If you got Ladanian Tomlinson and a few of his closest friends...

[Turkish Mickey]

the nfl guys wouldn't come close. (tldr - coles notes at bottom)

i played rugby (and football) in high school in canada, where nobody picks up the game until grade 9. in my senior year we played a team from wales comprised of grade 9's and 10's who were on tour. our team was mostly grade 12's with some 11's. at that age, two years makes a huge difference, and we were way bigger, stronger, faster etc. than them.

they absolutely dominated us. they'd played the game their entire lives, and despite the fact that we were clearly athletically superior we couldn't even come close. they've played the game they're entire lives, their technique was way better, their understanding of strategy, their set plays, they were miles ahead of us in every aspect.

the nfl guys wouldn't come close in 6 months. just the "remodeling" of their bodies would take a while, in the nfl you go hard for 7 seconds and then you get 30 seconds rest. and that's just when your position is playing. often you see returners who run for 60 or 70 yards on a big play head to the sideline for oxygen. you think that guys going to be ready to play effectively for 80 mins straight anytime soon? just to turn nfl athletes into rugby style althletes is going to take a while.

also, the nfl squad is going to be severly lack in specific skill sets. kicking is perhaps the most obvious area, but passing, rucks, scrums, everything.

the nfl team would, given enough time (i have no idea how much this is), probably be able to produce part of a world class team. but in certain key positions, such as scrum half or fly half, i don't think you could take a fully grown adult and transform him into a world class player. feel and understanding for the game, as well as rugby specific skills, are far too important for these positions.

the positions where i don't think the nfl could produce top players even if they trained for years (let alone six months) are some of the most crucial, and without top level players at these spots it would be extremely tough for the nfl club to win against a world class team. so when people post that the nfl wouldn't win if you gave them 5 years, i'm not sure it's true, but it's not in any way unrealistic.

coles notes - in my (actual, real life) experiece, being way bigger, stronger and faster is not enough to beat a far more experieced rugby team. (or even keep the game close)

[Pudge714]

Also passing in Rugby would take a while for NFLers to get. They could pick up a rugby ball in within 6 months be very good passers, lead players well, pass well to both sides, move the ball very quickly, etc, but they wouldn't be world class.

[sixfour]

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also, the nfl squad is going to be severly lack in specific skill sets. kicking is perhaps the most obvious area, but passing, rucks, scrums, everything.

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This is the most important key point. I cannot remember the last time I saw a punter attempt a kick towards the coffin corner. If a punter was reliable enough to kick the ball out of bounds within ten or so yards of the end zone, he'd do so. No coach in their right mind would tell their punter to try to hang it up to let their coverage team get down if they could put it out of bounds within the 20 on a consistent basis, the whole point of punting is to gain territory.

So if a punter, whose sole job is to kick the ball downfield for territory, can't land it within the twenty on a regular basis, how the hell are people expecting the sorts of NFL players that would be playing at fly-half/centre/wing to be able to play a tactical kicking game of any quality whatsoever, even given a decent amount of training? No amount of athletic advantage will be useful whatsoever if they can't kick usefully. Such a game would result in the rugby side just outkicking them tactically, gaining territory easily, dominating in the ensuing setpiece and scoring at will.

[Iplayboard]

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it's just hilarious to me that you believe that the NFL has vastly superior athletes to other multi million dollar sports in the world. very very funny.

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It's shocking that a board largely filled with Americans overstates American athletic ability.

[FUJItheFISH]

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Now that I think about it, it might not be a level. I mean if he was levelling, he would have said Rex Grossman, or like Orlando Pace. Like in Starsky & Hutch, when they realized the 5'9" bartender couldn't possibly be nicknamed "Tiny", as it was neither accurate, nor ironic.

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lol, I think it might not be a level given this dumb post from the same guy earlier -

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if they dont wear pads they lose some protection. who cares? they also gain the freedom to exert their athletic superiority in its entirety.

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Just in case it wasn't obvious - there is such a [censored] huge difference between tackling with pads and tackling without pads. An awful lot of the high impact/velocity tackling that goes on in the NFL would be complete suicide in a rugby game. That's not to say the NFL players wouldn't be able to adjust, but I think it would take them much longer than 6 months to become proficient at all types of tackling without pads.

Another point is - Rugby players have to play both offense and Defense. You put LT in a game - do you really think he is going to be able to tackle someone like Jonah Lomu charging at him with a decent success rate? I think not somehow.

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cant believe that you think i would actually want tom brady on this team.

i agree with those that say the set plays will be the biggest contributing factor to a rugby win. all of this rugby players arent as strong, rugby players have more stamina, football players can't tackle is pretty weak compared to looking at rugby IQ.

on a sidenote, for those that know rugby: what is the average year of retirement from the sport for most players?

[bismillahno]

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on a sidenote, for those that know rugby: what is the average year of retirement from the sport for most players?

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Usually late 20's or early 30's. Many southern hemisphere guys play into their 30's but no longer at international level. They go to Europe or Japan, get paid more but lose international eligibility.

I'm pretty sure that Mike Catt at 36 was the oldest man to play in a world cup final.

[EWS87]

i really think you could give LT one day and he would not be touched by any of the rugby guys...you guys are really underestimating how scary athletic a guy like LT is...he could probably be a star at any sport he wants

[Jay Riall]

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i really think you could give LT one day and he would not be touched by any of the rugby guys

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lol, no. Have you ever watched rugby? Just for a start there is no blocking allowed.

[bottomset]

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i really think you could give LT one day and he would not be touched by any of the rugby guys

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lol, no. Have you ever watched rugby? Just for a start there is no blocking allowed.

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LT has a pretty sick stiff arm, are those legal?

[Jay Riall]

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i really think you could give LT one day and he would not be touched by any of the rugby guys

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lol, no. Have you ever watched rugby? Just for a start there is no blocking allowed.

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LT has a pretty sick stiff arm, are those legal?

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I meant other players blocking for the run. I think stiff arms are legal yes.