Rugby Players Playing NFL

Chucky the tree · 03-02-2005 9:04pm

wow, two plays, completely porved your point there so.

daveirl · 03-02-2005 11:17pm

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Vikings · 03-02-2005 11:46pm

Yes i did porve my point. My point was its not the onle person with the ball that gets hit hard.

There's about 2 maybe 3 hits on that page that could be classed as in the same league as the clips i posted. Also everyone of the people who were hit had the ball. The point i was making is that you dont have to have the ball to get hit in amfoot.

Chucky the tree · 04-02-2005 12:05am

majority of the times a blocker will not get hit that hard though

Vikings · 04-02-2005 12:25am

I wouldn't say the majority. I'd say its about 50/50. If a LB sees a lineman watching the play and the LB has an open shot at him, i'd say 7/10 times he'd take that shot. Might take the lineman out of the game for a series or 2.

big_moe · 04-02-2005 11:35pm

i play the same position and same team as incredible bulk and i came from rugby to football. i thought it would be rugby with pads i.e. get the same hits with pads so i thought i wouldnt feel a thing! i was very wrong! football has the pads so you can hit harder than rugby. i have to do a load of hittin and rarely touch the ball. o-line and d-line get a lot of hits and, as i said before, practically never touch the ball. if you like rough full contact games football is better than rugby, imo. thats coming from a rugby player who became a football player!

Pherekydes · 05-02-2005 2:08am

Rugby players do wear padding. They just don't bother to protect the important areas of their bodies.

daveirl · 05-02-2005 2:42am

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Stormfox1020 · 05-02-2005 9:33pm

Well having played WR in High School football, and now playing winger in rugby I can say that both sports are equally as tough. Football has has tougher hits but the padding help alot, and dont forget in football you can also jump into a tackle. While in rugby you do get vicious hits with no padding but you also suffer the raking and burns from other players studs etc. I have easily settled into playing winger coming from wide reciever as the two posistion sort of complement each other. As mentioned though It would be tough for rugby players to play NFL because most Football Pro's have been playing their posistion for their whole football career and have undergone Instense training and Fitness camps to get where they are now. I found rugby tough at first though due to the amount of running needed. You have to be much fitter to play rugby than Football hence why rugby players dont weigh as much as football player. Also when you consider the US has 300 Million people and nearly 60% of boys play Football, thats probably 100x more than people who play rugby worldwide. Then again on the contrary why would pro rugby players want to play NFL when they worked their ass off to get where they are now?

besty · 06-02-2005 5:36pm

martin johnson plans to play football when he retires. i remember seeing him on skys football coverage saying so. some rugby wingers would make brilliant receivers. i dont think many footballers would translate well into rugby tho as it is more complex and there are many rules and things to get used to in rugger.

daveirl · 07-02-2005 3:21pm

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Downtime · 07-02-2005 3:26pm

Yeah he is a big 49ers fan and has been invited over there a few times to meet and talk to the team

Vikings · 07-02-2005 6:52pm

Well he wont make the cut in the NFL. Best he can hope for is the brittish senior league just like dwain chambers.

daveirl · 07-02-2005 8:20pm

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Neil3030 · 09-02-2005 1:22pm

Martin Johnson? Clean? You may have to clear up what exactly you mean by that cos I have him down as being a right dirty prick (and annoyingly brilliant, but he's English so that just increases his score on the prick-o-metre)

daveirl · 09-02-2005 9:23pm

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por · 10-02-2005 10:06am

Can you send us a link to articles on the 'terrible anti-drug policy with a positive test recieving only the very lightest of centures.'

The NFL has a stringent steroid testing policy (not as tough on recreational drugs) and a novel punishment policy
A player is only paid for the 16 games they play each year, there are bonuses for performance after that. If you fail a drugs test you get an automatic 4 match ban, that results in a 25% pay cut, the majority of players are not willing to loose 25% of their annual salary thus the number of positive test are small.
Here is a good column of the topic from Yahoo! Sports

daveirl · 10-02-2005 1:00pm

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Vikings · 10-02-2005 2:48pm

I would say it is comparable. Just look at what the players in other sports earn, then look at what football players earn. It could very well be 4 times the amount of those in other sports, in some cases even more.

Well, the BSL uses NCAA rules and not NFL rules. I'm pretty sure the ncaa and nfl have differing views on what substances are banned.

Pherekydes · 10-02-2005 5:53pm

And what T&F team hasn't? What about our very own Cathal Lombard?

