The rugby season is starting right after football ends, so you will have the opportunity to continue your conditioning and grow your skills. Rugby also has a summer season that ends right before the football season starts so you can arrive to the first football practice in great shape and ready for another season.
Football and rugby is a great combination that lets you use one sport to grow in the other. Here are some examples of how rugby benefits your football performance:
Excellent conditioning.
Ball handling, catching, passing and evasion skills, etc.
Rugby’s open play promotes great footwork as well as fitness and tackling, which are also important in football.
Rugby and football have many common critical elements, e.g., intensity, athleticism, team-work, character building, and creativity.
Safer tackling methods, which may be the most valuable of all. In rugby one cannot tackle with the head. Instead one uses the shoulder to drive into the tackle while wrapping arms and then driving through the tackle with legs. This complements the heads-up methods that you are probably currently using in football to reduce concussions. Rugby will naturally instill these new skills.
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Don't take our word for it, read this article about how Pete Carroll at Seahawks uses rugby techniques to improve their game.