I remember living overseas and trying to explain to skeptical rugby fans why NFL players wear all that gear (i.e. NFL’ers are poofs compared to rugby players).
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NFL players are generally bigger.
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American football players aren’t in constant motion; it’s a start-stop game of collisions. I’ve certainly seen collisions in tri-nations and other rugby events, but from my anecdotal experience, NFL collisions are often, though not always, more devastating.
Rules changes have eliminated some of the absolute worst collisions – you can’t just lay waste to the QB or a vulnerable WR anymore. But even with these changes, bad things still happen.