Jeremy Clarkson- "Rugby is a bit like American football, except it's played by men."

The lack of protective equipment encourages correct tackling techniques , whereas NFL pads and helmets seem to lull players into a sense of security. That's my opinion.

Football is 90 minutes pretending you're hurt. Rugby is 80 minutes pretending you aren't.

Football (Soccer) is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans' game played by gentlemen" - Winston Churchill

I'm from Fiji, and rugby is our national sport. Played from class 1 all the way through university and into club level (6yrs old - 32yrs old). it's a brotherhood, we go to war on the rugby field, but when the games over we get together, have a beer or two in friendship and mutual respect. The only sport played in heaven

Noticed her asking twice: "why is no one defending him?", "where was the defense?". In rugby you're not allowed to obstruct the defending team from tackling the player with the ball. The player with the ball has to defend themselves or pass the ball before they get tackled.

They are NOT helmets, they are called scrum caps and made out of thin high density foam (about 5mm). They do not do anything form impact, they are to stop ears getting wrecked in the scrum.

This is why we laugh when we hear people say NFL is brutal. They play in ten seconds bursts for one team of offence, defence or special. Rugby players play for two forty minutes halves so eighty minutes continual play with no protection apart from a few use a scrum cap to protect their ears.

“These guys have nothing” That’s not true, we have gum shields.

The lack of protective gear isn't the worst thing about it, it's the best thing about it.

My grandfather played rugby internationally, we all played it at school in the UK.

Rugby is a gentleman's game. only protection you need a mouth guard and sometimes a scrum cap so your ears dont get ripped off

rugby 101 1. you can only pass backwards 2. you can kick but whoever catches it on your teams needs to have been behind you when you kicked it. 3. when you score its called a try and when you kick a “field goal” its a conversion from the try or from a penalty you can kick. 4. 15 men on both sides 5. A scrum cap is a soft padded cap that some players wear. 6. Rugby players usually play with gum guards to protect teeth. 7. No additional padding is needed due to the tackling techniques, tackle above the breast bone is a high tackle and you could get sent off and receive match bans. thats like the basics of rugby. Make sure to check out the most feared rugby team video which is the Springboks! you would love it!!!

This is why we call American Football, Rugby with armour.

As my old PE teacher used to say, it's a man's game get up. 😂😂😂😂

Our kids in England play rugby in secondary school which is 11 years old, my daughter has been playing for 3 years she's now 14, most of them love it, they have competitions with other school too so it gets rough.

the problem with AF is that you give player helmets, heaps of padding etc. (gives people the illusion of having armor & hitting people harder and using your head). tackling is all about where you put your head / technique. Rugby players are good friend after the game as what happens on the field stays on the field (no ill will towards other team).

"Thick socks" lol gold, yeah Rugby is international, like cricket we all love it! G'day from Australia :)

Hay guys so I am from South Africa and this is our number one sport. So even though there is a lack of protective gear. There are many tackling rule and when these rules are followed, players are strictly penalized with either a yellow card, which is a 10min sin bin sit, which means the team plays with 1 less player for 10 min or a red card, which means the teams looses a player for the rest of the game. Alternatively, if the infringement is not as serious the ball will be given to the opposing team. But the most important tackling rules are not spear tackles and no tackle higher than shoulders. these are seen as dangerous tackles. There are also rules about if the tackle is in the air, players must ensure that the player in the air is safely set down on the ground and not dropped. The "helmets" are more like hats, it really just keeps the players' ears flat and stops the ear from forming "cauliflower ear'.

Football is called football because the players have to use their feet to play the game. American football is a game of catch. The difference between American football and rugby union, rugby league[a different game] and AFL[Aussie Rules] is that they are actually played by men.

Love to hear an American agree with the absurdity that is Football/Soccer. The funniest thing about american sport is the World Series, yet only Americans play in it 😂

They learn to tackle properly from an early age so they don't get the injurys. Do wear mouth guards, but that's it. Watch some world cup highlights, amazing games.

I live in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 and this is our national sport. In my decades of playing rugby I’ve fractured both collar bones, a few slipped discs in my neck from having my head the wrong side in a tackle, my back is badly damaged from Scrummaging and a load of badly damaged nerves and tendons from my neck to my biceps. I used to play NFL during my injury recovery just to keep moving!

