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FlagmantlePARRAdise t1_ix3d916 wrote

Reply to comment by manrobot in U.S. Rugby Team Fails to Qualify for World Cup by paloaltissimo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_football_and_rugby_league

American football doesnt have the same skills that union does. Almost everything in league can be covered by American football experience. I'm not saying that gridiron players can't learn the skills in union, but they will be further behind the rest of the world who primarily play rugby union and have these skills as second nature. Barley anyone in the US plays rugby and most of them are people who couldn't make it in American football.

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manrobot t1_ix3ua7x wrote

Posting an obscure Wikipedia article doesn’t make the two sports similar.

Quickly going to the two points I listed shows no analysis of how the players skills would translate across sports, but just a description of both sports’ rules.

I didn’t say union is the same skill set, I said saying American football and league does is preposterous.

Even by your own example, the Wikipedia page lists a miracle play as the best example that American football players can pass backwards, and the score in the crossover game listed shows the American football team scored zero points in the rugby league half while conceding 32. Almost as if they didn’t have the skills covered by the American football experience.

Honestly American football is not similar to either sport. The skills set is just completely different. Hell half of them don’t even tackle during the game.

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RuggerJibberJabber t1_ixftk1k wrote

His point is that it's closer than union. Not the exact same, but closer. Even the tackles in league are closer because they arent as strict when it comes to head contact or wrapping arms. League is a lot less complicated than union and there's also feck all competitive teams in it. You've got Australia, then a massive drop in quality to whoever comes 2nd. I'd also be surprised if a rugby player who grew up in the US never played or watched American football. So the parts that overlap would certainly help.

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