The equipment and the field
If you’ve watched either of the games on TV, the first thing you might have noticed is how different the players look. In American football, players must wear a helmet, shoulder and chest pads, leg protectors and a mouthguard. It’s like a modern-day suit of armor. Meanwhile, over on the rugby pitch, players usually only wear a mouthguard (also called a gum shield). And their kit, of course.
A rugby ball is one centimeter shorter than an American football but is fatter in the middle. And the playing fields are different sizes too; American football fields are about ten meters shorter and more than 20 meters narrower than the larger rugby pitches.