I've never been into rugby but the headmaster of my middle school (in England) was. He practically banned football (i.e soccer). It was usually what we did in PE, especially in bad weather. Torrential rain, even snow and rock hard ground. I was small but very fast and agile with a low center of gravity. Scored a few tries but when I got tackled, I was either knocked into the next field or smeared across the turf. 😂 I was 8-11 years old at this time, a long time ago. My abiding memories of it are burning lungs, bruises and bleeding grazes, concussions, and being covered head to toe in mud. Mud and blood might sum it up. I kinda dreaded it. But I can't deny there was a tremendous sense of pride, achievement and camaraderie as we limped back to the changing rooms to compare wounds in the shower. 😅

I think its wise that Americans stick to playing sports that only they play really, American football, Baseball, Basketball. That way when they win at those sports they can call themselves "World Champions" without ever playing against other countries. So, kudos for that.

If you're familiar with American football, you'll (mostly) get rugby with a few pieces of information... (this is how I explained it to my buddies when I lived on your side of the pond) You know those word games where you have to get from one word to another changing one letter at a time? Whell here we go from football to rugby. 1: Forget the football passing game. If the ball is going forwards it must be in your hands or off your foot. The ball going forward through the air off your hands is not allowed. Rugby is a rushing and kicking game. All passes must be back or lateral. 2: Take your offensive, defensive and special teams and pick ONE team from all those guys that stays on the field for the whole game. A rugby player has to do it all (although there is usually ONE player on the team that is the best place-kicker on the squad, they take all the set-piece kicks while playing all the other roles the rtest of the time) 3: you want a "touchdown" (in rugby it's called a try) then TOUCH IT DOWN. The ball has to touch the ground in the end zone under positive control of the player touching it down. hand/ball/ground, all in contact. Or it doesn't count. 4: Do not block. You'll be penalised for obstruction. Your coach will have your ass for lunch. You get to hit the guy WITH THE BALL. If he offloads it while you're in mid-tackle thats ok, but deliberately targeting a player who doesn't have the ball will have the referee in your face. 5: Now, take your pads and helmet off. You can keep your mouthguard. You see some maori brick shithouse that's four times your size steaming down the field with the ball under his arm and you gotta know that hitting him is gonna hurt. Get your tackle technique right and it doesn't matter how big he is, he's eating dirt. But dont expect it to be painless. Go get him. 6: Forget "downs" - if the ball goes down in rugby, it's still in play. DO NOT STOP unless the referee whistles or the lineman's flag goes up saying it went out of bounds. Step out on a rugby pitch and expect to be playing for 80 minutes, with 15 minutes break at half time. There's a lot more to rugby than that - I played through school and college and it's the reason I'm missing so many teeth (yes I WAS wearing a mouthguard) and have rivets in my left forearm (the forearm was the career-ending injury.) but with these six things, somebody who knows and understands American football can watch a rugby match and mostly get it :)

Ive lived in North America for 2 years and i find it crazy that Americans dont know much about rugby and yet American Football comes from rugby. Not only that, the amount of athletes the US has would make them a pretty strong nation if the people knew more about it. Great reaction guys

They do show rugby on TV! Major League Rugby is in it's 7th(? I think) season now. Check it out, there are teams all across the US playing professionally :)

Watch Jonah Lomu , he’s possibly the best rugby player ever He was a New Zealand international who unfortunately was taken from us too soon and check out the Haka while your at it

In the UK the average professional salary ranges between £150,000 - £180,000 per year

No pads because we are tougher and have free health care 😂

That guy in the beginning that is being checked out by the medical staff and then stands and makes a BEASTLY tackle still amazes me

You can see how they got the idea for American football.

Woman play rugby as well . They are just as rough as the men's game.

As a rugby-mad New Zealander, I love seeing Americans getting into rugby. It can only strengthen our game globally!

You guys have a professional Rugby comp in the US called the MLR. I couldn't tell you all the cities in the states that have teams. If you would like to attend a match that's probably the highest quality you will get in your country outside of International sides playing 1 off test matches. New Zealand vs Fiji I believe is getting played on July 19th in San Diego this year for example. That will be a good open running game I'd expect.

The hats that some choose to wear are to stop ears getting torn off during a part of the game called the 'scrum'

Mouth guards yes! You'll see some soft skull caps to protect your ears from getting ripped off!!!! All the armour is muscle

I'm from NZ and like Fiji "rugby football" is also our national sport, we also play from the age of 5yrs, good old "school of hard knocks". We had one player Buck Shelford, have his scrotum ripped, he went to the sidelines, had it stitched up so he could continue playing

'I'd be screaming the whole time!' Lol 😂

The scrum cap is to prevent or ease cauliflower ear. Google the term and you find pictures where the outside of the ear is all lumpy like the top side of a cauliflower.

