner, Safety or Running Back (the positions most similar in physical demands to rugby) could play rugby effectively. Athletically, they'd likely be fine. Position-wise, mentally, they wouldn't.

I mean I think it's funny that there's this talk of injury resilience in rugby, and "toughness," when the worst injuries in football are significantly worse. Google: tyrone prothro injury. Besides, there are plenty of "tough" football players who do play through injuries (Herschel Walker did it famously by putting a separated shoulder back into its socket and playing the next series, as well as Mike Vick, a quarterback playing a full season for the Falcons with both of his shoulders separated.)

Is the photo below the Protho injury your talking about? That's just an accident, it could happen in any contact sports and has happened in other sports. Football injuries are not worse.

Soccer

Rugby

Also, it's worth mentioning that rugby players do have a certain toughness in that they don't care about what they look like, which is why they choose not to wear helmets. Helmets to protect the face and eyes (and, later, cranium) are the reason football players wear pads; tacklers lead with their helmets (how to stick a tackle? put your helmet on the ball.) Football players aren't willing to sacrifice their futures to prove they are some form of "masculine.

Rugby remained more traditional and didnt try to banish all forms of physicality like American football did in 1904. Not wearing a helmet is not a choice but requirement in the game, your team would be penalised for illegal equipment if rugby players started wearing non approved helmets. The only thing rugby players could wear are scrum caps which protects the ears from getting stomped on.