American football vs. rugby, round II: The pros speak

By Adam Roy On March 29, 2010 · 75 Comments

Tweet

Feature photo: batmoo

Which is tougher, rugby or American football? A few professional athletes have played both – this is what they said:

“When I heard it was only 20-minute games, I was like, ‘Man, I would kill that. I’ve played two-hour games in college and the NFL.’ The first game I ever played in rugby, after two minutes, I was begging the coach to take me out.“
–Leonard Peters, current USA Rugby Sevens player and former safety for the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears

“They all say overseas that whenever we take [rugby] seriously, we’ll beat everyone, and it’s true. If I could get some All-Pros and train them in rugby, we’d go out and kick ass.”
–Dan Lyle, who in 1996 turned down the Minnesota Vikings to play for Bath Rugby Club in England

“It became quite difficult and I didn’t seem to get better. That was to do with lack of involvement in the game.”
–Gavin Hastings, former Scotland rugby captain, on joining NFL Europe’s Scottish Claymores as a kicker in 1996

“The most difficult adjustment in the sport was learning positional play — knowing where to be at the right time and the most advantageous position to receive the ball.”
–Manfred Moore, Oakland Raiders running back who in 1977 left the NFL to play rugby league with Australia’s Newtown Jets

“I think the more violent game is American football, and the more physically challenging is rugby. The advantage in American football is that you get seven months to prepare for a four-month season. In rugby, it seems like you get two weeks to prepare for an 11-month season.”
–Richard Tardits, who played rugby with France’s national youth team before moving to the US and picking up football. Tardits would go on to play linebacker for the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals before returning to rugby as a member of the US national team.

Community Connection

Join the debate at American Football vs. Rugby: Which is Tougher?, or learn more about rugby with our photo essay on the Anatomy of a Rugby Match.

About The Author

Adam Roy

Chicago native Adam Roy is the former-Editor of Matador Sports and an aspiring renaissance man to boot. For more of Adam's writing, check out his blog at Ill-Advised Adventures.

More By This Author

view all → Adam Roy

Pingback: uberVU - social comments
http://www.deliciouschaos.com Nick

Interesting to get the pros’ views. That last comment seems to sum it all up.
http://milesofabbie.com Abbie

Agreed, I would guess that the last quote is probably the most accurate, although I will admit I’ve never actually *seen* a rugby game, only heard about the game
Ashley

I’ve seen my fair share of both football and rugby games. The very first rugby game I ever went to….one of the players got kneed in the head and one of his teammates stitched him up on the SIDELINES. Shaved head and napkin surgical cover (with box cut out for the actual surgery area) and all. It was ridiculous.

You will never convince me that American football is tougher than Rugby. Never!

Joe Mama

You’re absolutely right, Ashley. You’d never see anything like that in American Football. If a player got hit in the head with out a helmet in football they’d just put ‘em in a casket and put it in the ground. There would be no need for stitches.

Look, I know it’s cool with the whole anti-American thing to say that American football players are wimps and to call their manhood into question but to make such statements is ridiculous and uninformed. I get that foreigners think American football players wear pads because they are weak. But the reason they wear them is to keep the players from dying. In the early days too many men were dying playing football. President Theodor Roosevelt told them to figure out a way to preserve these men’s lives or football would be outlawed.

Just look at an NFL player. Look at his size, mass, speed and strength. Other sports athletes may have some of the attributes but not all. I don’t doubt that rugby players and soccer players are tough. But to make statements that they are far and away tougher and stronger than American football players just shows that you haven’t looked at all the facts.

I agree with the others that the last statement from the article was probably the most true.

Yogi

I still think your missing the point by trying to make the A. Football players appear as if they are tougher due to padding size etc. As a Scotsman living in Texas I’ve seen a lot of both sports and played rugby and I don’t understand this fascination for comparison. Football players could not play rugby. They are used to 20 second bursts in pretty set patterns running set routes with massive hits all over the field. Rugby requires far more stamina, a lot more ability to move and yes, the rugby players could not take the massive football hits over the 80 minutes as the ball is actually in play for 80 minutes, not the 7 minutes per game average of football.

Not really comparable in my opinion.

Larry

What do you mean, dear Scotsman?
7 minutes of football?
The clock stops after each play, and there is no play.
But then….

