hahahah too easy to say that when you have so much padding plus helmet u look like ur inside a tank. I think theyd run like scared cats once taken outside their protective shell the first time they faced the All Blacks, Springboks or Wallabies.
Ya - u guessed it - my family r rugby fanatics. My dad is not that strict unless the rugby is on...then everyone concerned has to shhhhhh - and heaven help u if u say something while the Kiwi Haka is on (and he is a wallaby supporter)
It's easy to say football players would run in the sight of a rugby player; however, since American football started with no padding I think it is safe to say they wouldn't run...
The sport got bigger padding as it got more violent, and then needed bigger padding, and it got more violent and created a chain reaction...
Also take note: The biggest injury in rugby is spinal injury from compression of the spine when you hit someone... In football those pads do not make the compression less... But in all actuality since they can hit harder with pads: that compression is more violent. Not to mention head an neck injuries that are not found in rugby...
To say that rugby players are more tough because they don't wear pads is very silly... American football has drastically more injuries than rugby. (Even with all the padding). The reasoning for this is because the padding does not make it safer but more dangerous... When you have a more dangerous sport you get more dangerous people...
For instance, it's like saying boxing is safer with gloves... To someone who has never boxed it might seem like a reasonable assertion. However, if you have boxed you know that without gloves you cannot hit the persons temple without braking your hand, with a glove you can. This allows you to hit harder and in places where you could not hit before, making the sport more violent and dangerous than it was.
It is a well established fact that padding makes a sport more violent and dangerous, and a more violent and dangerous sport breeds more dangerous and violent people...
This padding helps the hitter and hurts the hittee. Since the bones in a man's head are stronger than the bones in a man's fists, a bare-knuckle fighter risks damaging himself more than his opponent if he hits as hard as he can when he aims punches at the head. Unless he has unusually brittle hands, a boxer whose fists are protected by cushions has no such inhibitions. He can hit to the head with full force without much risk of injuring his hands—and so add to the number of boxers who end up on the slab or with pugilistica dementia.
Hang up the boxing gloves | The Economist