American Football vs Rugby - Part Five
The next installment in the series is a fairly lengthy clip - about 8 minutes - but, if you're interested in this debate, it's very much worth the watch.
It's American football vs. rugby from a scientific perspective, and measures tackles from both a rugby player and a padded American football player.
The conclusion they come to is certainly interesting, but we're not sure that we entirely agree. Watch it through (it's not until the final few seconds that they actually make the comparison, so skip to the end if you're really impatient), and then think about this:
Would you prefer less poundage in the tackle, and a broken rib? Or more poundage, but dispersed so that your ribs stay intact?
And, would you prefer 20 broken ribs from 20 tackles during a game? Or about 10 tackles during a game, where none of your ribs break?
You'll have to watch the whole clip to know what we mean by this.
And, before we leave you to it, there's one more point:
For the experiment, they use an American football player and a rugby player who are both from America. What would change if the experiment was staged with an American football player from New Zealand, and a New Zealand rugby player?
Just a thought.
August 29, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Even if they used New Zealand players representing the two sports for the test, it will still be the same result.
August 29, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Another thing is American Football players do break ribs even with the equipment on. I would know because I play both sports and I've expereinced it.
And no, I'm not an American. I'm a true blue kiwi from Wellington, Aotearoa!!!
August 29, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Great to hear from someone who has actually played both sports - which is the acid test, really!
So - what position(s) have you played in American Football, versus rugby? And how does the tackles made/taken count differ between the two sports, in your experience?
August 30, 2008 at 8:19 AM
Jammer's a good hitter, but a truer hit from football would come from a harder hitter (Brian Urlacher or Bob Sanders).
August 30, 2008 at 8:20 AM
Also, they should have had hockey players in the study, who can build up better speed on ice and therefore exact greater force.
September 3, 2008 at 4:31 PM
For me the problem is that they're comparing a professional, extremely well conditioned football player against a weekend warrior rugby player. If they really want to make this a valid comparison, they need to get a world class rugby player. I'm pretty sure Jerry Collins or Brian Lima hit much harder than the rugby player they used.
September 3, 2008 at 5:19 PM
Our thoughts exactly! They really need to turn it around, and get one of the top rugby players in the world to test against an average, club NFL player from New Zealand.
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