I think there is something even more fundamentally different between football and rugby that lead to bigger, head on collisions (and what makes the padding in f

I think there is something even more fundamentally different between football and rugby that lead to bigger, head on collisions (and what makes the padding in football a necessity). Specifically, in rugby, the way you maintain possession of the ball is by falling properly with your body in front of the ball (not lunging forward) and making sure your team is around you so you can ruck[1] properly and continue on with the ball. In football, there are 4 attempts to get 10 yards and you want to make sure with each of those chances you absolutely get the most amount of yardage (running backs are taught to always fall forward, defenses are taught to run people over head on, etc) and of course that doesn't even mention the forward pass where there is an incentive to hit a player as hard as you can to "separate the man from the ball" (this is something that is drilled into you as a defensive player). [1] for people who haven't watched rugby, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2htLUcu-lcs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2htLUcu-lcs is a video which explains what rucking is. Note how it's not important that you lunge forward for an extra yard. In fact, it's stupid to do so! The defense would allow you to do that, and then just take the ball from you once you're down. This is also just my understanding of rugby having watched it from a distance. If I'm incorrect about my assumptions of the rules I'm happy to be corrected.