The success of League players in Rugby Union

[USARugger]

It must be extremely hard to get a 'new' sport off the ground. So *my* school decides to start a rugby team which is all well and good. Who the hell do you play tho?

Chicken and egg thing.

This is only an actual problem is some isolated parts of the country.

You would register your club with USAR, bid to enter your local conference at whatever division level would be most appropriate (usually based loosely around traditional college conferences - that is changing, though) and you play the teams in your division within your conference.

I read somewhere (here no doubt) that gridiron (is that it's official title? over here there is sometimes problems if you call football soccer haha) is actually an offshoot of union. That kinda raised my eyebrows a bit, it is a bit hard to see the lineage if true. If true, how did that all come about?

It's Football here and the British invented the word soccer anyway.

It is an offshoot of Rugby Union - as is Basketball.

"Across the pond from the birthplace of rugby, the game was first played in 1874 when Harvard and McGill University of Canada competed in a football-type game. Rugby was a popular sport in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. James Naismith, who created basketball, was a rugby player. Actor Boris Karloff had been an exceptional rugby player in Hungary and founded a rugby league in Southern California after he moved to Hollywood. The US, believe it or not, owns two of the four Olympic gold medals ever awarded in Rugby (1920 and 1924)."

http://www.sportsknowhow.com/rugby/history/rugby-history-3.shtml

"The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or run over a line.
American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, a Yale graduate and considered to be the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules.[1][2][3] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of college football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_football

It's gotta be better than talking about league surely?

I like the way you think, mate.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Lomu, Izzy and Savea are too tall to play RB on anything other than a Wildcat formation or some other "trick" play.

Izzy would be one of the best tight ends in the NFL if he could learn how to block even a little - he'd be a devastating receiver in general.

I think Savea might be even more successful there -- he's got the size and would be more useful on the line. Also maybe someone like Brad Thorn back at his peak. You could see him as a blocking tight end who's taught how to catch, not a receiver who's taught how to block.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Off the top of my head - Digby would have been pretty good, JOC (James O'Connor) too (after he bulked up).

And Hosea Gear. Maybe Bryan Habana.

 

[Dctarget]

It's growing at a pretty rapid pace and has been since mid 2006-2007 I'd say. Things absolutely picked up after the 2011 World Cup - sitting down and watching the matches with my college side was awesome.

On the national level there are multiple schools every year now that are converting from club to full varsity programs with dedicated paid coaching, trainers, facilities and even scholarships. Even more encouraging, this is happening both at small private and (to a somewhat lesser degree - but once the model is proven by smaller schools I expect this to change) big public universities as well.

I have a few friends who are going over to the US on rowing and basketball scholarships, have you heard of any universities being at all interested in offering rugby scholarships?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I have a few friends who are going over to the US on rowing and basketball scholarships, have you heard of any universities being at all interested in offering rugby scholarships?

There are a few. Wheeling Jesuit, Lindenwood, Central Washington there are a growing number more.

 

[Pfitzy]

Pretty big in Utah among the Mormon colleges innit?

 

[USARugger]

Pretty big in Utah among the Mormon colleges innit?

Yeah, they have a huge Pacific Islander contingent as well which feeds them some pretty great players with shocking regularity.

Utah (State University) has fallen from grace over the past few years but BYU (Brigham Young University) are one of the best teams in this country, at any level and one of a handful I would back against a Premier Grade club side.

Here's a highlight reel from their clash with CAL last year:

 

[tranquility]

Very impressive.

They should come out on tour and play different club sides around the country, or another continent for that matter. Learn about the culture of rugby clubs in different countries as much as anything else.

I found that the coaches name is David Smyth. Does anyone know his rugby backround? Could be a person of interest for the national setup.

 

[wamberal]

I thought I read somewhere that the University of Hawaii also has a rugby programme?

 

[mxyzptlk]

Yeah, they have a huge Pacific Islander contingent as well which feeds them some pretty great players with shocking regularity.

Utah (State University) has fallen from grace over the past few years but BYU (Brigham Young University) are one of the best teams in this country, at any level and one of a handful I would back against a Premier Grade club side.

