Louis Rees-Zammit settles NFL vs rugby athleticism debate, but has one caveat

Former Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has provided his opinion on the age-old debate as to which sport possesses the better athletes out of American football and rugby.

The American football convert is in London currently ahead of his side Jacksonville Jaguars’ clash with the New England Patriots at Wembley on Sunday, and joined Jim Hamilton for RugbyPass TV’s latest episode of Walk the Talk.

Having originally trained with Super Bowl winners the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Jaguars in August, the 23-year-old has mixed with some of the best athletes the NFL has to offer. Similarly, having played 32 times for Wales and toured with the British and Irish Lions in 2021, he saw the best of what rugby has to offer. Thus, he is well equipped to give his verdict on which sport possesses the better athletes.

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When posed the question by Hamilton, 95 kg wide receiver leaned towards his current sport boasting the superior athletes.

“They are freaks,” he said when talking of the players in the NFL, adding “their athleticism is crazy.”

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The Welshman did qualify the statement though, stipulating that rugby players have to play a full 80 minutes, which has always been the distinction between the two sports. As a result, he said that an NFL player would not be able to adapt to rugby instantly.

“The only thing I would say is all their work is within three to four seconds, whereas in rugby you’ve got to go the full 80 minutes,” he said.

“So that would be the only thing I would be like would they be able to just turn up to a rugby game and play it? No, because they wouldn’t have the cardio, wouldn’t have the fitness and maybe they would lose that agility if they had to do all of that stuff.

“For the majority of people, I think they are probably a level ahead of rugby players.”

The former Gloucester wing did add that “there are definitely rugby players that I think could make it in the NFL,” and alluded to the rumoured switch Australia’s Jordan Petaia is poised to make to the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme in the future. 

Once Hamilton had revealed Petaia’s name, Rees-Zammit described the Australian as “another player who is a bit of a freak athlete.”

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