NRFL Combine in United States Ready to Roll on April 5-6th

[Grant A Cole]

how will they take athletes with little or no background and turn them into competitive rugby players in such a short time (10,000 hour rule seems to be out the window here)?

This is actually not as difficult as many believe. That "belief" that rugby is too difficult a truly elite athlete to excel at is the problem, the hold up, if you will. If you remember, no one was espousing this belief 25-30 years ago when Richard Tarditts and Dan Lyle made the move to rugby. Neither had 10K hours of rugby under their belt when they joined the professional rugby ranks in Europe. When we discuss the truly elite level non-rugby athlete that the NRFL is going after, we are discussing athletes who have already played several different sports very well and picked one to make money at (gridiron, basketball, track & field, etc). These athletes do not need 10K hours in rugby to be successful. Under a highly technical coaching system (such as Lyle & Tarditts had) 2-3K is all that is needed.

Both RL guys have experience turning former college girdiron players into rugby players within their respective and former clubs.

How will the league work, franchise system?

Details are forthcoming. Apologies, but some answers are protected by the NDA.

Will the aim be to affiliate with the IRB long term or is this another Packer scenario where the end result will be IRB completely cut off...?

Original rumors had the NRFL operating outside IRB & Union auspices, but nobody at RL ever expected to do so. Recent investors have made it clear that the NRFL must honor the Int'l Test windows. The RL guys are old rugby guys (>30 years in our sport) with business and investment savvy, not new-comers to rugby who see a quick buck. However, one of the problems with an IRB sanctioned professional rugby competition in the US is forming such a league to equal local laws on such things.

Will they bringing in European talent to supplement the american talent, ala a reverse the NFL World League/NFL Europe?

And SoHem talent and North American talent...

Team make-up should resemble this in the beginning (as things progress, expect changes): 20-30% cross-over athletes, 35-40% North American rugby talent, 35-40% ex-pat rugby talent.

Thanks for the questions. The answers to the ones covered by NDA will come out when I am allowed to write the article about them.

 

[goodNumber10]

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions.

 

[MauriSca7]

I would imagine the general reason people find fault in it is that there is very little detail about the event out there. With very small snippets of info leaking out that sound great but indicate absolutely nothing about what is really happening it appears steeped in secrecy, even if that's not the intention.

It might be the greatest thing to happen to sport but the comms so far have sucked in a massive way.

In last year I was invited to take part to several rugby competitions in US,the promoters said they were "Super Elite" competitions,but given I'm not in rugby anymore and I don't trust rugby politics anymore I rejected the invitations and I was right given those competitions weren't played.
Unfortunately in US people involved in minor sports (or minor leagues in important sports) have the bad habit to make big announcements and then at the end it finishes to be all hot air and nothing is done

 

[goodNumber10]

In last year I was invited to take part to several rugby competitions in US,the promoters said they were "Super Elite" competitions,but given I'm not in rugby anymore and I don't trust rugby politics anymore I rejected the invitations and I was right given those competitions weren't played.
Unfortunately in US people involved in minor sports (or minor leagues in important sports) have the bad habit to make big announcements and then at the end it finishes to be all hot air and nothing is done

No one cares mate.

 

[MauriSca7]

No one cares mate.

Very nice as always

 

[Grant A Cole]

Keep your eye on Bristol Rugby's Press Releases.

 

[Grant A Cole]

As I said, keep your eye on Bristol:
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/10003/bristol-take-two-former-collegiate-stars-on-trial/

Cue the naysayers stating this is only a two-week trial and spouting Kolpak.

Keep in mind, TTIP/TAFTA should be ratified soon enough. This is considered an Association Agreement per Kolpak ruling, thus workers from the nation covered under the Association Agreement are not subjected to a quota (the 2-cap rule). This is the wrench in the cogs that the clubs need to stay competitive.

 

[Groundhog]

@Grant A Cole What position are they expected to play do you know?

 

[thechosenfamily]

Am I the only one who saw the thread ***le and thought it was about Rugby League in the USA?

Me too, glad I read on

 

[ratsapprentice]

As I said, keep your eye on Bristol:
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/news/10003/bristol-take-two-former-collegiate-stars-on-trial/

Cue the naysayers stating this is only a two-week trial and spouting Kolpak.

Keep in mind, TTIP/TAFTA should be ratified soon enough. This is considered an Association Agreement per Kolpak ruling, thus workers from the nation covered under the Association Agreement are not subjected to a quota (the 2-cap rule). This is the wrench in the cogs that the clubs need to stay competitive.

No-one is "naysaying" American talent - on the contrary, most people readily accept that there are tons of guys who could play the game at varying levels of domestic and international rugby.
American rugby players, and converts have been doing it for years in ever increasing numbers.
The demand for elite sports-people does not fully utilise the supply created by the US collegiate system - you'd have to be an idiot to not recognise the potential of harnessing the latent/wasted talent there.

