Players
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A maximum of 15 players can play rugby union at any one time whereas rugby league permits 13 players.
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Many of the positions have similar names but in practice are very different. The position known as 'flanker' has no equivalent in rugby league; rugby league centres are split into left and right centre rather than inside and outside centres.
The reduction in the importance of the scrum and the removal of the ruck and line out, from Rugby League has meant the difference in skill sets and body types between different positions has become less obvious where as in union players specialise more. For instance, props and hookers in rugby union tend to be among the physically strongest players with high levels of scrummaging and mauling skills, but (traditionally) with limited speed and ball-handling skills. In rugby league, props and hookers may be no slower or less adept at handling the ball than other players because they are not required to perform the physical aspects of scrummaging or contesting possession after a tackle and subsequently they are not required to perform the specialist skills of their rugby union counterparts where size is an advantage. Similarly, locks in union tend to be very tall, as this helps at lineouts; while this is not a necessity for league second rows and may even be a disadvantage. Scrum-half is also a more specialised position in rugby union: the number 9 initiates most moves by his or her team and must be an excellent passer of the ball, whereas in rugby league it is common for any player acting as 'dummy half' to do so.
The similarity between the two games has meant that players can switch between the two codes. League initially recruited big name players from union, like Herbert "Dally" Messenger in 1907, and the RFU responded by banning any player that played rugby league for life. A push into converting union players to rugby league, such as All Blacks John Gallagher, Frano Botica and Va'aiga Tuigamala, occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. When rugby union became professional league players were allowed to play for rugby union teams, leading to a reversal in crosscode switching. Gallagher, Botica and Tuigamala returned to union and league players such as Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers, Lote Tuqiri, Henry Paul and Iestyn Harris, took up rugby union contracts. Sailor, Rogers, Tuqiri, Paul and Harris have subsequently switched back to rugby league. Players who achieve play international rugby in both codes are known as dual-code internationals.
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of Rugby League And Rugby Union
Famous quotes containing the word players:
“Yeah, percentage players die broke too, don’t they, Bert?”
—Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)
“I do not like football, which I think of as a game in which two tractors approach each other from opposite directions and collide. Besides, I have contempt for a game in which players have to wear so much equipment. Men play basketball in their underwear, which seems just right to me.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)