The clock starts up again.
Do you not know how many minutes of action there is in an NFL game?
Larry

Yogi,

please notice that some NFL players have gone to play rugby.

(How do I know that? Read these blogs right here!)

Tonga

Ashley that is absolutely right! Cause’ I’ve been there and done that (Rugby). Getting speared tackled, dumped on your face and gettin’ back up for a scrum for 80mins straight, Mate gotta’ have alota balls and heart to get back up…
Tonga

Ashley that is absolutely right! Cause’ I’ve been there and done that (Rugby). Getting speared tackled, dumped on your face and gettin’ back up for a scrum for 80mins straight, Mate gotta’ have alota balls and heart to get back up…
Tonga

Ashley that is absolutely right! Cause’ I’ve been there and done that (Rugby). Getting speared tackled, dumped on your face and gettin’ back up for a scrum for 80mins straight, Mate gotta’ have alota balls and heart to get back up…

Ana

Ashley, I agree with you. Rugby players don’t wear nearly half as much padding as American football players. I think rugby is a more manly sport.
Liz

I am an Australian living in the US – a huge rugby fanatic, but I have also converted to being a US football fan – more so with College football than NFL. I always look forward to the (way too short) college season. I miss rugby and manage to get it via DirectTV – I would recommend it to anyone as a great, fast, exciting sport. And yes, the guys have to be fit. But if you want to see the fittest footballers – watch some Aussie Rules!!

newhampshireyankee

aussie rules players are by far the smallest and weakest of the sports discussed here. Because of that, when it comes to head injuries, the helmeted NFL players are about 25% more likely to sustain one.
Andrew McIntosh, a researcher at Australia’s University of New South Wales who analyzed videotape, says there may be a greater prevalence of head injuries in the American game because the players hit each other with forces up to 100% greater. “If they didn’t have helmets on, they wouldn’t do that,” he says. “They know they’d injure themselves.”
Look at the roster of any AFL team — there seems to be a rule that no team is allowed to have more than three players that weight more than 210 pounds. Also, as the records show, superior strength means little nothing in the AFL, and everything in the NFL. I think that is because there is little or no power required in the AFL, while the greatest power struggles of these sports discussed take place in the NFL.

czar

That’s the only reason american football seems tougher because of the head injuries that can occur with the types of tackles allowed. But with rule changes and the helmets the danger is much lessened now. Overall rugby id more brutal.This coming from a soccer fan who occasionally watches american football and rugby.
czar

That’s the only reason american football seems tougher because of the head injuries that can occur with the types of tackles allowed. But with rule changes and the helmets the danger is much lessened now. Overall rugby id more brutal.This coming from a soccer fan who occasionally watches american football and rugby.

Darren Cherwonuk

American Football players are twice as big, twice as fast, and 5 times stronger than Rugby players. Have any Rugby player go against an NFL player w/ pads and the Rugby player would get crushed.

David Smyth

Stephen Ferris , Tony Buckley, Paul o Connell Jamie heaslip Denis leamy, and there just a few Irish players rugby is much tougher and they would all flatten any American football player just google them and tell me different…………

Your mom

honestly. your comment is just as bad as the original poster’s comment. It’s equally hyperbolic and equally stupid. Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Ndamakong Suh. Google these and reassess your belief system.

Jamie Smith

Darren, I have to say I think that is one of the most hilarious comments I have seen on any of these forums. I have an enormous respect for American Football players, they are big, tough professional athletes and I very much enjoy watching them play. To try to compare the two is like comparing a 100m sprint with a 10,000m race. Try watching (or better still playing) a game of Rugby (either code – Union or League) then come back and post a comment. If you come back at all… I’ve played both and Rugby is a far tougher, stronger and more violent game.
Javier Hernandez

Please say that AFTER you’ve watched New Zealand or South Africa play. Your comment reeks of “Football-centricism” I will bet 5 bucks you’ve never watched a legit rugby game.
czar

5 times stronger? that’s hyperbole.
czar

5 times stronger? that’s hyperbole.