In Premiership Rugby, the top tier of the English club game, the average salary of a senior player is £171,187. Fly-halves earn, on average, £175,679 a year, making them the best paid players on the pitch. Meanwhile, centres earn around £167,779, while locks can expect to take home £158,617 a year for their efforts.12 Feb 2023

The fact you appreciate the sport and heavy metal is a plus in my books. Rock on and massive respect to you both 🤘I also played rugby…ended up with concussion and dislocated shoulder

In earlier years a group of kids were playing a game of soccer when one of the players grabbed the ball and ran with it, he was then tackled by the rest. It happened in an English town called Rugby. So the new game was started....

Ill never get bored of listening to Americans getting stuck on repeat! "they've got no pads!"

G'day from NZ 🇳🇿,we call it soccer in NZ and Australia as well.cheers👍

I used to play Rugby Union for my school. I used to be a Scrum Half, and those scrums (Scrimmage for you) are like Stags Rutting (smashing into each other). Just pure muscle, adrenaline, bravery

The term "Soccer" also came from England, it was posh slang for "Association Football" and was commonly used in the UK alongside "Football" until the 1970s.

You watched a combination of two different games, Rugby Union, and Rugby League. Rugby Union is usually referred to as Rugby, while Rugby League is usually[but not always] referred to as League. Two different games.

Football goes back to 1314. America wasnt discovered until 1492! Can we just all agree the we 🇬🇧 play football and you 🇺🇲 play american football! Anyway, welcome to rugby ✌🏼

“Soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligans' game played by gentlemen.” Winston Churchill,

The forwards often wear head gear because they're at the front of the scrum where heads are banging together, and at the bottom of rucks and front of driving phases.

There a sport called "football" which was played in Britain in the 16-19th centuries. It was called "Football" not because you kicked the ball, but because it was played on foot, instead of on a horse. Each town, village and school all had their own rules. In the 1800s two groups tried to unify the rules, One called "Association Football", the other called "Rugby Football". Both still football. Association Football became known as Soccer for short. It was originally the English word for the sport and only went out of fashion in England about 40 years ago, which is why Australia, New Zealand, USA & Canada still call it soccer. So the US is not wrong to call it such. Rugby was also called football and American Gridiron split off from Rugby very early which is why it is called American Football. Britain eventually stopped calling Rugby "Football", but New Zealand still does. And Australia still calls the other Rugby spin-off "League" by that name. So TLDR, the USA is not wrong in using the name Soccer for Association Football, as it was a name originally coined by the British for the sport. Nor is it wrong in referring to American Football as "football" as a) the name football has nothing to do with kicking, but to do with playing on foot, and b) American Football is a descendent of the original Football sports.

Got 3 titanium plates in my jaw from playing this game. Wouldn't change anything I had the time of my life. The friendship and bonds I made were worth more than momentary pain.

It's probably mentioned already, but American Football was a spinoff of rugby from the late 1800's, early 1900's that was originally called "Gridiron", and is still reasonably commonly called that outside the US.

My son played Rugby from the age of 8 till 20.He is a big boy (6ft,18 stone) and he still got Concussion many times. Rugby players Always respect the Ref (unlike football) And Never Argue with him.How many times me and his mom have had to look away when he goes down is Scary, But the Ref,Managers,First Aiders are on the Ball and never let a player back on if they think they are to hurt.Made him a Man and a Team Player.🇬🇧👏

It’s worth pointing out that a lot of the tackles shown here are illegal and would result in the offending player being sent off.

1:58 That's what makes it fun as a popular South African sport, We do still wear teeth gaurds😂

Rugby was created in an English Public School in 1823. It was originally called the Wall Game, and had few rules.

You'd probably enjoy reacting to some of Jim Telfer's rugby pre-game motivation. Rugby is names after a town in England called Rugby, the oldest international game is between England and Scotland (Scotland won). But most ex colony countries play it, while there is rivalry within Europe (the 6 Nations Championship), it's mostly a divide between the north and south hemisphere. They've won every wold cup apart from 2003 when England won it. But all the others have been New Zealand (The All Blacks), South Africa (Springboks) and Australia. Every 4 years Great Britain and Ireland combine their internation teams (England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland) to go on a tour of one of those countries as The British and Irish Lions. A lot of history but some great matches and clips.

From South Africa here, there are laws surrounding kicking and different types of kicks, but not necessarily any laws regarding when you can or can't kick the ball, the ball can be kicked at any point throughout the game and is really the only way you can "pass" the ball forward is by kicking.

