The legend of Jonah Lomu. Better than any NFL player

[polychronopolous]

lol at this pathetic rugby v NFL argument....

The truth is both sports have superb athletes and players at the top of both sports would probably excell (with the right training) at either.

Incidentally the reason that NFL players wear padding is not because of the huge hits exactly... its because they wear helmets. As soon as you wear helmets, you need body protection...

There is no NFL vs. Rugby "argument"

If these rugby players were so incredibly gifted they would be over in the states making massive amounts of cash through contracts and endorsements.

But they can't because they simply don't have the talent to last on the NFL level. Period.

[headhuntersix]

If that were true you'd see a lot of guys trying and failing. They seem to be pretty happy where they're at. I'm sure somebody can pull up the salaries of the big sides. Besides hard to switch sports like that...unpadded to padded, rules etc. These guys have been playing it since they were little kids.

[bigmc]

nfl players wear more armour than medieval knights

they would last about 10 mins in a top level rugby game

[Sam]

There is no NFL vs. Rugby "argument"

If these rugby players were so incredibly gifted they would be over in the states making massive amounts of cash through contracts and endorsements.

But they can't because they simply don't have the talent to last on the NFL level. Period.

 Well wide of the mark..

[ProudVirgin69]

If that were true you'd see a lot of guys trying and failing. They seem to be pretty happy where they're at. I'm sure somebody can pull up the salaries of the big sides. Besides hard to switch sports like that...unpadded to padded, rules etc. These guys have been playing it since they were little kids.

You have some rugby players that come and try their luck in the NFL, without much success.  Most recently some guy came to play for the Indianapolis Colts.  Big fast Hebrew, but he only played a few snaps on special teams.

How much do top rugby players make?

[headhuntersix]

If you haven't played both...not sure you can remotely try and compare the to. Besides Ruggers generally aren't sloppy head hunting tacklers. We spent a good portion of practice wrapping and tackling. The NFL can't do that anymore with the rules on practice limits. They're two different games.

[headhuntersix]

You have some rugby players that come and try their luck in the NFL, without much success.  Most recently some guy came to play for the Indianapolis Colts.  Big fast Hebrew, but he only played a few snaps on special teams.

How much do top rugby players make?

The Pats have a guy that was a top D1 player at Ohio State..he would have played rugby professionally but made the draft and stuck with the Pats as a special teamer. Granted USA rugby can't pay much but the national sides in foreign countries...I have no idea.

[Hulkotron]

http://www.tsmplug.com/richlist/highest-paid-rugby-players-2014-top-14-league/

The top salary listed here equates to about $911,000 in a year.

[bigmc]

i dont think money is always the deciding factor

i think most rugby players would be embarrassed wearing that much armour

for five seconds of action every 20 mins

most of them seem to just push each other for a few seconds like toddlers fighting

worse sport ever

[GraniteCityDon]

The best of any sport are schooled and moulded in it from single digits. How the hell is someone like Dan Carter - an athlete by any definition of the word - going to be able to get a scholarship to a University in the USA when he is cultivating his skills at Rugby in New Zealand at the same time the likes of Tom Brady are honing their skills at American Football? Think about it realistically, give everyone the same chance from 11 years old and you would see a wider variety of ethnicities in the NFL.

Theres a reason its called American Football, no other fucking nation takes an interest in it.

[Nails]

[ProudVirgin69]

i dont think money is always the deciding factor

i think most rugby players would be embarrassed wearing that much armour

for five seconds of action every 20 mins

most of them seem to just push each other for a few seconds like toddlers fighting

worse sport ever

Yes, these brave warriors pass up $60 million contracts because they would be embarrassed to wear pads.  Makes sense

[SamoanIrishman]

Great test 

 They use a PROFESSIONAL NFL player for one test and some City League Rugby players for the other? That's like a college student going up against a middle school kid. But whatever. I've played both and can tell you that rugby was a much more physical game by far. Football players are strong but wonder if they have the cardio to play rugby and keep strength levels and intensity up the whole game

[Hulkotron]

Right because blacks are renowned for their overwhelming number of legendary pitchers

Are you mentally disabled?  Some of the best pitchers ever were black, in every era of baseball.

It seems likely you're another Eric Francke account though so I should probably just ignore you.

[Parker]

The best of any sport are schooled and moulded in it from single digits. How the hell is someone like Dan Carter - an athlete by any definition of the word - going to be able to get a scholarship to a University in the USA when he is cultivating his skills at Rugby in New Zealand at the same time the likes of Tom Brady are honing their skills at American Football? Think about it realistically, give everyone the same chance from 11 years old and you would see a wider variety of ethnicities in the NFL.

Theres a reason its called American Football, no other fucking nation takes an interest in it.

You also have to look at other things. We have a feeder system for three basic sports. Football, basketball, and baseball. Plus other sports as well. Hell, over here field hockey is a girl's sport, but I believe in NZ and other places more men play it.
Then look at the scouting, and scholarships. I am not saying that it's not a business elsewhere but, you are looking at a multibillion business. Like soccer.
Thing is, NZ doesn't doesn't have the genetic diversity, and the pacific /polys/Micro-nesians are not as genetically diverse as the Africans...plus, they are from islands. Pacific Islands are/were isolated from large continental land masses, therefore separated from large population with varying genetics, and varying harsh environments to adapt.