Rich

Rugby League player, David Taylor, was 260 pounds and clocked a 10.8s 100m sprint. Don’t know what he bench presses and I think he weighs around 270 pounds now but I’d find it hard to say that NFL players are twice as big, fast and 5 times as strong. Lets try and keep our comments as factual and informationally rich as possible, shall we. Besides, rugby league players (and rugby union players) are prepared to tackle any opposition that comes their way. I saw a 185 pound half back (equivalent to a quarter back in NFL) pick up a 240 pound player and dump him on his back.
Brian Kelly

American Football is short explosive game, actual playing time for individual players is very short. Rugby(union) is a high impact long duration game with halves lasting 40 minutes each most players will play the entire 80 minutes. Very few American Football players can sustain the pace of a rugby game both physically and mentally. That said few rugby players would be able to spend 50% of the game waiting around while remaining focused.In conclusion who is the toughest simple the one that tackled you.
http://www.photojbartlett.com Jeff Bartlett

Interesting article all around, but the toughness vs lack of pads argument is hilarious. The style of hitting is completely different in the two sports. If NFL players didn’t wear pads, they wouldn’t last through a single game.

Rugby players do not withstand the same blunt impacts, but rather non-stop impacts. I’d be interested to know the average career length of a rugby player. It is really short in the NFL – less than 2 complete seasons I think – because the injury and body damage is so high.

@ Ana – You believe the ability to hit and withstand hits without protection is MANLY?
http://brandconsultantasia.wordpress.com/ Marcus Osborne

I’m an Englishman who played rugby for 20 odd years but not American football. However I did watch a sugar bowl in New Orleans once. It was a great day out and when the teams actually played I saw a good game but I had to put up with so many stops and starts it really did my head in!

My takeways from that game were that the players had specific roles to play and they trained hard to execute those roles to the best of their ability. But they were rarely asked to do anything other than what they trained for. As any runner will tell you, after a while running 5 miles is easy but climbing 3 flights of stairs, despite being fit can be hard. In my humble opinion training for a specific role is not a very hard thing to do.

My takeways from rugby are that in addition to training hard for a specific position, all players must have the skills and the mental agility to play in every other position and be capable of playing, perhaps not as well as but certainly be able to cover for the player who trains hard to specialise in that position.

Furthermore, the smallest player on the pitch, perhaps 5’7″ and only 175 pounds must be able to tackle and take a tackle from the biggest player on the pitch, someone who can be 6’7″ and weigh 300 pounds. And not just once but perhaps 10 or 20 times over a 2 hour break with little opportunity to review how the game plan is going and no chance for a discussion with the coach on what to change.

If you define toughness as a combination of both mental and physical capabilities then rugby players come out top every time. Except perhaps the All Blacks. Hehe.
Chuck C.

I played football in highschool and started to in college, also played some in the military and would agree it can be tough. I saw busted arms and fingers, dislocated discs, and a couple of other typical wounds. My son plays Rugby at the college level and has had broken and sprained fingers, a couple of concussions and just last month broke his nose and both eye orbitals along with a concussion. Three years ago, the team lost one player in a game who died from a head injury. Without a doubt, the Rugby players are far tougher than the football players at this school.

The Rugby team includes some football players who have used up their illegibility. A couple of weeks ago some of the football players mouthed off to the Rugby players, but backed off when the former footballers now ruggers stepped up with their new team mates.

i wished my son wouldn’t play anymore, but he’s an adult now and its his choice. He wants to play in a foreign country when he graduates.
Maddie

Although I’ve never played American football, I have a lot of experience playing rugby, and from my observations, rugby wins this argument. Football players wear tons of padding, take breaks on the sidelines when the D/O switch in and out, and have the luxury of TOs and breaks between plays. In Rugby, there are two 40 minute halves with no timeouts. Subbing of players is rare, and there are no pads.

To me, the winner of this argument is clear: rugby ftw
http://nzrugbygames.com Rugby Games NZ

it was just mighty team effort.

