Off Topic - sort of

by ninersninny on Feb 14, 2012 7:51 AM PST

Over the weekend, going through annual NFL withdrawals
I found myself watching a Rugby Sevens tourney in Las Vegas.

For those of you unfamiliar, from what I can tell, the field is
100m long, 70m wide.  Teams advance the ball by lateral.
Players can be tackled, ending up in what appears to be
an NFL like"hike" backward.  The team that was tackled keeps the ball.

There are no pads, most players appear to be
fireplug type guys - the best teams looked to be Fiji and Samoa 
not huge guys like Sopoaga or Haloti Nata.  They appeared to
have speed and power.


The announcers were stating that Rugby Sevens will be an Olympic Sport
at the 2016 Rio de Janerio games (assuming that even goes through).
They were also stating that people shouldn't be surprised if the USOC
starts looking towards the NFL for Rugby Sevens players.

Then that got me thinking on which NFL players could play
Rugby Sevens.  I suppose you can't tackle what you can't catch
such as Desean Jackson or Santonio Holmes - but can they take
the punishment or dish it out?  Or maybe players like Vernon Davis
or LeGarrett Blount?  Or would no NFL player play Rugby Sevens
in the Olympics due to contracts or the chance to get hurt and
ruin the upcoming NFL season?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.

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I do not think any NFL players

who have any kind of shot in the league would be playing 7’s in the olympics.

I love rugby and every year I go to watch the 7’s tournament here in London. It is an outrageously fun event and would recommend it to anyone visiting the UK in May of any year.

7’s though is the poor relation of the traditional 15 man Rugby Union and most of those guys do not get into international 7’s teams, partly due to injury and partly because it is an event for specialists requiring a unique blend of qualities. they are conditioned differently to NFL players and it is difficult to jusge because they all have their hands on the ball a lot more.

As for best positions I think DB’s, smaller more mobile linebackers, receivers and Runningbacks all have the kind of balance of Rugby 7’s players. the US has team that is growing though and I cannot say that I ahve heard of many players converting from Football to Rugby yet

by DaveintheUK on Feb 14, 2012 10:28 AM PST reply actions

Frank Gore and Patrick Willis

are guys on the niners that I think would rule at rugby. Granted, I am by no means a follower if the sport of rugby, but those two niners seem to have the physical and athletic talents and also the mindset to play the sport.

Do I think any NFL players would choose to play rugby over the NFL, not likely, IMHO. The money is one main reason. Maybe there is a NFL player out there that can barley make an NFL roster, but he might be a exceptional Rugby player, maybe someone like that would choose rugby over the NFL. Not a knock on the sport of Rugby, I could be wrong, but it seems that the NFL would pay$ much, much more than rugby. Please correct me if I am wrong.

by pt33 on Feb 14, 2012 10:58 AM PST reply actions

Absoloutely correct

NFL minimum salary probably good for a top flight rugby player.

As for the players and the games, so different really, people want to put them together ont he same, brutish physical games but they are just so different. The commonality would be the amount of tactics, thought and preperation, planning and training, still there is one thing tackling is tackling still. Hits are illegal in Rugby though.

by DaveintheUK on Feb 15, 2012 7:54 AM PST reply actions