12-18-2017, 02:39 PM
Post Stanford played rugby, but not well. But got to see rugby played at a high level by real, worthy rugby players.
Only reason to comment on this is I heard the exact same upbeat assessment of the coming "Rugby Dawn" back in the early '70's. All the positives mentioned in the linked article. The belief then was the lack of football's set line blocking and blocking in general made the game safer to play. Obviously an American opinion since the world rugby domain and the U.S. football domain never did a worthwhile comparison study that I saw back then. Never saw stats (probably none to be collected) on overall injury rates, just a belief (which might true, however) that survival instinct and the nature of tackling and play just led to fewer and less severe injuries in rugby.
However, in the last couple of years several of the world's top flight rugby players got pretty severely injured. Some experts think that the like draft horses, players have gotten bigger and bigger over time, stronger and stronger over time and some of the finesse of historical rugby is gradually being replaced by a more injury-fraught style of play that leverages speed and strength over technique. Or not. Like most sports, ascendance in rugby takes years and years of training and technique. The pics of those teenage kids in the articlelook absolutely frightening. Maybe they are the future of American rugby and the future is here...finally.
Only reason to comment on this is I heard the exact same upbeat assessment of the coming "Rugby Dawn" back in the early '70's. All the positives mentioned in the linked article. The belief then was the lack of football's set line blocking and blocking in general made the game safer to play. Obviously an American opinion since the world rugby domain and the U.S. football domain never did a worthwhile comparison study that I saw back then. Never saw stats (probably none to be collected) on overall injury rates, just a belief (which might true, however) that survival instinct and the nature of tackling and play just led to fewer and less severe injuries in rugby.
However, in the last couple of years several of the world's top flight rugby players got pretty severely injured. Some experts think that the like draft horses, players have gotten bigger and bigger over time, stronger and stronger over time and some of the finesse of historical rugby is gradually being replaced by a more injury-fraught style of play that leverages speed and strength over technique. Or not. Like most sports, ascendance in rugby takes years and years of training and technique. The pics of those teenage kids in the articlelook absolutely frightening. Maybe they are the future of American rugby and the future is here...finally.