Rugby League are games played by real men
Minz

I love these arguments! It’s like asking whether swimming or tennis are tougher sports… can’t someone have a debate about that? Just as meaningful
Joe brown

I have actually played both a college level, after doing a year abroad in America and I have found that American football is much more violent, you simply run and smash your opposite man, anything goes. But that is all you do, with he exception of the quaterback, you simply have one job to do and do it, then you get a break.
Rugby by comparion requires much more diversity, there is a reason hat some rugby (union) are small, this is what you need to run the pitch, you will never see a prop outrunning a winger and running the whole pitch (usually). Because you have 15 players playing for 40 minutes non stop you will be expected to do everything, as q flanker I often had to step into the scrum half’s shoes if he picked up from a ruck and got sucked in.
Rugb dosnt have the raw violence of football but it cannot be described as wimpy, if someone refuses to let go of the ball you can stomp on their hands, when I was 12, I broke my first neck in a scrum, since then three others have followed, a scrum is something you don’t get in football, up to 4000 pounds smacking together on four props shoulders. Rugby also requires more diversiy and fitness
Trevor

What about Ronnie LOtt cutting his finger off during the middle of a game>Yah i think AMerican football is way tougher watch a RAy Lewis highlight film.
Rukhage

Ehm. We’re measuring toughness by who gets injured or loses appendages? That’s just sick. Both sports demand fitness and agility and bot sports demand a level of mental acuity and discipline that is not seen in other contact team sports.
Jeff

I played high school football and as an adult in the military, so I don’t know the feeling of the NFL. I also played rugby for 2 years on a team while in the military. Both are a blast and a great outlet for guys that like some violence. Its hard to compare the two. I was a fullback/linebacker in football and felt the hardest impact hits in American football, and as a prop I had to be in better shape in Rugby. Rugby is non stop and I felt some hard hits also but I think its a wash, and for people to say one is definetly tougher than the other are uninformed and un experienced idiots! Apples and oranges.
jojo

All I have to say is that NFL player are simply more often than not better physical athletes, and if they were to train for any period of time and play rugby they would dominate the sport. Rugby players are perceived to be tougher because they are worthless, i mean that in a monetary sense. The amount of money that an NFL player makes his employer is much more than any Rugby player does therefore the NFL are given better medical attention, thus not looking as tough, now rugby players are tough and my hat off to them but dont poke the bear cause he might bite…..basically just hope we dont start trainning to play rugby in the USA

chris

that is ridiculous thing to say. you try to play ‘soccer’ but you cant. you couldnt play rugby either…… like us english prob shouldnt try to play american football, cos we hate more ad breaks than actual programme and we like our athletes to work for 80/90 mins
Javier Hernandez

Money issue has to do more with country and culture (US is very capitalistic) than worth. Other countries do not pay as much for sports. Look at MLB, NFL, NBA. All earn more than any other sport except maybe soccer which earns a lot because it is more or less the world’s most followed sport. (Whether us Americans want to admit it or not. )

Daniel

I play American Football and I have played Rugby, I’m English so yea it is more of a common sport and rugby has always been a manly sport to play, but here i believe that the sense here is that guys wear the helmets and pads so they can take the hits and when footballs done with em they can go back out into the world and not look as deformed lol, rugby players have battle scars, cauliflower ears, broken noses, deformed skulls…I’m not gunna say that either is tougher than the other because I have played both, but i think rugby wins, and those of you that said watch out if the US starts taking rugby serious I believe them, because most of America loves a violent sport, if they took up rugby there’d be a whole lot more of you them to us, and America always produces some great atheletes, and that cant be denied, so really the question is when will America start taking rugby more seriously?then this age old question can be put out there on the battle field.

Larry

Dan, if you ever check this blog again, the answer is: Extreme fighting! That is for those men who are willing to mess up their bodies (or, if they are really good, someone else’s body–or head/brain–if they’re lucky…and not their own!).

But for some: boxing with considerably padded gloves was enough to mess up “Muhammed Ali’s” brain… you know, the pretty boy, “Louisville Lip” Cassius Clay (“slave name”). Boxers, unlimited fighting, rugby… all the same: casualties galore…. Glorying in their wounds. Almost as bad as self-inflicted, but at least not always attributable to drugged influence!

No, Dan, America does not really need rugby in a big way.

Rgby

Well, I’ve recently started playing rugby, and i kind of see what you mean, with all the injuries and such, but the main holding point for rugby over football is that as they say: rugby is a game for thugs played by gentlemen, whilst i dont feel the same could be said for american football.

Larry

Had this discussion with my students today. Unique group. Most outspoken: supporters of rugby. I disagreed because of the impact/collision factor in NFL. Most blog entries here are skewed, all but one in favor of rugby. “Apples/oranges” is good summary. I never played either sport, but I gloried in minor injuries in baseball (in the outfield!); previously “chickened-out” at shortstop–ball skipped on a gravel, smacked me in the mouth, what-can-I-say-I’m-a-wimp.