When i was in the UK military (RAF) i worked for may years at a JSU where we had Americans also stationed. whenever a new batch came over the pond we would encourage them to come play rugby, if they were not broken on the pitch they were broken in the bar afterwards LOL..... @6.30 they aint helmets, they are scrum caps, mainly to help preserve ears rather than brain cells :)

The players you saw with a "helmet" was wearing what is called a "scrum cap". This is designed to protect the players ears when they are in a "Scrum". I would try to explain what a scrum is but if you can find examples on the Internet it would be easier to understand!

england women just won the grand slam put the men to shame

We played rugby at school in the uk. I was a skinny kid. I remember going to tackle someone and missing, and as he ran away, his boots kicking me in the teeth. Then another big guy ran into me, and as I bounced off him, it felt like my skeleton had shattered. I decided there and then rugby wasn’t for me

Helmets cause more concussions. A concussion occurs when your brain bounces back and forth in your skull on impact. Helmets prevent cuts, superficial injuries etc but also lead to harder hits using your head as a weapon. It's like in boxing. You can cause the other guy way more damage using gloves. You get a lot more bloody faces in bare knuckle boxing but you are much more likely to break your own hand by hitting full force without protection.

Good previous comment. There was a fantastic documentary from the mid 90s (narrated, I think, by the short actor Ed Asner - who starred in the US legal drama Lou Grant) about how protective gear, particularly the helmet, was CAUSING injuries in American Football. I've never been able to refind this documentary.

I've been in a and e after a rugby match. It was carnage. Lost teeth, ears hanging off, broken noses, bulging eye's. Every one of them were smiling and laughing. Both teams.

The first person to invent Rugby was William Webb Ellis, who basically was playing football (soccer) when he picked up the ball and started running with it. And thus, Rugby was born. This is a very in a nutshell explanation for it, but it is true.

Maybe you don't know that American Football was born from Rugby (1823). By the late 19th century, rugby was being played in North America, but it seemed that some adjustments were needed to make it the perfect sport for Americans. Walter Camp was the pioneer of this change: he was a student at Yale University, where rugby was quite popular. He graduated in 1891, and the following year Camp had already begun his battle, proposing some drastic changes, which are still part of the game today: the downs system, the snap back from the center, the points system, the safety and the offensive lines. Today all vital parts within a game.

In rugby you need to wear a gum shield and you get a choice to wear a scrum cap. A bit of padding around your head, mainly players choice this to protect their ears from becoming cauliflowered

The guy you seen near the end with the long hair and beard was one of the most feared and wildest players in rugby, it would take to long to tell you how it works but safe to say never say that rugby is a mix of football no rugby man will have football and rugby in the same sentence

There is a very valid argument that the 'safety gear' our athletes wear lead to more injuries than not. For example, no professional boxer ever died in the ring UNTIL gloves were introduced. They allow you to hit harder... much like the pads in American Football

Mens game. Adrenaline, controlled agression, skill, fitness. You can feel you heart pumping just from watching it.

Hi guys......thanks for the video. Glad to seeing you enjoy the best game in the world! 😊🇬🇧

Look how you said “ Uou could break something “ you looked thrilled.

I love how at 1:44 no one realizes the dude is getting his head checked because he's split it open and then proceeds to tackle someone

Passing backwards will be the NFL's version of 3 points in NBA. There will be an era where passing it back is a great strategy and everyone will do it.

We wear gumshields to stop teeth being knocked out and scrum caps or tape to stop ears from being torn off. That is all.

I'll address a few questions: Rugby has some strict rules around contact. Some (very few) of the clips you see here would constitute illegal contact, usually a tackle above the shoulders or a tackle with no attempt to control the player. You have to attempt to wrap your arms around the opponent and make sure the guy you are tackling goes down "safely" i.e. you can't just hit him with your shoulder and let him fall upside-down on his head. Also, the ball is still in play after the tackle is made, so both players are still contesting for the ball after the hit. Modern rugby players will sometimes wear small pads on their shoulders and sometimes a "scrum cam" (small, padded head protection you can see on some clips. Additionally, the ball must be at the front of play, so if the ball is behind you (based on your team's direction of play on the field) you cannot interfere with play, so you cannot hit somebody from behind. The protection in NFL style football is necessary due to the difference in ruleset. i.e. you can hit somebody from any direction with no regard for their safety. Most of the tackled in NFL would be illegal in a game of rugby due to lack of technique.

I was in a school rugby game many many years ago....the corners of the field and the halfway point had wooden poles in the ground . 1 of the opposition pushed 1 of our team into the wooden pole and it snapped and went straight through his leg and out the other side. After he left in an ambulance to get the pole surgically removed we continued the game we won and we nailed the guy who did our team mate in.

