Players from other sports playing rugby

[Canucks]

Do you think players from other sports could excel at rugby?

In Canada and the States our best athletes play other sports where they can make a living out it, which you can't do with rugby here.
But could you imagine LaDainian Tomlinson, Champ Bailey or Brian Urlacher playing rugby instead of Football. I don't think anything like LT has been seen in rugby because he's considered rare by NFL standards. No one would beat a younger Champ Bailey on the wing and Brian Urlacher would annihilate anything that moves as a flanker (probably a lot like Kaino.) Troy Polamalu at fullback would just hunt everything down, similar to a Ben Foden.
Dear god, Jonathan Ogden, Alan Faneca and Levi Jones as your front row. Obviously Skinnier versions but still.

That being said, I'm sure there's plenty of excellent rugby players that wouldn't miss a beat in other sports.

What do you think?

 

[ranger]

Do you think players from other sports could excel at rugby?

In Canada and the States our best athletes play other sports where they can make a living out it, which you can't do with rugby here.
But could you imagine LaDainian Tomlinson, Champ Bailey or Brian Urlacher playing rugby instead of Football. I don't think anything like LT has been seen in rugby because he's considered rare by NFL standards. No one would beat a younger Champ Bailey on the wing and Brian Urlacher would annihilate anything that moves as a flanker (probably a lot like Kaino.) Troy Polamalu at fullback would just hunt everything down, similar to a Ben Foden.
Dear god, Jonathan Ogden, Alan Faneca and Levi Jones as your front row. Obviously Skinnier versions but still.

That being said, I'm sure there's plenty of excellent rugby players that wouldn't miss a beat in other sports.

What do you think?

I think there has never been a Jonah Lomu in the NFL

 

[TRF_heineken]

Well there has been a couple of guys who has tried, some more successful than others, but mostly rugby players go on to try other sports after their rugby career has reached it's peak.

Conrad Jantjies played for South Africa and has national colours in Cricket and Soccer too.
Jeff Wilson from New Zealand first played rugby and then Cricket.

Those are the two I have heard about but I will think there's a lot more.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Ex-Glamorgan batter Mark Cosgrove would make a pretty handy loosehead, provided you had someone to put on for him after 40 minutes.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Mariusz Pudzianowski likes to dabble in a bit of rugby from time to time.

 

[JW.]

Mariusz Pudzianowski likes to dabble in a bit of rugby from time to time.

Wow , insane .

 

[Deadmonton]

Marius probably just forces the entire opposition pack back by himself. More to the point, I'm not sure how good NA professional athletes would do. NFL linemen would get wrecked because their mobility is so poor. They may have a weight advantage over most front-rowers, but if it ever came to open play they would be screwed (they'd walk over to the ruck, but by the time they got there the ball would be won). A lot of running backs and receivers would have suspect passing ability, to say nothing of their kicking. Any passing skills that football players did have would be invalid because they're all forward, and laterals aren't a major part of the game. Punting or penalty kicks wouldn't be a problem, but drop goals are so rare in the NFL that only about 5 have been attempted in the last 50 years, plus any specialized punter/kicker is usually a smaller guy with skills only in kicking.

As well as all the positional issues, there is a gulf in general fitness. Football players need explosiveness for a few seconds, then they reset, take a break, explosiveness again. In comparison, a rugby player has to constantly move with the flow of the game. I'm not saying that Urlacher or Tomlinson couldn't succeed at rugby, they are world class athletes and could do well in just about any sport if they applied themselves to it, but their training and skill-set are not of the type needed for top level rugby. The US could field a 15 of NFL players and do well against weaker nations just because of raw athleticism, but the bigger nations would make mincemeat out of them. This may be way off, just my interpretation.

 

[LomuLegend]

Apparently that Criag Quinell is playing cricket on the village scene in S. Wales. Not sure about his running between the wickets but apparently he hits a looooooooooong ball! .

How about Dwain Chambers, tried his hand at abit of anyhing after his doping ban, including American Football and RL. Enthusiastic if not a natural...And Israel Folau, used to play international RL now playing AFl...

 

[cardassian]

Brian McKechnie played flyhalf/fullback for the All Blacks kicking the winning goal in 1978 v Wales after Haden dived out of the line-out and faced the famous underarm bowl from the Aussies in cricket. So not only a double international but involved in 2 of sports most unsporting incidents.

 

[smartcooky]

Jeff Wilson was a double international... played cricket and rugby for New Zealand

But probably, the greatest double international to play for New Zealand was Eric Tindall

Not only was he a Test Cricketer and All Black, he also went on to be a Test Umpire, and a Test Rugby Referee; a unique double-double that probably will never be repeated.

 

[lucky number 7]

Wayne Rooney...not a huge fan of his but I could see him excell at rugby

 

[HowieLO6]

As someone who plays both, can see how American Footballers could concievably translate between the two. What seems to be happening in the US is that college footballers (who, for 3-4 years, would have had access to some of the finest sports facilities, etc, worldwide) who haven't quite made the cut are being offered the chance to have a crack at rugby.