Personally, I think both football and rugby allow strong men the opportunity to vent without hurting people who don’t want to go out on the field with them!
Kurei

@ Trevor, a torn finger, really? harden up.

What NFL player would do what Buck Shelford did
“Roughly 20 minutes into the match, he was caught at the bottom of a rather aggressive ruck, and an errant French boot found its way into Shelford’s groin, somehow ripping his scrotum and leaving one testicle hanging free. He also lost four teeth in the process. Incredibly, after discovering the injury to his scrotum, he calmly asked the physio to stitch up the tear and returned to the field”

no question about “which is harder”

Larry

Wow! What a man! There ought to be an award for somebody that crazy to keep playing.
trevor

A torn finger your kidding right he cut it off. The tip was hanging off so he instead of sitting out of the game cut if off. Rugby players are tough man dont get me wrong but they would die an nfl game.
You’re mom goes to college

Jack Youngblood. Look him up. NFL lineman that played the majority of a game on a broken leg. When the break happened he had the trainer tape it and then continued to dominate the game. In another game he played with a blood clot in his arm the lenght of a hotdog and got it taken out after the game.

Giles

It’s a crazy question, and all down to specialisation.

Every single rugby player has to be able to get up and down for 80 minutes, be able to pass, catch, tackle and carry the ball. Every single one. The smaller guys have to be able to effectively tackle players much, much larger than they are, so maybe that’s ‘tougher’ as they are hitting/getting hit by guys 1.5 times their size and bigger.

However…

If I want someone to stand in one place and not let anyone past, it has to be an american football player (the right one, (a defensive linesman?) of course). In a game of rugby, by the time he got to the next breakdown it wouldn’t be there anymore, but it’s precisely because he doesn’t need to get to the next breakdown that the football player is better at stopping one man coming through, there’s no compromise

The upshot is that, in football, they hit much harder, it’s their only job, the padding would only add to the intensity of the hit. I’ve played rugby, there’s a right way and a wrong way to tackle a man, and it’s as much about how you hit him as it is about how hard you hit him, Football players stand a few feet apart and then simply put an enormous amount of specially trained muscle into smashing into the man directly in front of them. I suspect there’s more finesse than that, but it still makes it a huge impact.

All that said, I don’t think american football has anything that comes close to the sheer pressure experienced by the six blokes in the front row of an international scrum when the back row are pulling their weight, the pressure there must be immense.
http://jade.se Resan

kinda like the article you posted actually. it really is not that easy to discover great posts to read (you know really READ and not simply going through it like some uniterested and flesh eating zombie before going to yet another post to just ignore), so cheers man for really not wasting any of my time!
William

This is the most pointless of comparisons in the sports world its like saying who is the better runner Usain Bolt or Haile Gebrselassie? The two men both record breakers run totally different races.
Similarly, American Footballers and Rugby players play totally different sports, the level of stamina needed may vary (which I doubt) but to say one sport is tougher than the other is quite ridiculous.
Larry

Stop it!

Rugby players GLORY in their injuries and smile through their pain in pubs!

NFL players play with the overall strategy in mind and NEVER glory in their injuries.

Rugby players would DIE without padding in an NFL game!

This is from an intelligent observer who does not pretend to be an expert but will debate any corny rugby idiots.

David-chalk1

Not exactly a smart post.

Like most American Football supporters you overlook the fact that resistance to contact maximises injury. Which, as I have pointed out several times before, is why martial artists in their demos break non yeilding objects like boards, bricks, etc, rather than punch holes in sandbags. So being conditioned to absorb impact is a distict physiologicaladvantage. I’s also point out that American Footballers would be more likely to die if they played without protective equipment simply as they are not physically nor phychologically trained to aborb impact.

Still like your joke about being an intellegent observer

Rukhage

Jonah Lomu began a new trend in rugby. Now if watch pro rugby especially in the South, you’ll notice that players are uniformly big and fast now. With exception of those pesky scrumhalves.

Here’s a couple of southern boys to check out:

Pierre Spies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3muAkT0K9Y

Napoloni Nalanga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8M_tDw9eT4

David Pocock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFffdWSINW0

That’s only a shortlist so keep looking!
dan

This is a well banlance article. there are idiots on boths side but there are some intelligent posts on boths sides also. Here is a summery of the aspecs in which thee two sports can be compared.

