Question for the Rugby Players

[edgecrusher]

Hey Guys, I have been reading a little bit about the sport, and was considering getting involved in a league. I enjoy competing, and have always been involved in contact sports, so this seems like it might be something I'd enjoy.

My question is what position would I do best at? I'm about 6'2 and weigh anywhere between 220-240 (depending on bulking or cutting.) With a little speed work, my 40 yard dash, will be back to about a 4.5. I was thinking about one of the center positions, but I would like some recomendations. Thanks

 

[juicescholar]

in my opinion, and this is coming from a forward, of course, if you want to be a center you have to be honest with yourself about your abilities in the following areas.

tackling - are you an instinctive tackler, meaning you are aggressive and keen to hurt someone for no other reason than they are wearing a different color jersey?

ball handling - can you pass off of both hands equally as well (or could you with practice)?

kicking - could you grubber kick or post a highball if necessary?

endurance - are you quick to recover from anaerobic work, or are you more suited for aerobic stuff?

if you are honest with yourself and come to the conclusion that you are not very good at one or two of these things, then you might rather consider backrow. with your size and speed, you could be quite useful at number 6 or 8, depending again on your hands and tackling. as a backrower, as well, you are usually involved in more rucking and close contact work so size matters a lot in those cases.

hope this helps.

 

[edgecrusher]

Cool thanks. As far what your saying, yes I can tackle (quite well.) Ball handling I'm probably a bit shaky on, but who knows it's a different technique then football. Kicking is almost out, I'm good for distance, not accuracy. Endurance w/ a little work, will be no problem.

i was talking to my boss about this earlier today, and he mentioned something about a wing position. Any thoughts on that.

 

[MrDough]

I agree....go for a loose forward with your size
different skills involved...but nothing worse than a back who can't pass

 

[juicescholar]

as for playing wing...that's usually the place we stick people when they have any appreciable speed but have just joined the game and need to learn the rules and the strategy. in all likelihood, the level you'd be playing at would probably be fine for wing at first. but if you wanted to go farther with your rugby, bear two things in mind. first, wings have - despite appearance - absolutely crucial roles and their running lines are unique among all the backs, i.e. a really specialized wing can't play anywhere else. so this limits your ability to try other positions, once you've settled on wing. second, as you go higher with your rugby, as quick as you may be, you will begin to run into guys who are genuinely GAS. to give you an idea, one of the current US wingers, and not even that rated in the world, was the fijian national 400 meter champion. he is unbelievably quick. unless you have great top speed, you will eventually begin to be just run around...which is humiliating, not to mention slightly counterproductive for your team's efforts at winning. go for backrow - don't get stuck out on the wing.