I played this in school, boys game options was rugby or rugby, it toughened us all up. Yes we played the same sets of rules as international rugby and got hit hard and got injured occasionally, you just shrugged it off and ready to re-join the action. We had teachers who had retired from rugby and they joined in and tackled hard and we loved playing even the end of the year match against teachers. But we all knew who was in charge the referee, what the referee said, went no arguing or disputing a decision which taught us discipline.

Ive played rugby all through school loved every minute of it! Go bokke!!!! 💪🇿🇦

Think about this guy: 131 wins 15 loses 2 draws. Of those, 97 wins as captain. Anyone who knows rugby knows who I'm talking about: Richie McCaw - Captain of the All Blacks (New Zealand) from 2006 - 2015.

Nice reaction guys! You should deffo check out more rugby, there are two main types, Rugby Union is the most popular globally and then there is also Rugby League. The head pads/Helmets you saw are purely for protecting ears and the players do wear mouth guards! :)

My hubby played rugby for years it was always hard to watch but the bar after the game was fabulous 🤣🤣🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Yeah we all had to play it at school. I was bad at most sports because I was big boned as a kid but that made it more fun when it came to tackling :D. It can hurt, but the worst part was jumping and falling on a frozen pitch all chewed up by rugby boots.

I was 13 years old and basically 6ft tall. My middleschool's Rugby coach was begging me to play (Early years of Secondary for everyone who knows what that is, I'm not from US). I wasn't interested. A few weeks later, the season had just begun, it was lunch time, there was slight rain and it had rained heavily earlier in the day. Our senior Rugby team came from a match, almost everyone was covered in mud, cuts and bruises. One of the players were in a hospital suffering from a concussion. It was straight out of a movie, like the little kid seeing the hero and wanting to be one too. Welp it has been about 6 years since then, multiple awards and many injuries, I no longer play (I did 3 and 1/2 years until Covid ruined our season and many people were too old for our league so our team was shut down) but when I think back to my Highschool days I felt absolutely honoured to play with some of the best at our age. From not having a clue to how the game worked to teaching the new team that launched when I was in my final year and there was no one else who had similar experience. I remember the feeling of getting my first tackle, my first scrum, my first concussion (I luckily only had one, I was bigger than most so I didn't suffer any bad injuries). I unfortunately never got a try but I got a large amount of assists/stops. I remember standing on our School's pitch, a light breeze, clouds in the sky and seeing our team training in front of our school building. I will never forget it.

Rugby football was invented in Britain by a football player fed up with using just the feet so one day he picked up the ball and ran. The birth of the greatest game on the planet.

I played rugby for many years had a great time, I had anger issues and behaviour issues and rugby helped me become more disciplined.

This compilation is predominantly Rugby Union. At 3:03 where you said “Can he do that?” Is Rugby League. There are two forms or Rugby, Rugby Union and Rugby League. Even though the premise is the same there are a few differences between the two games. Rugby League is the game closest to American Football/Grid Iron as in Rugby League you have a limited number of attempts/tackles to get the ball across your opponents end zone. Whereas in Rugby Union they play phases which continue until there is a mistake or an indiscretion in play. The game of Soccer was originally called Association Football. Soccer is the shortened form of this word.

What happens in a scrum is truly horrific. People can and have died in a scrummage. What a dainty sport 😂

Those "helmets" you saw are scrum caps, the padding are made out of packed a foam rubber material,and they're mainly used to protect the ears of the player using them.

Rugby is brilliant - glad you enjoyed it so much. Get across to us in Scotland and we'll take you to some live games!

Randomly found this video. Im in Scotland, we have two pro rugby teams and do pretty well internationally. Loved your honest assessment on Soccer vs American Football. American Football should definitely be called something else 😂

We played rugby in the army and I was in the guerilla forces in Finland. Our commanders just said that if you don't win you will not get to go to a weekend leave. So we won always. There was some blood.

Great reaction - Rugby is a real mans sport for sure

You understand better what happens on a rugby field when you know that the first thing you learn is to absorb shocks, to fall, to protect yourself from tackles. Then you learn how to properly tackle an opponent. The players respect these rules because they know that if they do not respect them, the other, opposite, will not respect them either and that hurts!

"He looks crazy" : he's Sebastien Chabal, feared throughout the world, even by the strongest team (the All Blacks from New Zealand). He's a gladiator.

One of those clips was Rugby League, State of Origin which is played in Australia