Plenty of these guys will have some pretty outstanding natural sporting talent, but its the numbers that are mind-boggling; Looking at only the top-tier of the college system, you have in excess of 100 colleges, each with (conservatively) a roster of 80 players. Every year only 256 get drafted by the NFL (with a few dozen more getting signed undrafted). Thats a pretty big pool of quick, nimble, aggresive, strong, huge, etc, young men to pick from!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/co...4/Dhani-Jones-is-a-big-hit-at-Blackheath.html

Actaully saw his runout when he got on the field for the first time. Made a cracking tackle, absolutely shook the ground. His NFL training, however, saw him stop after the tackle, figuring that the "play" was over!

 

[Nielsch]

As someone who plays both, can see how American Footballers could concievably translate between the two. What seems to be happening in the US is that college footballers (who, for 3-4 years, would have had access to some of the finest sports facilities, etc, worldwide) who haven't quite made the cut are being offered the chance to have a crack at rugby.

Plenty of these guys will have some pretty outstanding natural sporting talent, but its the numbers that are mind-boggling; Looking at only the top-tier of the college system, you have in excess of 100 colleges, each with (conservatively) a roster of 80 players. Every year only 256 get drafted by the NFL (with a few dozen more getting signed undrafted). Thats a pretty big pool of quick, nimble, aggresive, strong, huge, etc, young men to pick from!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/co...4/Dhani-Jones-is-a-big-hit-at-Blackheath.html

Actaully saw his runout when he got on the field for the first time. Made a cracking tackle, absolutely shook the ground. His NFL training, however, saw him stop after the tackle, figuring that the "play" was over!

I saw this episode on a plane from Amsterdam to New York. Made me laugh. Worth the watch...

 

[gingergenius]

Not sure any American football star would be any use at all at the top level. Sure, put a prime athlete up against amateurs and he'll look great, but in the professional game they'll get found out.

NFL is all about stats, and rugby is all about nouse. You can weigh 300lbs and bench 3x that, and still get ****ed in a scrum. You can be 3m tall and suck in the lineout. And you can be faster than anything and look **** on the wing.

 

[LittleGuy]

Todd Clever was talking about this not that long ago and if I remember correctly, he said that most NFL linebackers would be pretty good rugby players with a lot of education in the rules and strategies, as well many rugby players could conceiveably cross over in to this role in gridiron. There are plenty of good American NFL and NCAA athletes that have struggled even switching to the CFL(Canadian gridiron) as the different rule set and gameplay often leads to them make mistakes on not fit into a role as well.

Many of the Canadian team have played gridiron, Jason Marshall was actually a pretty good quarterback(and did a gridiron style lineout vs. NZ). Many have also come over from Ice Hockey as Chauncey O'Toole did. When you are a tier two country recruiting athletes from other sports isn't necessarily a bad strategy.

 

[HowieLO6]

Not sure any American football star would be any use at all at the top level. Sure, put a prime athlete up against amateurs and he'll look great, but in the professional game they'll get found out.

NFL is all about stats, and rugby is all about nouse. You can weigh 300lbs and bench 3x that, and still get ****ed in a scrum. You can be 3m tall and suck in the lineout. And you can be faster than anything and look **** on the wing.

The point is that i'm not referring to the American football extremes, those whose bodies have essentially been tailor-made for a specific role within a very specific game, but considering those linebacker-esque players and defensive back/wideout-type players.

Whereas nouse is something you could concievably teach (bearing in mind just how complicated American Football is in every interation), whereas explosive speed, agility, etc, is something that is, generally, a genetic gift.

Watch some/any half-decent kick-returner and tell me that they wouldn't be an exciting prospect at fullback or the wing, given a half-decent grasp of the game. And for those suggesting that where's the ability to tackle or kick, you find that special teams players often have a good grasp of tacking (defensive backs very much so) and that the "skill" players playing at college are generally the types of players who have played a number of positions at high school, such as QB, as well as kicking duties.

They'd essentilly be works in progress, but with 100o's of first-rate athletes in the top tier of college footbll alone, with the vast majority under the age of 21, why couldn't they learn the necessary skills?

 

[formerlyfastwing]

There are some football players that would have been great rugby players, if given the chance (ie: introduced to the game at a young age), Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson (Bo knows), to name two of the top of my head.

I have found that basketball players, if they can take the phsycial side, transfer well. They already understand how to pass a ball to a moving target in a flowing changing game. Same goes for hockey players, used to the game devloping "off the cuff", most hockey players can read a game very well.

 

[ranger]

Steve Nash would be an insane 10

 

[LittleGuy]

Some football Tight Ends might make good Locks and backrowers as well, similar body types and roles on the field.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

In my opinion a lot of gaelic footballers would make good rugby players. Mick Galwey played for and won an All-Ireland with Kerry, Moss Keane played at a high level, Rob Kearney played for Louth minors, I'm sure there are more. Luke Fitzgerald played for my club but that probably wasn't at a high standard because I'm playing for, by far, the clubs best team ever and we're only a Dublin Division 2 side.