The Rugby World Cup is in full swing and, excluding England’s collapse, we’re enjoying a very exciting tournament on home soil.
The world’s best made the trip to our great shores for the tournament, which has already thrown up numerous surprises as Japan stunned South Africa and England are on the brink of an early exit from the tournament after losing their first two games (sounds like Arsenal in the Champions League).
For footballers, the career in the limelight is short but sweet. Rugby players, on the other hand, go out and get wrecked, get in fights and it barely makes the back pages. Meanwhile, Diego Costa coughs on an opponent and the media is uproar.
It’s because of this that we started to think about footballers playing rugby and who would actually be good at it? Picking a position to focus on was tough, as footballers are a bunch of pansies whereas rugby players are brutes, but we eventually decided on wingers.
According to our idiots guide to rugby, a winger ‘needs good handling, running and defensive skills’. So, here’s our lot to make the switch in sports.
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Click the image below to see the five footballers best suited to being a rugby winger!
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Arsenal’s Oxlade-Chamberlain could easily be mistaken for a rugby player as he has the build for it. We’re not sure he’d cope in the physical battles, given his injury record, but the England international is a strong contender for a winger.
Firstly, he has plenty of speed. He can leave the best of the defenders trailing in his wake, so that’s the first criteria sorted. Defensively he’s under scrutiny, identified with Arsenal’s Champions League woes, but we know for a fact he’s good with his hands.
Why’s that you ask? Because of *that* handball against Chelsea, which Kieran Gibbs took the slack for.
Riyad Mahrez
Leicester City’s poster-boy for their unbelievable start to the Premier League season is Algerian ace Riyad Mahrez, a player who is allegedly being eyed by Arsenal and the might of Spanish football; Barcelona.
If Mahrez didn’t fancy a switch to North London or Catalonia, then rugby could be a good fit for him. He has the pace, he’s defensively sound when called upon and given the silky skills he’s showed we imagine he has good hand-eye co-ordination.
Algeria’s rugby team may not have a spot for him though as the nation, who founded their rugby team in 2007, are yet to lose an international fixture; with highlights of their success being 50-0 trounces over Tunisia and Egypt.
Yannick Bolasie
Sticking with the theme of fast players with silky skills from an over performing club, our next choice is Crystal Palace starlet Yannick Bolasie- who is a firm favourite on the computer games and many of our punters fantasy teams.
One problem is the Congolese international faces a lack of options in rugby, as his nation doesn’t have the infrastructure to grow the sport; although popularity in Africa for the sport is improving.
Fear not though, as the Lyon-born star could always turn out for France. Heaven knows they need all the help they can get to break their losing streak in finals- three defeats at the final hurdle for Les Bleus!
Kyle Walker
We couldn’t draw a list of fast players that are fairly good at defending without including Tottenham Hotspur full-back Kyle Walker, who is insanely quick- but may be broken in half by a meaty tackle if he were to switch sports.
Born in Sheffield, he probably knows a fair bit about rugby and even if he’s not very good with an egg we doubt it would be difficult to provide an improvement to the shambolic England displays so far at the World Cup.
You could have Walker playing, not knowing at all what he’s doing, and he’d fit right in.
Victor Ibarbo
The 6 ft 2 Watford loanee would strike fear into any opposition in rugby, as the Colombian international wouldn’t look out of place amongst a haka.
With the track-record of Watford’s owners, we wouldn’t be too surprised if the Hornets decided to pack-up and become a rugby side; which wouldn’t be too much of a problem for pacy Ibarbo, as he’d take to the sport with ease.
The thought of Ibarbo hurtling towards us ready to make a tackle sends shivers down our spine. Colombia themselves have a national team, running since 1996, but they’ve failed to make a World Cup finals yet. Ibarbo could change that!