A point that a lot of people miss is that the NFL is owned by the teams. It's their league and they make up their own rules. It's not behoven to WADA or any other body (and never will be). So it's up to themselves to censure their own employees.

daveirl · 10-02-2005 11:56pm

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DubTony · 12-02-2005 2:48pm

In 1986 when the Dublin Tornadoes started out there was a trial for new players. After some mentions on radio and some shop window ads between 40 and 60 guys turned up.

Before the scrimmage, tests of speed, strength, and agility were carried out to determine what positions would be best suited to each player.

Many rugby players came along with an attitude of "This game is easy. In rugby we don't wear pads. You're all wusses. We'll show you".

The scrimmage took place without padding so there was little head to head stuff and "most" tackles were made below the neck, i.e. shoulder to chest or legs. After the scrimmage, (everyone knew beforehand that it would be more a game of modified rugby than American football), and some very light "go easy on them" tackles, many of the rugby players had a different attitude and a little more respect for the game.

I can't remember if any of them actually continued to play with the Tornadoes.
So another question arises. Apart from who could make it, who would really want to?

As for hundred metre sprints ... aren't speed tests in American football done over 40 yards to show short bursts of speed?

Tony

daveirl · 12-02-2005 2:54pm

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Pherekydes · 12-02-2005 3:18pm

It makes no difference. Bob Hayes was the fastest man at any distance up to, and including 100. And he was a football player!

It's the same nowadays. If you're fast over 40, you're fast, period.

djf1970 · 16-02-2005 11:46pm

http://www.vikings.com/player_detail_objectname_david_dixon.html

As a youth in New Zealand, was a member of the elite New Zealand All Blacks junior rugby team...Discovered playing rugby in New Zealand by a traveling U.S. football coach...First New Zealander to start in the NFL.

As neither an American football or rugby fan, I would have to say that I think very few rugby players would be able to make it without a couple of years conditioning and even then most would be a flop.

fixer · 23-02-2005 10:31pm

very VERY loosely, rugby 1-3s are generally suited to defensive tackles, offensive line or fullbacks. 4-8s are defensive ends, linebackers or tight ends. 9-13 are linebackers, safeties or halfbacks. 14-15 are cornerbacks or wide receivers.

ozhawk66 · 24-02-2005 1:00pm

>>Just an of the wall thought.....how many rugby players with serious training could play nfl and who would they be<<

It's mostly an apples and oranges comparison between the two sports and comparable positions, but by and large, it really isn't feasable for professional rugby players to play in the NFL.

They are bigger, faster and stronger, and it would take several years of training - in their prime - to learn the teamwork/chess aspect of the game AND to learn on how to deal with the continuois, physical pounding of the NFL and the overall violent nature of the game.

You could take some of the bigger, faster rugby players (that rugby had to offer) and stick them in the TE (tight end) position. But that would take about two years of sitting on the bench to soak it all in.

ozhawk66 · 24-02-2005 1:17pm

>>As a youth in New Zealand, was a member of the elite New Zealand All Blacks junior rugby team...Discovered playing rugby in New Zealand by a traveling U.S. football coach...First New Zealander to start in the NFL.

As neither an American football or rugby fan, I would have to say that I think very few rugby players would be able to make it without a couple of years conditioning and even then most would be a flop.<<

As a Viking fan who knows his players, David Dixon has been nothing but a class act for the Vikings. As a matter of fact, I think I recently read where Dixon was willing to downgrade his contract and was willing to stay on the team as a backup lineman. Almost unheard of in the NFL.

ozhawk66 · 24-02-2005 1:21pm

Hayes can be argued as the fastest or one of the fastest, but there is a (short) list who could match Hayes.

http://archive.profootballweekly.com/content/archives2001/features_2001/nflist_092401.asp

ozhawk66 · 24-02-2005 1:32pm

>>martin johnson plans to play football when he retires. i remember seeing him on skys football coverage saying so. some rugby wingers would make brilliant receivers. i dont think many footballers would translate well into rugby tho as it is more complex and there are many rules and things to get used to in rugger.
__________________
That money was just resting in my account!It was a routine relocation of funds! <<

Martin Johnson quote: 'I'd never be quick enough. In our sport, you try to get good rugby players and make them into athletes. In the NFL they've got some good athletes who they make into players. How quick you do the 40 [run 40 yards] is the big thing. "What? He does the 40 in 4.2? He's that quick?" They love their stats.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,6903,1406820,00.html

Rugby Players Playing NFL

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