That's very different from accepting that the USA has the depth of talent required to sustain a fully professional league that is fit for TV broadcast in 2014.
Not to mention doing so through a company that has previously stated it's ambivalence towards Unions/the IRB.
Unless significant private investment comes in then it also seems unlikely that any league would be able to fill the gaps in talent in certain positions with foreign players, or to have a tournament which has proper geographical reach.

I hope both players go well. Perhaps if they are successful they might be lucky enough to be spotted by Bath and invited to join a premiership club.

 

[thechosenfamily]

ratsapprentice and I have been having a spirited discussion on some of the positional points from bringing American Football players into rugby. in here http://www.therugbyforum.com/threads/34214-USA-vs-All-Blacks-01-11/page3

It would seem outside centres, wingers and flankers would be the order of the day.

I thinks there is much more there though and I have being saying this for some time there is so much untapped talent even if you take high school American Football players who do not get a college scholarship and introduce them to rugby.

 

[Grant A Cole]

@Grant A Cole What position are they expected to play do you know?

Unknown at this time.
Yogerst played gridiron's Fullback (a blocker for a running back and a short-yardage specialist) in a small, but tough conference. I would put him at Inside Center, initially. But, because of his speed and fitness, would also consider him as a Hooker. I think he would enjoy Hook a bit more, given his background.
White can play Flanker, but I would put him at wing. As a gridiron linebacker/defensive back, his open-field tackling abilities must be sure. He's very intelligent and driven (I interviewed him yesterday for an article). He both reads offensive maneuvers and understands defensive posturing. He's an explosive runner who needs to master catch-pass and attacking the soft shoulder to be a factor.

 

[thechosenfamily]

Unknown at this time.
Yogerst played gridiron's Fullback (a blocker for a running back and a short-yardage specialist) in a small, but tough conference. I would put him at Inside Center, initially. But, because of his speed and fitness, would also consider him as a Hooker. I think he would enjoy Hook a bit more, given his background.
White can play Flanker, but I would put him at wing. As a gridiron linebacker/defensive back, his open-field tackling abilities must be sure. He's very intelligent and driven (I interviewed him yesterday for an article). He both reads offensive maneuvers and understands defensive posturing. He's an explosive runner who needs to master catch-pass and attacking the soft shoulder to be a factor.

Bit late to be learning to hook I would suggest though not of course impossible

As I said we have discussed this elsewhere, it's could be difficult to convert American Football guys late to front row positions as they are very technical and there are no comparison positions to have learned from, O and D line techniques are completely different.

 

[goodNumber10]

@Grant A Cole

It is great that a few guys have been picked up in the combine, but is there any more information on the shape the professional league is taking, how far along it is and what's happened with the independence cup and so on?

 

[Grant A Cole]

It is great that a few guys have been picked up in the combine, but is there any more information on the shape the professional league is taking, how far along it is and what's happened with the independence cup and so on?

I will defo post that information as soon as they allow me to do so. However, I can confidently say that they should be announcing that on their own and not through me. I will let you know when you need to be keeping watch on certain organization press releases, though!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Bit late to be learning to hook I would suggest

Tom Youngs was around 23 when he swapped from Centre to Hooker, I think. Most current hookers have only just learnt to hook anyway!

Dude's certainly built like a hooker.

 

[thechosenfamily]

Bit late to be learning to hook I would suggest though not of course impossible

As I said we have discussed this elsewhere, it's could be difficult to convert American Football guys late to front row positions as they are very technical and there are no comparison positions to have learned from, O and D line techniques are completely different.

Tom Youngs was around 23 when he swapped from Centre to Hooker, I think. Most current hookers have only just learnt to hook anyway!

Dude's certainly built like a hooker.

:lol: A point well made

Tom Youngs had played rugby for a while before that though and would have had a knowledge of the position if not played it a school.

Front row in general though at scrum time is technical and has to have experience would you not agree

 

[Grant A Cole]

Bit late to be learning to hook I would suggest though not of course impossible

As I said we have discussed this elsewhere, it's could be difficult to convert American Football guys late to front row positions as they are very technical and there are no comparison positions to have learned from, O and D line techniques are completely different.

I didn't start hooking until I was 19yo and never fared to poorly.

Good technical coaching plus driven attitude and coachability in an high-level athletic talent can over come these obstacles (and have). One does not have to have played "barefoot on the veldt" as a child to perform well at front row and halfback positions. One just needs the desire and time to do well.

 

[ratsapprentice]

We'll have to disagree on the half-back part^

 

[goodNumber10]

I will defo post that information as soon as they allow me to do so. However, I can confidently say that they should be announcing that on their own and not through me. I will let you know when you need to be keeping watch on certain organization press releases, though!

thanks Grant!