1. No pads – better technique
Take the helmets and shoulder pads off some NFL stars and you wouldn’t even recognise them walking down the street. On the other hand, all a rugby player needs is a pair of boots and a mouthguard and he’s good to go. In addition to not having any protection from the impact of some ludicrously
heavy hits, lack of padding means rugby players have adopted a more refined tackling technique than their NFL counterparts. Even Superbowl winning Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is teaching his players how to tackle ‘rugby style’.
2. Rucks, Mauls and Scrums
Forwards are the only blokes who can speak with any authority on what the hell goes on at a scrum – well, some of them can anyway. Some front-rowers have probably engaged a few too many times to speak with authority about anything, while most back-rowers will admit their knowledge of the set-piece is limited to “push as hard as you can.” Whatever technical intricacies the piggies talk about at training, you need a certain mindset to stick your head and shoulders into a ruck or pack a scrum with about one and a half tonnes of pure muscle and aggression pushing you this way and that. No cauliflower ears in NFL either.
3. Buck Shelford rips his nads in Nantes
Wayne Thomas “Buck” Shelford: 22 Test matches, undefeated as captain, a Rugby World Cup and one ripped testicle… Shelford’s place in the rugby history books was assured during a 1986 Test match against France in Nantes when an errant French stud caught him in the nether-regions while he was at the bottom of a ruck (told you rucks are bad places). Shelford, who’d already been knocked out and lost a couple of teeth, calmly walked to the side of the pitch and had a trainer stitch him up before re-joining the game. To make matters worse, the All Blacks lost 16-3.
4. It’s non-stop…pretty much
Soccer and league fans complain of too many stoppages in rugby – and they have a point – but the 15-man code has nothing on the NFL for idleness. Studies show that for a 60 minute NFL game, there’s only about 11 minutes of action. Yep, 11 minutes. That’s not even enough time to listen to Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix or to cook a thick piece of steak.
5. Only seven substitutes
Unlike their NFL counterparts, rugby players must be proficient on both attack and defence. We’ve already addressed the lack of action in NFL, but it gets worse when you realise a player doesn’t even need to be on the field for the entire 11 minutes the ball is in play. Dedicated attacking players can switch off when the other team has possession, while defensive players sip Gatorade and suck on oxygen masks when their team is on attack. Not so in rugby, where a winger can make a 60 metre break downfield only to be forced to throw his body in the path of a rampaging prop a few seconds later. They’re expected to do this for a lot longer than 11 minutes and only have seven reserves on the bench.
6. Long season
The NFL and Super Rugby seasons are both about five months long from start to finish, but while American football players have seven months off spend their absurd amounts of money, rugby players are still on the grind. Two weeks after Super Rugby finishes, the Rugby Championship kicks off, then there’s the Spring Tours to the Northern Hemisphere – and that’s after a three match midseason series jammed into the Super Rugby schedule. Meanwhile, NFL players are driving around in limos, going to casinos and doing other fun rich guy stuff.
7. Lots of travel
They say America is a big country, but even the longest NFL road trips are laughable in comparison to rugby. The Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins are geographically two of the furthest teams apart meaning a return trip of about 8800km, followed closely by the Patriots and San Francisco 49ers’ 8700km round trip. For perspective, the trip from Auckland to Johannesburg is 12186km – one way. The All Blacks travel 10348km from Auckland to Buenos Aires for the Rugby Championship and it’s 8078km from JoBurg to Buenos Aires. With all this travel, it’s surprising there haven’t been any mid-air meltdowns…
Take the helmets and shoulder pads off some NFL stars and you wouldn’t even recognise them walking down the street. On the other hand, all a rugby player needs is a pair of boots and a mouthguard and he’s good to go. In addition to not having any protection from the impact of some ludicrously
heavy hits, lack of padding means rugby players have adopted a more refined tackling technique than their NFL counterparts. Even Superbowl winning Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is teaching his players how to tackle ‘rugby style’.
2. Rucks, Mauls and Scrums
Forwards are the only blokes who can speak with any authority on what the hell goes on at a scrum – well, some of them can anyway. Some front-rowers have probably engaged a few too many times to speak with authority about anything, while most back-rowers will admit their knowledge of the set-piece is limited to “push as hard as you can.” Whatever technical intricacies the piggies talk about at training, you need a certain mindset to stick your head and shoulders into a ruck or pack a scrum with about one and a half tonnes of pure muscle and aggression pushing you this way and that. No cauliflower ears in NFL either.
3. Buck Shelford rips his nads in Nantes
Wayne Thomas “Buck” Shelford: 22 Test matches, undefeated as captain, a Rugby World Cup and one ripped testicle… Shelford’s place in the rugby history books was assured during a 1986 Test match against France in Nantes when an errant French stud caught him in the nether-regions while he was at the bottom of a ruck (told you rucks are bad places). Shelford, who’d already been knocked out and lost a couple of teeth, calmly walked to the side of the pitch and had a trainer stitch him up before re-joining the game. To make matters worse, the All Blacks lost 16-3.
4. It’s non-stop…pretty much
Soccer and league fans complain of too many stoppages in rugby – and they have a point – but the 15-man code has nothing on the NFL for idleness. Studies show that for a 60 minute NFL game, there’s only about 11 minutes of action. Yep, 11 minutes. That’s not even enough time to listen to Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix or to cook a thick piece of steak.
5. Only seven substitutes
Unlike their NFL counterparts, rugby players must be proficient on both attack and defence. We’ve already addressed the lack of action in NFL, but it gets worse when you realise a player doesn’t even need to be on the field for the entire 11 minutes the ball is in play. Dedicated attacking players can switch off when the other team has possession, while defensive players sip Gatorade and suck on oxygen masks when their team is on attack. Not so in rugby, where a winger can make a 60 metre break downfield only to be forced to throw his body in the path of a rampaging prop a few seconds later. They’re expected to do this for a lot longer than 11 minutes and only have seven reserves on the bench.
6. Long season
The NFL and Super Rugby seasons are both about five months long from start to finish, but while American football players have seven months off spend their absurd amounts of money, rugby players are still on the grind. Two weeks after Super Rugby finishes, the Rugby Championship kicks off, then there’s the Spring Tours to the Northern Hemisphere – and that’s after a three match midseason series jammed into the Super Rugby schedule. Meanwhile, NFL players are driving around in limos, going to casinos and doing other fun rich guy stuff.
7. Lots of travel
They say America is a big country, but even the longest NFL road trips are laughable in comparison to rugby. The Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins are geographically two of the furthest teams apart meaning a return trip of about 8800km, followed closely by the Patriots and San Francisco 49ers’ 8700km round trip. For perspective, the trip from Auckland to Johannesburg is 12186km – one way. The All Blacks travel 10348km from Auckland to Buenos Aires for the Rugby Championship and it’s 8078km from JoBurg to Buenos Aires. With all this travel, it’s surprising there haven’t been any mid-air meltdowns…