Big hits: nfl wins this hands down. But if you look at the technique, it is not so much about strenths as it is speed, wieght and momentom. They dont pull the player down like in rugby, which requires strength, they tuck there arms in and run at the players full pelt. this probably hurts more. please note I am talking about a out field tackle, not the ones the lines men do.

toughness(pain taking): rugby wins this. stamps, punches, lack of armor, and the nature of the game that leaves you on the floor until he games stops no matter your injury, it takes a rare breed of human to be a rugby forward, one that enjoys pain.

set plays: rugby wins this there are so many and all physicall demanding. some one gets tackled the game does not stop you have a ruck. at every stop or phase the ball is open to be won by strength. here are all the set plays described:

Ruck: some one gets tackled and go to floor, they present the ball back to their team, then both teams forwards smash into each to try and push the other off the ball. this is waer all the punches come in as the ref cannot always see you.

line out: the ball goes off. the team whos ball it is throw it in and both teams put their fowards in lift each up so that the ones lifted can battle it out for the ball.

scrum: this is the most famous set play, both teams put thier forwards in and they push each over off the ball.

stamina: rugby wins again, 80 minuits of non stop smashing takes its toll, even the pro footballer said so in the quotes.

intelligent tac tics: american ootball wins, the stop start nature of american football means that you can talk through complex tactics

With this in mind I think that rugby is the tougher sport.

as mentioned before look at rugby players such as paul o connel, john haise (retiered now I think) martin johnson(also ritired) courtney laws jamie hieslip. They would smash nfl players who looke bigger because of the pads. but if you look at the arms of the players theree not that big apart from lines men. (I think that there the one who protects qauter back. nfl is a tough sport as well though. please note I am talking about rugby union, league if abit more like nfl than union, probably not as tough as either sports not rucks or scrums.
Tom

I’ve enjoyed reading pretty much all of these posts so far. Full disclosure: I’m an American who played football from age 9 until age 22 in college so I am probably a little biased. With that said, rugby may be the tougher sport in terms of just raw toughness when you incorporate all aspects of what makes a sport. But where people go wrong in assuming this is that they claim that the inherent toughness of the players (dealing with broken limbs, missing teeth) is what makes the SPORT of rugby tougher. On the contrary this says more about the type of people that play the sport. Football has harder hits. The players are bigger in general (Fact) and in many times faster and stronger. But here’s the thing. If these three things (size, strength, and speed) are to be used as the measuring stick for toughness, it will be difficult to agree to suitable tests for players of each sport. For example, the American football players will be faster over short distance sprints and the rugby players will be faster over longer distances. Also, in measuring strength, would one want to measure reps of 225 on the bench press or more power lifting exercises that measure raw strength? I think it’s safe to say that players of both sports would have their preferences.

I think that the bottom line is that while rugby may be tougher in terms of ability to put up with pain, football is more violent. In that sense, they really are incomparable and it’s like comparing apples to oranges.

Also, both sports continue to evolve. With the training of American football players focused on getting players as big and strong as possible while still being able to be as fast and athletic as possible at tops speeds, rugby players are interested in being as big and strong as possible while being able to run continuously at medium to high speeds, thus keeping them a little bit smaller. And quite frankly, American black athletes in general are just more athletic than your average white athlete–European or whatever. I dare anyone to dispute that.

Djoubert11

Dude, blacks are just damn fast and not much else and when they look buff, it is cuz of steroids with builds up water density . I am from South Africa, so I should know and I have been in the USA and I actually think that Americans are soft.

South Africans are BITCHES

And Americans think that South Africans are soft as well, so what does that mean….

DJ

Rugby is a mans sport. Me ,as a South African , has met some of the fags who play NFL when I was in the USA and I can’t see how they would be able to survive a single rugby game!

Joemon1212

Ladies an Gentlemen – DJ is Gay!! waht he ment to say is, “He was checking out the packages of each men and found the rugby players likes him most!!

