NFL all-star rugby XV

[lochrannoch3740]

I've seen variations on this thread around the interweb, so just for fun made my own selection.

Essentially I have taken my favourite stars from the NFL and positioned them in an imaginary rugger team. I've tried to include players from all football positions although clearly O-Linemen and Nose Guards to ever hope to run up and down non-stop for 80 minutes. Also the relatively few whites on defense makes picking db's tricky. Football positions chosen were:

WR - 4
TE, FB - 3
QB, RB, DE, LB, DB - 1

Being short-sighted and rather small for my age as a youth I was never let near a rugby field so I'm not much of an expert on either sport - comment on which way to arrange my front row and who the hell to play at centre would be welcomed.

Here it is. Comments on how to improve the side welcome:

Forwards</span>

Front Row</span> - Mike Karney, Brad Hoover</span> (props), Heath Evans</span> (hooker)

Evans is hooker as he is more versatile and probably a bit quicker.

Second Row</span> - Jason Witten</span>, Jared Allen

</span>Both tall men, and relatively light enough to (I'd imagine) be able to adapt to rugby conditioning

Back Row - </span>Brian Urlacher </span>(blindside flanker) Dallas Clark (</span>openside flanker) Jeremy Shockey</span> (#8)

</span>Shockey would do a good impression of Lawrence Dallaglio

</span>Backs</span>

Scrum Half - </span>Drew Brees</span>

</span>Tricky one to fill this. The position draws obvious parallels to a quarterback, but NFL QB's are all too bloody big. I'd have picked Doug Flutie if he was still playing but as it is 6' Dree Brees gets the nod.

Fly-Half - </span>Wes Welker </span>(also placekicker)
</span>
He can catch. He can run. He can kick. He can tackle. He is clearly an incredible all round sportsman. Only one choice really.

Inside Centre </span>Matt Jones

</span>I want a not too heavy QB-type who can run the ball. Would he be too tall? Would he tackle? Do I need to swap him with Leonard?
</span>
Outside Centre </span>Brian Leonard

</span>Never fumbled and great receiving hands, so ball-handling should not be a problem. Has speed and tackle breaking ability. Converted linebacker so good in defence.
</span>
Wings: </span>Kevin Curtis, Eric Weddle </span>

</span></span>Both men have good speed, Weddle was very versatile in college so will be adept at defensive duties
</span>
Fullback </span>Mike Furrey

</span>Athletic. Exeperience at safety as well as WR in NFL.
</span>
</span></span>
Edited by: lochrannoch3740

 

[Kiwi]

Great topic lochrannoch - I always find it intriguing to see how some of the top NFLer's would go out on the rugby field. Not too sure about Matt Jones at Inside Centre, but other than that your team looks pretty good.

Anyway, heres a team I put together:

Forwards

Props: Steve Hutchinson, Alan Faneca

Bit of a hard one here, could've gone with either FB/LB's or linemen. In the end I went for linemen as there seems to be a trend in rugby towards tall props at the moment. Obviously though they would need to trim down a bit for rugby, to around 260-270 pounds. The two best props in the world today, Carl Hayman and Andy Sheridan, are 6'4 and 6'5 respectively.

Hooker: Kelly Gregg

At 6'0 Gregg is about the ideal height for a hooker, and judging by the way he gets round the field at 310 pounds, he would be brilliant as a 240 pound rugby player.

Locks: Todd Heap, Matt Jones

Both players are tall and athletic with great hands. I haven't seen enough of Jones to know how physical he is, but he would have awesome potential at lock.

Blindside Flanker: Jared Allen

Big and strong with great defence

Openside Flanker: AJ Hawk

Bit of a hard one to pick here, as opensides specialize in stealing ruck ball and have a huge amount of stamina, two skills a bit absent in football. Being slightly shorter than most linebackers and very quick, AJ Hawk would have great potential at openside, especially if he got his weight down to about 230.

No.8: Brian Urlacher

Ideal height for No.8, great defender with enough pace to be dangerous on attack and effective as a cover defender.

Backs

Halfback: Drew Brees

Not my ideal choice here. Brees has all the tactical and passing skills necessary, but lacks in speed and acceleration.

1st 5/8: Tom Brady

Not exactly a conventional build for 1st 5/8, but tactically and mentally Brady is perfect for this position.

Inside Centre: Mike Alstott

Gone for the South African model of inside centre here. A bit one-dimesional perhaps, but Alstott would be almost unstoppable on the crash-ball.

