fatshark
Player Valuation: £1m
I'd be more worried about what would happen if they started taking rugby union seriously.
I remember some study being done on player conditioning at the 1999 RWC. Supposedly the Yanks had the best conditioned squad - athleticly superior to the All Blacks, Boks, even the Wallabies who won the damn thing.
Of course tactically they were nowhere. But if they started throwing money at the game the way the European leagues have done, or start giving it the sort of focus they started giving "soccer" in the early 90s, we traditional rugby nations are in the poo. They could take college football rejects who are still 6ft5 and sub 11s 100m, ideal rugby material, and offer them the chance to earn a living playing professional sport. Wouldn't be long before they are taken very very seriously.
I remember some study being done on player conditioning at the 1999 RWC. Supposedly the Yanks had the best conditioned squad - athleticly superior to the All Blacks, Boks, even the Wallabies who won the damn thing.
Of course tactically they were nowhere. But if they started throwing money at the game the way the European leagues have done, or start giving it the sort of focus they started giving "soccer" in the early 90s, we traditional rugby nations are in the poo. They could take college football rejects who are still 6ft5 and sub 11s 100m, ideal rugby material, and offer them the chance to earn a living playing professional sport. Wouldn't be long before they are taken very very seriously.
