The Rock: "Rugby is tougher than American Football"

[Xercen]

short burst speed and strength is a greater showcase of athleticism.

there's a reason why 100 meters in the olympics is a greater event than endurance races and why sprinters are stars and get paid more than endurance athletes.

sports is like the african sarangetti, size is a big factor. nfl players physical measurements dwarf those of rugby players.

Gymnastics is arguably the greatest showcase of athleticism in the olympics by far yet it isn't the most popular.

100m is more popular but i wouldn't say the men are more athletic than the gymnasts.

Popularity doesn't have the correlation to athletic ability that you presume.

[Skyhook]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it already or even if its true but I heard years ago that The Rock is a cousin or something of Jonah Lomu. Can anyone confirm if that's true?

Edit: To anyone who doesn't know who Jonah Lomu is, he's a Rugby Legend.

Nope, they aren't related. Jonah Lomu is actually a full blooded Tongan. Dwayne is half Samoan.

[UglyPug]

never really cared for these threads about rugby vs. football, or soccer vs. football, etc.

i appreciate both sports equally, and the skill, grit, and athleticism required to play at the highest level. . . i don't think either is tougher (overall) than the other, nor requires "more skill" or what ahve you, to play (at the highest level).

sir hickey is my dude, but this thread doesn't do justice to rugby, or american football.

[Skyhook]

Rugby is like football without padding, less breaks in-between and inferior athletes. It sort of evens out.

[Cutthroat]

Nobody is saying american football is a sissy sport.

It's just a sport based on strength/speed depending on your position whereas rugby is all of that including stamina.

But for some reason, some posters on this thread think that american football players (are gods) can be amazing rugby players if 'trained' up but obviously if you apply that logic to rugby players and trained them for pure strength then you can have the best rugby players competing at the same level as the best american football players.

American football players are not godlike. They can be amazing but so can rugby players. To put american football players on a pedastal and assume they can be better than the best rugby players with proper support/training is insulting.

Just because you're strong or fast doesn't mean you'll make a great NFL player if that was the case a guy like Vernon Gholston would dominate:


6'3 260




Or Justin Gatlin, the same Justin Gatlin that couldn't even make it in the NFL but won a gold metal in the Olympics running the 100m in just 9.79 secs.

You must be extremely explosive with freakish size.

[Cutthroat]

I do like both sports but saying american football players are bigger and stronger is a tall tale indeed.

Jonah Lomu - new zealand all blacks. rugby union player.

vital stats.

Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight 125 kg (276 lb; 19 st 10 lb)
Pure muscle
100m in 10.8 seconds as a schoolboy

basically this guy will stomp any american football player in stamina and most in speed. there might be a faster american football player but i doubt it.

btw there are plenty of 6'7 guys in rugby union. There are more players that play rugby worldwide so there should be bigger and taller guys on average in the sport in my opinion.

For the layman, american football is like a man who has premature ejaculation...the plays are short and finish quickly and there are long breaks inbetween.

Rugby is a man who is like a ****star. able to go on for 80 minutes (2 halves)

Julius Peppers is basically the same thing but bigger and stronger, he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.6 secs, according to an article on rivals.com here is the average conversion for a 40 time to a 100m dash, I also have no doubt these guys would have a MUCH faster time since they're so tall and the 40 yard dash is so shrt, I really doubt they reach their full speed.

Hell, Justin Gastlin who ran a 9.79 100m dash in the olympics only got a 4.45 and 4.42 yard dash in the combine.

http://minnesotapreps.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=393870


These are all electronically timed the most accurate by far. Again, how many other guys can you find the same as him?

Peppers ran a 4.63 40 yard dash which is equal to a 10.8 same as Lomu

Brandon Jacobs 6'4 270 ran a 4.56 same as a 10.6

Calvin Johnson 6'5 240 ran a 4.32 same as a 10.1

Brian Orakpo 6'4 260 ran 4.63=10.8

I can keep going and going and going but I think you get the point.

[Duggie]

Just because you're strong or fast doesn't mean you'll make a great NFL player if that was the case a guy like Vernon Gholston would dominate:


6'3 260




Or Justin Gatlin, the same Justin Gatlin that couldn't even make it in the NFL but won a gold metal in the Olympics running the 100m in just 9.79 secs.

You must be extremely explosive with freakish size.

Sick of these threads. Played both obviously am football is more explosive seeing as there is a break after every snap but rugby is tougher in mauls and rucks you have people stamping on heads etc. I am not going to talk abouth athleticism because i have seen my idol adrian peterson looking ready to drop st times after long runs. Both are physical but the protection factors in. Adrian peterson finishes some runs head first with his head lower than his neck. In rugby that would be a broken neck and life threatening. Both are great sports and american football is my favourite but rugby is toughrt

[The Tase]

Gymnastics is arguably the greatest showcase of athleticism in the olympics by far yet it isn't the most popular.

100m is more popular but i wouldn't say the men are more athletic than the gymnasts.

Popularity doesn't have the correlation to athletic ability that you presume.

lol wut?

i guess you just have selective reading and just forgot to read the part where i said size matters and nfl players are much bigger and faster than rugby players and that short burst speeds are a greater indicators of athleticism than endurance?

and gymnastics are one of the most popular events in all of olympic competition. wtf are you talking about?

ever heard of nadia comaneci? kerri strugg? shawne johnson? nastia luikin? the recent stars of american women gymnastics called the fierce five?




cmon son.

[Earl-Hickey]

NFL players are not "much bigger and faster", the ones in those positions where all the do is run for 10 seconds every half an hour and pumped full of more steroids than popeye might be, but it evens out over the park

those "much bigger and faster" players would collapse and die of a heart attack after 10 minutes of Rugby

[The Tase]

NFL players are not "much bigger and faster", the ones in those positions where all the do is run for 10 seconds every half an hour and pumped full of more steroids than popeye might be, but it evens out over the park

those "much bigger and faster" players would collapse and die of a heart attack after 10 minutes of Rugby

post the top 10 rugby players physical measurements and ill post 100 nfl players whose size and measurements dwarf those 10.

ill even post their 40 yard dash times.

you might have a point with offensive linemen and defensive tackles but the rest; linebackers, corners, wideouts, running backs, safties, are all athletic specimens of the highest order.

all you have to do is watch one nfl combine and this discussion is over.

again, dwayne johnson did not play in the highest level of american football. heck he couldnt even cut it in canadian football.

take what he says with a huge grain of salt.