Buffalo716 Posted August 3 Posted August 3 (edited) 16 hours ago, GunnerBill said: He was not a rugby phenom. He was an amateur rugby player. He is a hugely athletic massive man. He has tried about 5 sports without finding a place to harness that. Rugby didn't work out. Maybe football will. But I wouldn't use his short amateur rugby career as a sign of anything. You're true but realistically there's not many men who have the athletic ability to go through three or four sports at a higher level than high School You act like even 8th tier rugby league wouldn't beat the s*** out of most regular Joe's lol Then you take the boxing and rowing That's a lot of functional athleticism... Most people aren't cut out for high school sports let alone being able to try three four or five at a adult level Do I think he'll probably ever amount to anything? No Is he absolutely an athletic specimen for his size, yes But I bet if this guy just showed up at your local rugby pitch he would still run roughshod on 98% of Joe's lol Edited August 3 by Buffalo716 Quote
GunnerBill Posted August 3 Posted August 3 6 hours ago, Buffalo716 said: You're true but realistically there's not many men who have the athletic ability to go through three or four sports at a higher level than high School You act like even 8th tier rugby league wouldn't beat the s*** out of most regular Joe's lol Then you take the boxing and rowing That's a lot of functional athleticism... Most people aren't cut out for high school sports let alone being able to try three four or five at a adult level Do I think he'll probably ever amount to anything? No Is he absolutely an athletic specimen for his size, yes But I bet if this guy just showed up at your local rugby pitch he would still run roughshod on 98% of Joe's lol For a start he played Rugby Union, not Rugby League. Secondly 8th tier Rugby Union makes it sound like there are 7 leagues above it and he was playing in the 8th best league in the UK. He wasn't. We have 38 pro clubs across three national leagues (although while many of the clubs in tier 3 are "professional" the majority of their players are semi-pro). Then tiers 4 and 5 are semi-pro and contain 3 regional structures, each of 38 clubs. Tier 6 is the top tier of amateur rugby with 144 clubs playing in regional competition across the UK. Tier 7 is then your county leagues - well over 200 teams nationally playing only against teams from their own area. That is still a level above where Clayton played in the second division of the Hampshire League. That is very literally a league for your "average Joes" who like Clayton did, work run of the mill office jobs or stacking supermarket shelves all week and then enjoy running around the rugby field smashing into people for 80 minutes on a weekend. Clayton played one season at that level and didn't dominate. He was big and fast but not much of a rugby player. For comparison I played one season of 6th tier soccer which is inordinately higher standard and more competitive than 8th tier Rugby Union. There is no comparison. Even the 4 years I played of 8th and 9th tier soccer were of a superior standard to a season in Rugby Union's 8th tier. I am most definitely an average joe! None of that is to dispute that Clayton is a rare athlete. He ran a 12 second 100 meters aged 15 and you just don't find that freakish combination of speed and size very often. But he has tried soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis without finding a sport where he can channel that natural athleticism. Maybe football is the one for him, I certainly hope so, but when people refer to him as a rugby star... or even a rugby player it just isn't really true. He was a supermarket shelf stacker who played a bit of rugby at the weekend. 1 Quote
Buffalo716 Posted August 3 Posted August 3 (edited) 22 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: For a start he played Rugby Union, not Rugby League. Secondly 8th tier Rugby Union makes it sound like there are 7 leagues above it and he was playing in the 8th best league in the UK. He wasn't. We have 38 pro clubs across three national leagues (although while many of the clubs in tier 3 are "professional" the majority of their players are semi-pro). Then tiers 4 and 5 are semi-pro and contain 3 regional structures, each of 38 clubs. Tier 6 is the top tier of amateur rugby with 144 clubs playing in regional competition across the UK. Tier 7 is then your county leagues - well over 200 teams nationally playing only against teams from their own area. That is still a level above where Clayton played in the second division of the Hampshire League. That is very literally a league for your "average Joes" who like Clayton did, work run of the mill office jobs or stacking supermarket shelves all week and then enjoy running around