Just some ribs

For all those who think that football players are the toughest athletes, I now have first hand knowledge of how such thinking is false. I went to a semi-professional rugby match earlier today (London Welsh vs. Bedford Blues) and hands down the towering men I saw on the pitch were the toughest athletes I've ever seen! At one point during the match, a player for London got annihilated and as he was walking off the field a fan asked how badly he was hurt. The players response, "Just some ribs." And he was being serious! This guy literally broke some ribs moments earlier and thought nothing of it! It was at this moment that I knew I would have never made a very good rugby player because I actually care about my bones and internal organs.

I had never watched a rugby match before today so I don't understand any of the intricacies of the game, but my general understanding of the game is essentially one big game of keep away. The best analogy I can think of for rugby is comparing it to a kickoff in football where the receiving team must score. Essentially for two 40 minute halves 30 huge guys (15 per team) are trying to get a ball into the endzone. While this sounds alot like football, there are several significant differences. One being there are no forward passes and another being you are not supposed block in the same manner that football players block. All and all watching the game was a great experience; however, with that said I'm not sure how into rugby I could ever get. Mainly because the game seems much more hectic and disorganized than any of the major sports back home.