Sabre_pg

Naa NFL players are all gay! they even let females into the locker rooms because the men have such small wieners it doesnt bother them!!
Mandeep

What ever dude…You can’t be World champs for a game that is only played in States…lol

Just apply some brains people…

Joemon1212

Ladies an Gentlemen – DJ is Gay!! waht he ment to say is, “He was checking out the packages of each men and found the rugby players likes him most!!
Joemon1212

Ladies an Gentlemen – DJ is Gay!! waht he ment to say is, “He was checking out the packages of each men and found the rugby players likes him most!!
Therugbyhonke

I’m english and I’ve played both. Don’t discredit American Football until you play it.

Rugby players tackle round the legs, going backwards.

American footballers charge at each other. One goes backwards.

Kjh737

american football is for girls !!!! The game is stopped way to often.
Czar

Not a football (american) or rugby fans but a real football fan (the one that both of you despise)
I watched the rugby world cup match between Australia and New Zealand and it was brutal. I later watched a few NFL matches as it is shown here on our comprehensive sports channels. Rugby seems tougher to me and more brutal as I closely watched the tackles in the NFL matches and mostly they are just blocks really and the plays stopped immediately after the tackles. Not so in rugby where they heaped, kicked and do all sort of things until the referee blows the whistle. Occasionally you get a few big hits as you call it. But overall as a qualified neutral (one who is not a fan of either) rugby is tougher.
guest

This is ridiculous. Just another dick measuring contest. They are both great games the only difference is everyone outside of the U.S. feels they have some kind of point to make about toughness when you compare rugby and American football. Just appreciate each sport for what it is. I am not American and I did play rugby.
guest

This is ridiculous. Just another dick measuring contest. They are both great games the only difference is everyone outside of the U.S. feels they have some kind of point to make about toughness when you compare rugby and American football. Just appreciate each sport for what it is. I am not American and I did play rugby.
suck my nuts

fucking fruit cake motherfuckin asshole cocksuckers, rugby is the shit.NFL is for la pussy l’as,they can suck my left nut la’s
suck my nuts

fucking fruit cake motherfuckin asshole cocksuckers, rugby is the shit.NFL is for la pussy l’as,they can suck my left nut la’s
suck my nuts

fucking fruit cake motherfuckin asshole cocksuckers, rugby is the shit.NFL is for la pussy l’as,they can suck my left nut la’s
suck my nuts

fucking fruit cake motherfuckin asshole cocksuckers, rugby is the shit.NFL is for la pussy l’as,they can suck my left nut la’s
Owen

The way I look at it is that they are both different games and without their pads American football players would be like a rabbit trapped in head light when put on a field against a rugby league team even after a years worth of training. The NFL has some big hits but it counts for shit when your shoulder pads reach your ears and then you got a helmet. You want to see a brutal sport watch rugby league. I have played both rugby union and league and even played in New Zealand.
Owen

The way I look at it is that they are both different games and without their pads American football players would be like a rabbit trapped in head light when put on a field against a rugby league team even after a years worth of training. The NFL has some big hits but it counts for shit when your shoulder pads reach your ears and then you got a helmet. You want to see a brutal sport watch rugby league. I have played both rugby union and league and even played in New Zealand.
Tj Ferreira

Dan Lyle, you live in a dream world, most of these fatties in football would not last 10 minutes of a grueling rugby game. Juicing up will not be allowes and those being caught will not just get a slap on the wrist.
unfortunately most footballers are so pumped on juice, that should you stop that, they will shrink away.
Guest

hahaha, i think we need the UN to look into this! Some of you guys present valid facts/arguments whilst many of you just downright condemn the other sport in a flurry of “pussies”. Seriously just pit the best specimen for (individually) Speed, Strength, Size. Also being from South Africa and stating that “black” people aren’t strong, but are simply fast and use roids’ (he’s probably white) is being influenced by the social bias still taking place there. I’m just saying that because my brothers white south african friends are racist. You should all have a nice day =)

American football vs. rugby, round II: The pros speak

Community Connection

Related Posts

Adam Roy

More By This Author

Subscribe to Matador

The best travel articles each week. No spam.

Breaking stories, announcements, events, and more.

In partnership with Matador

Quick-Read

Feature

Gallery

Quick-Read

Feature

Feature

Quick-Read

Feature

Feature

Feature

Feature

Gallery

Quick-Read

Matador Network © 2006-2011

About Matador

Sections

Become a Contributor

New Media School