Originally posted by GhostofJimmyDean:Originally posted by Kalen49ers:Originally posted by GhostofJimmyDean:
Isn't rugby the "sport" where a bunch of dudes hug each other for an uncomfortable amount of time until the ball pops out?
Yeah, American Football is better.
Not really the best argument
I'll decide what the best argument is or isn't. But since you're being a girl about it...
The two sports aren't comparable because the players train to achieve different objectives. Rugby players train to last so stamina is very important. American Football players play only a limited amount of time but on each given play they give it their all, an all out sprint off the line. There's no jogging or taking it easy during a Football play. And while Rugby players may have more endurance, there's no arguing that Football players are much stronger and play with much more speed. There's a reason they wear all that padding and it has nothing to do with preventing pain. It's to prevent death. You can't expect them to make the hits they make every game non-stop the way Rugby players do.
Sports Science did a show on the impact of a hit off of a Rugby player and from a Football player.
By the way, Dhani Jones of the Bengals played with Blackheath a couple of years back.
"I think it would be harder for a rugby player to come and play American football. Rugby is a game of power and leverage where as football is a game of impact and speed."
His words.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/7226539.stm
I think it's safe to say that he wouldn't have been able to make the transition if he wasn't such a great athlete.
Yes, I've seen that sports science. It didn't really prove anything but hitting power. However still leaves the argument of which is worse, a bigger hit spread over the body and a percentage absorbed by padding or a concentrated hit on muscle and bone. I won't argue this because there would be no use, automatically you'll take the total amount. BTW - Great that they use amateur rugby players while using pro NFL players, but that is neither here nor there. LA Rugby club? The USA National team is considered an amateur that have full time jobs, LA Rugby Club are like YMCA basketballers.
Take those totals, 6 tackles a game vs 18. Thats with a NFL DB vs Rugby Center, both aren't top tackling positions. A Flanker for rugby makes twice as many tackles as a center as well as a linebacker for the NFL. HOWEVER!!!!!! A rugby player plays anywhere from 25 to 35 games a year. Plus practice, vs 16 to 23 for a
NFL player plus practice too. Not to mention that Rugby players hit and get hit as much as each other. I bet Jammer doesn't cop anywhere near that much punishment himself.
On for Dhani Jones, I was wondering when someone will bring up this guy. Blackheath Rugby Club, is a division 3 (yes 3) English Rugby club, and a very bad one at that. Meaning there are anywhere from 60-80 Teams (In England alone) better than that one. Not to mention New Zealand, Australia, France, South African etc etc clubs around the world, so we might be getting into the 200-300's of teams BETTER than that one. Oh yeah, he got a run with them in the final 10mins. Do you know what the score of that game was? 61-15 in a losing effort. That would be like an Australian saying US basketball isn't hard because they torn it up in the NCAA division 2 college ranks.
[ Edited by Aussie49er on Feb 9, 2010 at 4:07 PM ]