Outside Centre: Brian Leonard

Big powerful centre, much like Tana Umaga and Stirling Mortlock.

Wings: Kevin Curtis, Matt Giordano

Both are very quick, I picked Giordano simply because the Colts are on New Zealand television quite a lot, so I have actually seen him play 4 or 5 times, unlike most other players.

Fullback: Wes Welker

You could probably put Welker into any position in the backline and he would excel, but I figured with his safe hands, kicking and kick returning skills he would be an ideal fullback.Edited by: Kiwi

 

[devans]

Great teams guys - but how about giving Eric Crouch a try at Scrum half instead of Drew Brees? Wes Welker with great hands and elusiveness would also be great at that position I think.

 

[celticdb15]

I dont know much about rugby buti find it quite interesting and would like to
leanr more about it. Andi agree about Crouch i love the guy

 

[devans]

Well I don't know if there are any clubs in Wisconsin but the best way to learn about Rugby (because it is a somewhat complex game) is to go down to a club and join in the training/practice and maybe watch a couple of games and see where it leads.

 

[Kiwi]

I find the best way of comparing the two sports is to understand that both grew out of the same original sport.

The main differences between the two is that in rugby blocking(obstruction) and forward passing is illegal. The other major difference is that play can continue after a tackle has been made by way of a ruck, where players from both sides attempt to secure possession by pushing the other team off the ball. To me those are the major differences between the two games, obviously there are many more minor rule differences but to me they are the major points of difference.

Helpful websites:

www.usarugby.org
Home of the USA rugby union. Really useful website explaining the game and they have a find-a-club feature which has a list of clubs in each state. (There's about 12 senior clubs in Wisconsin)

www.rugbydump.com
Really good website for rugby videos. All the best tries and tackles and other stuff is here

 

[celticdb15]

Thank you Devans and Kiwi for all of your help ill have to check in to this.

 

[celticdb15]

I checked out rugby dump and found the clips pretty cool, can you explain
to me when you score do u have to put the ball down?

 

[Angelcynn]

Great idea lochrannoc! I'd personaly have Tim Dwight as a winger alongside Kevin Curtis. Apart from that nice teams, and you aswell Kiwi, I'm sure they'd be up there with New Zealand and South Africa.

Celticdb15, rugby has always been loved in the Celtic nations and yes you do have to put the ball down to score a try. Countless rugby players have gotten over the try line only to be hit with a hard tackle (leading to a drop) or have been held up.

What really edges rugby over American Football for me is the fact that 'everyone' gets the ball in hand, 'everyone' tackles and its two 40 minute half's with only a 15 minute half time inerval. Priceless!

 

[Matra1]

I grew up in Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada, and as you might imagine I appreciate both games. I played rugby union but I prefer football as a sport to watch - though that's in part because we don't get good coverage of rugby in Canada and so it is harder to stay on top of it. Another reason is that rugby to me at least is only interesting at the international level and there isn't very much of that.

The best thing about football is the tactical aspects of the game. For a (sober) fan there's always more to to think about constantly throughout a football game than in rugby, not that rugby isn't tactically interesting, just a bit more limited in terms of the options the teams have. On the other hand rugby has continuous action - despite the constant kicking into touch - so you don't spend half the afternoon watching cheesy Bud and KFC commercials over and over again! Also, rugby tends to be dominated by white men along with South Pacific ethnic groups and is relatively free of the kind of strutting, preening, 'end zone dances' and bombast we see in the NFL.

Americans may not be aware of it but there's another version of rugby called 'Rugby League.' It is played mainly in northern England, eastern Australia, and Papua New Guinea

and to some extent in NZ. I find League a bit too one dimensional, however, it seems to produce better players than the Union game.

In the League game the team loses possession of the ball after the sixth tackle. I suppose it is a bit similar to 'downs' in football except there's no yardage to be gained before the count starts all over. When a player with the ball is tackled in League the tackler must get up and give the player being tackled space to give the ball back to his teammates who then try to advance the ball further. If they don't score after the 5th tackle they usually kick (punt) it away into the other team's territory. So there are some similarities between rugby league and American football. I can easily envision a hybrid rugby league/American football game.

 

[lochrannoch3740]

Rugby league players are probably the best all-round athletes of any sport. It could be argued that it is easier to watch for a casual fan as there are no rucks etc. so the ball can be seen at all times.

It is a
i very
regional sport in England, being popular in the small towns between and to the north of Manchester and Liverpool, and in West and East Yorkshire (and the Cumbrian coast for some reason). Attending games is fun, the grounds are of the old fashioned sort that have disappeared from soccer with large standing areas, plus there is little aggro and you can watch the game with a beer in your hand.

