Power
Rugby players are certainly powerful people. The forwards are undoubtedly some of the largest, most fearsome would-be lumberjacks this side of the Redwood Forest. Some of these 300-plus pound giants of the pitch will just keep running forward as the opposing team piles players on top.
The backs—which is where football gets its halfbacks and fullbacks—are usually powerful ruunners, able to dodge and dash around massive beasts who are looking to rip the ball out of their hands (or including their hands, if necessary). They also need to be able to take a hit when it happens—and it happens an awful lot.
Off the field, however, professional rugby-playing Americans are about as powerful as little leaguers or youth soccer players. Athletes from the four major sports—plus David Beckham—can typically do or say whatever they want, and people will continue showering them with millions of dollars as long as they play a halfway decent game.
Not so with rugby pros. In a world where there are laws against using their powerful bodies to toss other people around, rugby players don't have much power at all.