the rugby field smashing into people for 80 minutes on a weekend. Clayton played one season at that level and didn't dominate. He was big and fast but not much of a rugby player. For comparison I played one season of 6th tier soccer which is inordinately higher standard and more competitive than 8th tier Rugby Union. There is no comparison. Even the 4 years I played of 8th and 9th tier soccer were of a superior standard to a season in Rugby Union's 8th tier. I am most definitely an average joe! None of that is to dispute that Clayton is a rare athlete. He ran a 12 second 100 meters aged 15 and you just don't find that freakish combination of speed and size very often. But he has tried soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis without finding a sport where he can channel that natural athleticism. Maybe football is the one for him, I certainly hope so, but when people refer to him as a rugby star... or even a rugby player it just isn't really true. He was a supermarket shelf stacker who played a bit of rugby at the weekend. I actually know how your system works even if I don't know the difference between rugby Union and rugby league I understand that 8th tier is a county amateur League It doesn't negate the fact that he's an athletic specimen at his size who was able to dabble in a lot of things Including your fulham academy for football.. which is a category one you don't need to be necessarily a phenom at any sport to possess high class athleticism... Because besides football.. your football.. he's been basically a mercenary in sports trying to find whatever If a guy like that was born in America.. he would instantly be playing football as a lineman and that's what he'd be doing since he was 8... So who knows how that would have turned out Edited August 3 by Buffalo716 Quote
GunnerBill Posted August 3 Posted August 3 21 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said: I actually know how your system works even if I don't know the difference between rugby Union and rugby league I understand that 8th tier is a county amateur League It doesn't negate the fact that he's an athletic specimen at his size who was able to dabble in a lot of things Including your fulham academy for football.. which is a category one you don't need to be necessarily a phenom at any sport to possess high class athleticism... Because besides football.. your football.. he's been basically a mercenary in sports trying to find whatever If a guy like that was born in America.. he would instantly be playing football as a lineman and that's what he'd be doing since he was 8... So who knows how that would have turned out I am not disputing his athleticism. But until the Bills drafted him he was just a really athletic guy who had tried his hand at a lot of sports without ever really being any good at them. Quote
Rocky Landing Posted August 3 Posted August 3 55 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: None of that is to dispute that Clayton is a rare athlete. He ran a 12 second 100 meters aged 15 and you just don't find that freakish combination of speed and size very often. But he has tried soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis without finding a sport where he can channel that natural athleticism. Maybe football is the one for him, I certainly hope so, but when people refer to him as a rugby star... or even a rugby player it just isn't really true. He was a supermarket shelf stacker who played a bit of rugby at the weekend. OK, then... The most exciting thing in there, to me, is all the mention of Travis Clayton. I have expressed my hope (a half dozen times, or more, since he was drafted) that Clayton will, at some point, be used as a sixth lineman in jumbo packages. This is a 6'7, 310lb monster, who ran a 4.79 40, and, as a former supermarket shelf stacker who played a bit of rugby at the weekend, knows how to catch a ball. Imagine him in as a sixth lineman, declared as an eligible receiver, catching a Josh Allen pass in stride, and trucking anyone who dares tackle him! How much fun would that be? 1 Quote
GunnerBill Posted August 3 Posted August 3 Also worth saying even if you ARE a "rugby phenom" that does not guarantee anything in football. Louis Rees-Zammit was one of the best young rugby players in the entire world. After a year trying to make it in the NFL he has called it quits and gone back to rugby. Quote
Sierra Foothills Posted August 3 Posted August 3 It's VERY hard for someone who hasn't grown up playing American football to make the NFL. https://www.dazn.com/en-US/news/american-football/six-rugby-players-who-switched-to-the-nfl-and-how-they-fared/tcvfdk7qtgdz12eyu70gziah0 I highly doubt that Travis Clayton ever plays a down in the NFL regular season. 1 Quote
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