In Oz in is the main sport in Queensland and New South Wales. Its popularity is cited as the reason why the Aussies are so bad at forward play in union and are always wanting to change the rules.

 

[Kiwi]

I checked out rugby dump and found the clips pretty cool, can you explain
to me when you score do u have to put the ball down?

Useless bit of trivia: The American Football term "touchdown" originally got its name because to make a score, the ball had to be "touched down" onto the ground.

I find League a bit too one dimensional, however, it seems to produce better players than the Union game.

I would hesitate to say League produces better players than Union, different types of players certainly, but not necessarily better players. League players tend to have good general skills while union players tend to be more specialised.

 

[Angelcynn]

Matra1, don't get me wrong, I think American Football is also a great sport

. I would've loved to have a chance to play it. Unfortunatly the positions that are best suited for me (WR, CB and safety) are the caste positions. Acutally I used to kick for my rugby team (even though I was playing fullback or winger), although thats a bit of a reject position and a bit boring in American Football, I like to see ACTION!

 

[celticdb15]

haha cool fact kiwi

 

[Bronk]

This is a great thread. As a former rugger myself I love the game, but cannot get much of it via TV, so I tend to go out and catch Rice University's Saturday club matches when I can.

The gridiron term "scrimmage" comes from Rugby's "scrummage"

Not that any of you are dummies, but there is a Rugby For Dummies book out there.

 

[lochrannoch3740]

Can someone do this the other way, 22 starters for an NFL team from Rugby players?

Nominate Jonny Wilkinson at strong safety but I'm worried about that shoulder.

 

[Kiwi]

Alrighty then, i'll have a crack at the rugby to NFL team.

Offence

QB: Dan Carter (New Zealand) - 5'10 205

This is a really hard position to convert for rugby players because of no forward passes in rugby. I chose Carter because he is an excellent athlete, has superb co-ordination and is a good manager of a game. He is however quite short, only 5'10, but then again Drew Brees is only 6'0 and does very well for the Saints.

HB: Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) - 5'9 210

Clever player with good acceleration and excellent cutback ability.

WR: Chris Latham (Australia) - 6'4 225
Juan Martin Hernandez (Argentina) - 6'3 210
Shane Williams (Wales) - 5'8 185

Latham is big and fast, Hernandez has terrific hands, and Williams is almost impossible to tackle one-on-one.

TE: Chris Jack (New Zealand) 6'7 250

Jack has very safe hands and is surprisingly agile for a player of his size. At his height, is 250 lbs heavy enough or would he need to gain some weight?

OL: Simon Shaw (England) 6'8 270
Andrew Sheridan (England) 6'5 265
Tony Woodcock (New Zealand) 6'1 260
Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy) 6'2 265
Carl Hayman (New Zealand) 6'4 260

Basically i've picked who I think are the best tight forwards in rugby and put them on the O-line.

Defence

DE: Bakkies Botha (South Africa) 6'6 255
Ali Williams (New Zealand) 6'7 250

Both are good athletes and very strong defensively.

DT: Phil Vickery (England) 6'5 260
Os Du Randt (South Africa) 6'3 285

Vickery has great power while Du Randt is a great tackler.

OLB: Schalk Burger (South Africa) 6'4 245
Jason White (Scotland) 6'5 250

Burger is very abrasive and physical, while White is one of the best tacklers in the game, a very underrated player.

MLB: Richie McCaw (New Zealand) 6'2 235

Aside from being the player with the highest workrate in the All Blacks, McCaw is fast, strong and very smart.

CB: Brent Russell (South Africa) 5'10 190
Mat Rogers(Australia)& nbsp;6'0 185

Both are very quick and are good open field tacklers.

FS: Josh Lewsey (England) 5'11 205

Smart player who hits very hard on defence.

SS: Stirling Mortlock (Australia) 6'4 220

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXTOljUMpDU

K: Jonny Wilkinson (England)
P: Nick Evans (New Zealand)

 

[PhillyBirds]

I'd like to think Sebastian Chabal would make a good Middle Linebacker. He's got a great intimidating presence and hits like a maniac. Edited by: PhillyBirds

 

[tiksseven]

Vilimoni Delasau would make a great wide receiver


Rupeni Caucau has the speed and size to make a great running back

 

[Kiwi]

Rupeni would be an awesome RB if he dropped about 30 pounds. I saw some slips of him playing in France last year, he looked more like a prop than a winger.