Rugby is primarily played by former English colonies---or English colonies that have a lot of a ritual in them, meaning they still look up to England as Mommy, and keep a lot of similar things, such a slang and accents.
America is the British colony that had said EFF YOU and we will do out own thing, our own way. And we became who we are because of that.
Which is why I believe a lot of this rugby animosity comes from. A lot of the former colonies identities are strongly tied to British forms of sports, culture, entertainment. Which can be a a good or bad thing. Their culture has not fostered the cultivation of their own  separate identity, which is what the US has done with football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse (American Indian sport)...

[bigmc]

Yes, these brave warriors pass up $60 million contracts because they would be embarrassed to wear pads.  Makes sense

its called integrity

[Cleanest Natural]

You also have to look at other things. We have a feeder system for three basic sports. Football, basketball, and baseball. Plus other sports as well. Hell, over here field hockey is a girl's sport, but I believe in NZ and other places more men play it.
Then look at the scouting, and scholarships. I am not saying that it's not a business elsewhere but, you are looking at a multibillion business. Like soccer.
Thing is, NZ doesn't doesn't have the genetic diversity, and the pacific /polys/Micro-nesians are not as genetically diverse as the Africans...plus, they are from islands. Pacific Islands are/were isolated from large continental land masses, therefore separated from large population with varying genetics, and varying harsh environments to adapt.

Rugby is primarily played by former English colonies---or English colonies that have a lot of a ritual in them, meaning they still look up to England as Mommy, and keep a lot of similar things, such a slang and accents.
America is the British colony that had said EFF YOU and we will do out own thing, our own way. And we became who we are because of that.
Which is why I believe a lot of this rugby animosity comes from. A lot of the former colonies identities are strongly tied to British forms of sports, culture, entertainment. Which can be a a good or bad thing. Their culture has not fostered the cultivation of their own  separate identity, which is what the US has done with football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse (American Indian sport)...

So you are trying to say that americans breed better athletes for a tougher sport while the pacific southwest breeds genetically inferior or sometimes obese athletes who play a girlier sport.

[Parker]

So you are trying to say that americans breed better athletes for a tougher sport while the pacific southwest breeds genetically inferior or sometimes obese athletes who play a girlier sport.

No, rugby is tough. And actually, if you are referencing what I said about field hockey, I believe it's mostly peoples of European descent playing that.

But, what I am saying is that America does breed athletes that are better for their selective sports than most other countries. America puts more emphasis on sports than academics. Which is ass backwards.
It had been mentioned that Lomu ran a 10.8 in high school. Do you how many HS seniors in the US who are faster than that? Tons.
Also, a lot of Pacific Islanders make it into the NFL as lineman....so they are not genetically "inferior". They fit quite well for that position.
240 can tell you that in Florida, HS football games are big business and have big crowds. And anybody in who lives Texas can tell you same.
America's feeder system for the Big Three sports, starts from when they are younger than 10, and follows, and is very competitive. The not so good, don't make it. The genetically better, smarter, faster, and lucky go on.
It's just that the pool for Football is far greater than that for rugby.
Look at most of the F1 drivers, many of them were racing carts since before they were 10, some of them since they were 6.

[CalvinH]

Rugby players do that thing where they all get together in a circle and hug so no one can see the guys in the middle sucking each others cocks.

[polychronopolous]

Are you mentally disabled?  Some of the best pitchers ever were black, in every era of baseball.

It seems likely you're another Eric Francke account though so I should probably just ignore you.

Of course there were great black pitchers.

Yes a few of them were the absolute best at their time.

If you want to discount some white guys stats in the nba who played during segregation I can understand that argument. Blacks DOMINATE basketball.

Do blacks dominate pitching in baseball, now or then? Of course not.

Just look up the top pitchers of the past 70 years. Yeah you'll see a good amount of black pitchers on there but that's just it "a good or decent amount" not like nba or football where they just own the vast majority of stats.

And on the subject of Ruth, the man was just a freak. Just like u can't really fake a 600 pound raw bench press you can't fake 450 to 500 foot home runs in the golden era of newspapers where those measurements were all documented by multiple sources.

Yeah bro, if a few handful of Negro League pitchers would have been around he would have only been able to manage weak pop ups to shallow right field

[ChopperRider]

Rugby players do that thing where they all get together in a circle and hug so no one can see the guys in the middle sucking each others cocks.

What position did you play?

[Simple Simon]

Rugby is a twinks game.   

[bigmc]

Rugby is a twinks game.   

are you watching the 6 nations jeff simon

ireland look decent

[temple_of_dis]

There is no NFL vs. Rugby "argument"

If these rugby players were so incredibly gifted they would be over in the states making massive amounts of cash through contracts and endorsements.

But they can't because they simply don't have the talent to last on the NFL level. Period.

[Skorp1o]

There is no NFL vs. Rugby "argument"

If these rugby players were so incredibly gifted they would be over in the states making massive amounts of cash through contracts and endorsements.

But they can't because they simply don't have the talent to last on the NFL level. Period.

If a Rugby player tries his luck at the NFL and fails, he'll be home unscathed in comparison.

An NFL player tries his luck at a top end Rugby game would psychologically give up after a few hits body to body.