University of Utah too, apparently. They just produced Thretton Palamo, who was picked up by the Saracens last week. He also played running back for their football team (although I don't know if he saw any game time).

 

[USARugger]

University of Utah too, apparently. They just produced Thretton Palamo, who was picked up by the Saracens last week. He also played running back for their football team (although I don't know if he saw any game time).

Yup that's the 'Utah' I was referring to! Thretton just got back into the Eagles setup as well. He's a very talented player and hopefully his new job with Saracens goes better than his stint with Biarritz did when he was 17-18.

They had another pretty special guy playing 9 a few years ago, Don Pati - but he's sort of gone into the wilderness since college.

 

[Spieber]

Rabbitohs Ben Te'o to join Kane Douglas at Leinster.
http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/members...ason_s_end.html?camefrom=EMCL_361545_16544039

 

[JSRF10]

Terrible signing for Leinster, it hasn't gone down well with the fans. Joining mid season won't help him either he'll need to completely change his approach of contact with ball in hand and learn that high tackles in union actually can results in red cards and not a cop out of "on report"

 

[TOCC]

So 3 representative forwards including the 2 best forwards in the game are swapping over at years end.

They may not be swapping to Australian Rugby but it'll help the profile of the game in Australia if and when these guys come back with their respective international teams.

The potential of Karmichael Hunt, Sam Burgess, Sonny Bill-Williams and Israel Folau been involved at the 2015 RWC would have been an unlikely proposition a few years ago.

 

[p.Tah]

Terrible signing for Leinster, it hasn't gone down well with the fans.

Do they know who he is? He is quite a talented, despite his tackling deficiencies.

 

[JSRF10]

They've a fair idea of what he is about. Some of the comments are more about the coaches love of loig players he went all out for Lote Tuqiri last season and moaned when the IRFU wouldn't let him sign him permanently.

Although in fairness to him there is probably a lot of judgements being made off youtube. Which I'm guilty of too I have to admit

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk

 

[p.Tah]

Te'o is probably in a good situation. No expectations, probably disliked. He can only go up. I think he'll surprise. Score a few brilliant tries and become a fan favourite. He's been in a bad spot for a while. I hope he finds his game and enjoys himself.

 

[TOCC]

My organisation has worked with the Rabbitoh's quite a bit, and whilst I'm aware of the media reports on him, from what I witnessed he is a hard trainer, well liked amongst his peers and was pretty intelligent..

 

[Tom Ando]

It's growing at a pretty rapid pace and has been since mid 2006-2007 I'd say. Things absolutely picked up after the 2011 World Cup - sitting down and watching the matches with my college side was awesome.

On the national level there are multiple schools every year now that are converting from club to full varsity programs with dedicated paid coaching, trainers, facilities and even scholarships. Even more encouraging, this is happening both at small private and (to a somewhat lesser degree - but once the model is proven by smaller schools I expect this to change) big public universities as well.

It's growing rapidly at the grassroots level as well which is extremely encouraging. My 14 year old brother is actually going to start playing in the Fall - bugger got the good genes and is a bit of a beanpole but is already 6'2" - I told him to say he wants to play #8



Hoiles is probably too tall for RB as well at 6'3". For reference there's usually only 2-3 RBs in the Top 10 each year that are over 6' - most of those guys are still only 6'1" and sometimes 6'2". The taller guys like Matt Forte are sometimes used in a role that mixes looks in terms of them playing receiver on one down and then RB the next one, etc.

I didn't think of Hooper earlier but with his aggression, speed of the mark, step, top speed, ability to dominate contact and his build..he'd be an absolute dynamo at RB.

I really appreciate all that mate thanks! I'm trying to get a scholarship to go play in the States for a year or even play 7's if i can only get 6 months. The program at Life University looks incredible along with Penn State, Arkansas State and St Mary's Cal. They've always said that the US is the sleeping giant of world Rugby. If it really picks up over there, they could quite well becoming world champion contenders!

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

There are a few. Wheeling Jesuit, Lindenwood, Central Washington there are a growing number more.

Army have just gone Varsity in the last month or so.