This should be the most popular team sport in the world....

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

Rugby. True athletes playing an extremely physical game with no helmuts and no padding (just a gum-guard).  Grid-iron is number one in the USA (which I also enjoy).... but rugby is a more global sport.

This highlight clip is from last weekend where my old home town the (Cape Town) Stomers beat the mighty (New Zealand) Crusaders in the Super 14 competition.  Its the top 14 teams from Aussie, New Zealand and South Africa.  Listen to the crowd....enjoy!

[Below Me]

They also have the best referee whistles.

[G_Thang]

not good enough athletes vs nfl players.  most of those guys get cut during mini-camp in nfl.  teach 20 nfl all-stars the game and let them play an all-star rugby team.  it would be like play sandlot again.  you're taught better tackling techniques in NA ball which translates equally good without the equipment.  i'm from cuban family but i played football about 6yrs in states in louisiana. younger but i saw guys like marshall faulk, leroy hoard, lonnie marts, tank landry, kordell stewart, garry james, dalton hilliard, etc.

nice to watch but dont compare an evolved sandlot game vs the hit ray lewis could lay on you even with out the pads.

 

i need mariah in my life grant.  

[Coach is Back!]

Gotta go with liberal team circle jerks!

[benchmstr]

Gotta go with liberal team circle jerks!

still a Communist huh?

bench

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

not good enough athletes vs nfl players.  most of those guys get cut during mini-camp in nfl.  teach 20 nfl all-stars the game and let them play an all-star rugby team.  it would be like play sandlot again.  you're taught better tackling techniques in NA ball which translates equally good without the equipment.  i'm from cuban family but i played football about 6yrs in states in louisiana. younger but i saw guys like marshall faulk, leroy hoard, lonnie marts, tank landry, kordell stewart, garry james, dalton hilliard, etc.

nice to watch but dont compare an evolved sandlot game vs the hit ray lewis could lay on you even with out the pads

i need mariah in my life grant.  

G ....I don't deny that NFL athletes like Ray Lewis are exceptional. My point is just that I wish the American public enjoyed rugby as much at Grid-iron.  If guys like Ray Lewis, Drew Brees and Chis Johnson (Titans) played rugby then the USA would be the world's top team! But they don't. And Rugby just seems a much more exciting game?

By the way.... a guy like Ma'a Nonu would probably run through most NFL teams?

[Fury]

G ....I don't deny that NFL athletes like Ray Lewis are exceptional. My point is just that I wish the American public enjoyed rugby as much at Grid-iron.  If guys like Ray Lewis, Drew Brees and Chis Johnson (Titans) played rugby then the USA would be the world's top team! But they don't. And Rugby just seems a much more exciting game?

By the way.... a guy like Ma'a Nonu would probably run through most NFL teams?

I like rugby but rugby fans are always saying that and yet their best players are incapable of making an NFL roster.

[The Showstoppa]

G ....I don't deny that NFL athletes like Ray Lewis are exceptional. My point is just that I wish the American public enjoyed rugby as much at Grid-iron.  If guys like Ray Lewis, Drew Brees and Chis Johnson (Titans) played rugby then the USA would be the world's top team! But they don't. And Rugby just seems a much more exciting game?

By the way.... a guy like Ma'a Nonu would probably run through most NFL teams?

Highly doubt it.  I like Rugby fine, but the actual force that is exerted in an NFL hit is much greater than in rugby.  Often its the "protection" that NFL players wear that actually leads to injuries.  Look into the concussion issue....it has a lot to do with it.

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

Here is Ma'a Nonu....he is 6 foot and 240lbs....easily as strong as any top running back in the NFL?  Rugby players seem to play through blood, cuts and injuries....  ?

[Army of One]

Here is Ma'a Nonu....he is 6 foot and 240lbs....easily as strong as any top running back in the NFL?  Rugby players seem to play through blood, cuts and injuries....  ?

I thought your favorite sport was shouting obscenities at elderly people in the street

[Fury]

Here is Ma'a Nonu....he is 6 foot and 240lbs....easily as strong as any top running back in the NFL? Rugby players seem to play through blood, cuts and injuries....  ?

And football players don't?

6 foot, 240 isn't anything special in terms of the NFL. Height is below average for most of the skill positions and there are OLBs and RBs that weigh more.

[The Showstoppa]

Is that him getting buried at the :10 mark?  If so, he would suffer far worse than that on most plays as an NFL running back.  The guy who destroyed him appeared to weigh maybe 220lbs.....can you imagine what a 6'2" 250lb LB who runs a 4.4 40 would do to him?

