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Louis Rees-Zammit settles NFL vs rugby athleticism debate, but has one caveat
By Josh Raisey
Former Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has provided his opinion on the age-old debate as to which sport possesses the better athletes out of American football and rugby.
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The American football convert is in London currently ahead of his side Jacksonville Jaguars’ clash with the New England Patriots at Wembley on Sunday, and joined Jim Hamilton for RugbyPass TV’s latest episode of Walk the Talk.
Having originally trained with Super Bowl winners the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Jaguars in August, the 23-year-old has mixed with some of the best athletes the NFL has to offer. Similarly, having played 32 times for Wales and toured with the British and Irish Lions in 2021, he saw the best of what rugby has to offer. Thus, he is well equipped to give his verdict on which sport possesses the better athletes.
When posed the question by Hamilton, 95 kg wide receiver leaned towards his current sport boasting the superior athletes.
“They are freaks,” he said when talking of the players in the NFL, adding “their athleticism is crazy.”
The Welshman did qualify the statement though, stipulating that rugby players have to play a full 80 minutes, which has always been the distinction between the two sports. As a result, he said that an NFL player would not be able to adapt to rugby instantly.
“The only thing I would say is all their work is within three to four seconds, whereas in rugby you’ve got to go the full 80 minutes,” he said.
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“So that would be the only thing I would be like would they be able to just turn up to a rugby game and play it? No, because they wouldn’t have the cardio, wouldn’t have the fitness and maybe they would lose that agility if they had to do all of that stuff.
“For the majority of people, I think they are probably a level ahead of rugby players.”
The former Gloucester wing did add that “there are definitely rugby players that I think could make it in the NFL,” and alluded to the rumoured switch Australia’s Jordan Petaia is poised to make to the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme in the future.
Once Hamilton had revealed Petaia’s name, Rees-Zammit described the Australian as “another player who is a bit of a freak athlete.”
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Zammit mentioned the speed of the nfl. Consider the winners of the Olympic 100 and 200 metre events ... pretty much all top men and women are black ... but more than that they are descendants of slaves in America, Jamaica, UK....
Why is that? It's because they are the survival of the fittest
1. They survived the brutal conditions on the slave ships
2. Then the weak were culled by the harsh working conditions on the plantations
3. The best of the best were bred like race horses creating super humans
This is why black athletes dominate the NBA and NFL - speed and power.
This Michael Johnson documentary says more on this https://youtu.be/oD2pbpibmlg
Most of the players in the NFL are black ... Zammit is up against genetics + lack of experience. Even incredible American white athletes struggle to get a spot
Thanks for the lesson in evolutionary biology. Or Eugenics.
Given that every one of us arrived here alive at the same time off the deaths of billions before us - I think we’re all equally amazing.
An American bar owner in Cebu said that gridiron players hit three times as hard as rugby players. Pointing out that this was physically impossible; they wear protective gear and don't have to play up to 80 minutes straight, exhausting their power and energy, made absolutely zero impression on his assertion. So it must be true!
They hit much harder because they have a helmet and shoulder pads... if you tried to hit like that without pads people would bust their bodies.
Also in the NFL hitting with your shoulder is allowed - as we know in rugby if you do that you will be thrown out of the game.
Thanks be. I can sleep tonight.
Gray has worked behind the scenes in professional sport for decades and is currently the contact and collision skills coach with Toulon – a rugby team in the French Top 14.
He also works in the NFL and has been with a variety of teams, including the Miami Dolphins and, most recently, the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Every single NFL team has got eight or nine of these guys on the roster,” says Gray, referring to Rees-Zammit’s physique and speed. “Although he might stick out in rugby union, there’s 50 Louis Rees-Zammits in the NFL that can move quick and at speed.”
Even if he gets picked by an NFL team, “Rees-Lightning” will have to stand out among what Gray describes as “freakish athletes,” players who have years of knowledge and experience over the Welshman.
“Football is human chess played at 100 miles an hour,” outlines Gray, suggesting that Rees-Zammit might have his work cut out for him if he is to become an NFL grandmaster.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/21/sport/louis-rees-zammit-rugby-nfl-spt-intl
Thanks BS. You summed up my feelings in six simple words. Who gives a continental **** what he thinks? What we really want to hear is what NFL supporters would think if they watched 80+ minutes of full-on running rugby union, compared to four boring hours of American 'football', the only game where it's best to watch the highlights afterwards rather than do it live, either on TV or at the ground.