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Joined February 2019
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Two things;
1) Rugby players play rugby. It’s an aerobic sport that requires big men to be able to drag their bodies around a pitch for up to 80 minutes-that’s why there are few players over 300lbs. Most 300lb NFL linemen would need to drop 30 or 40lbs to be able to play rugby competitively. On the flip side, front-five players would be able to pack on extra 30 or 40lbs of muscle because GridIron games don’t require anywhere near the same level of aerobic fitness.
2) You don’t any cite stats when you say things like ‘Savea is too slow’, so here’s one. Carlin Isles is the fastest man in 7s rugby. He also ran a 4.22 40 in training camp with the Detroit Lions, which is a faster time than any ran by player currently in the NFL. The fastest he’s ever been timed playing 7s rugby is 38 kph (23.6 mph). Rieko Ioane clocked 37kph, according to the NZ Herald. Ioane is 6’2 227lbs. He would be one of the biggest freaks in the NFL, as would players like Folau, Tupou, Naholo, Diyanti etc.
An NFL team made up of Super Rugby's best
Daniel Adongo couldn’t get a look in with the Southern Kings, went to the Indianapolis Colts and was labelled an absolute freak. There are two Scot College boys, neither of who made Aussie Schools, playing college football in Hawaii and Utah. They’re both 110kg plus and run 4.5 40 yard-dashes. If you’re not familiar with Gridiron that is ‘freak’ level athleticism. Plenty of the Super Rugby and NRL boys have the athleticism needed to compete.
An NFL team made up of Super Rugby's best
This is a hypothetical discussion. The suggestion is that these players with their size, athleticism and skills would make good NFL players, if they had played Gridiron instead of rugby-I don’t believe anyone was seriously suggesting that these guys could go over and walk straight into an active NFL roster.
One of the issues I have is that you seem to holding up NFL players as being hugely superior athletes to Super Rugby players, which I don’t agree with. Look at Hayden Smith. He was behind three or four second-rowers at Saracens, switched to the NFL and within a year was playing downs at tightend for the Jets. Smith’s a good athlete (4.72 40 at 265lb) but no one in rugby would consider him a beast, not when compared to the likes of Nakawara, Retallick, Lawes, Etzebeth, Itoje and Ryan.
Of course there are many freaks in the NFL like Clowney, Watt, Fournette, Hill, Gronk etc, but the likes of Ioane, Healy, Nadolo, Tupou, Kolbe, Savea are every bit their equal
An NFL team made up of Super Rugby's best