[BIG ACH]

I like Rugby, but I like American Football more!


Lets see what my team is gonna do this year!!!

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

I like rugby but rugby fans are always saying that and yet their best players are incapable of making an NFL roster.

BF.... none of them even care to try make an NFL roster.... its a game of passion for them.  Not about the money...

Jonah Lomu from New Zealand said....(on a trade to NFL Dallas Cowboys)...."Why would I trade US$7 million for the love of 10 million fans in New Zealand??"  Tradition runs strong in the home countries!!!!!


Watch the movie "Invictus"..... its a great movie....true story! I was there!

!

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

I thought your favorite sport was shouting obscenities at elderly people in the street

Touche'......!!!!

[Army of One]

Touche'......!!!!

 

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

Is that him getting buried at the :10 mark?  If so, he would suffer far worse than that on most plays as an NFL running back.  The guy who destroyed him appeared to weigh maybe 220lbs.....can you imagine what a 6'2" 250lb LB who runs a 4.4 40 would do to him?

Jaque Fourie is 6' 2" and about 225lbs.  The rugby forwards that play in the "pack" are all well over 250lbs!! Andries Bekker is 6'10" and 280lbs. Does the NFL have any players that can match that? No. Because the game is toooooo slow. Stop and start. So Obese Linebackers at 350lbs can play since there is NO free flow in the game. Stop-start.....for 3 hours.

[The Showstoppa]

Jaque Fourie is 6' 2" and about 225lbs.  The rugby forwards that play in the "pack" are all well over 250lbs!! Andries Bekker is 6'10" and 280lbs. Does the NFL have any players that can match that? No. Because the game is toooooo slow. Stop and start. So Obese Linebackers at 350lbs can play since there is NO free flow in the game. Stop-start.....for 3 hours.

No way.  Find me one OBESE NFL linebacker.....sure some lineman, but no way are any of the LB's obese.  Those guys are monsters.  And like I said, your boy got destroyed, on a play rugby considers dirty but would happen on 75% of the plays in the NFL, by a 225lb guy.  Hell, QB's dwarf that guy.  As for the 6'10" guy, there are many 6'7"/6'8" guys who are bigger, stonger and faster than he is, I guarantee it.  Nothing wrong with rugby, but they are no where near the athletes in the NFL.

[JOHN MATRIX]

in my experience rugby players are simply football players who were too aggressive/violent and fight-craving to stay on football teams.

in a fight id take 4 rugby guys against 6-7 football players any day

[The Showstoppa]

in my experience rugby players are simply football players who were too aggressive/violent and fight-craving to stay on football teams.

in a fight id take 4 rugby guys against 6-7 football players any day

I would agree on the fight thing, on average.  But the rugby guys I knew in college were simply not good enough at football to play and had no other choice.

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

No way.  Find me one OBESE NFL linebacker.....sure some lineman, but no way are any of the LB's obese.  Those guys are monsters.  And like I said, your boy got destroyed, on a play rugby considers dirty but would happen on 75% of the plays in the NFL, by a 225lb guy.  Hell, QB's dwarf that guy.  As for the 6'10" guy, there are many 6'7"/6'8" guys who are bigger, stonger and faster than he is, I guarantee it.  Nothing wrong with rugby, but they are no where near the athletes in the NFL.

You are correct. I meant to say Lineman ...not linebackers. Semantics....but I apologize.

[Mr. Zimbabwe]

I would agree on the fight thing, on average.  But the rugby guys I knew in college were simply not good enough at football to play and had no other choice.

Again I agree. Any decent athlete (usually black) would go Grid-iron...thats where the money$ is.  Soccer and rugby pay little money in the USA.  It saddens me.  Only because rugby is a more exciting game in my humble opinion.

[The Showstoppa]

You are correct. I meant to say Lineman ...not linebackers. Semantics....but I apologize.

No problem. I sort of thought that, since you do watch the NFL it would be hard for you to think LB's are obese. 

[che]

Grant if you think that guys like  Brian Habana could keep up with guys like Kevin Williams you are crazy man .
NFL players are the best athletes in the world period.

[G_Thang]

Grant if you think that guys like  Brian Habana could keep up with guys like Kevin Williams you are crazy man .
NFL players are the best athletes in the world period.

habana vs peterson.  get the comparsions right.