Bengals player playing rugby.

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http://www.lions-tour.com/news/viewarticle.asp?id=10029

snip....Blackheath go to Launceston in the fifth round of the EDF Energy National Trophy with an extraordinary secret weapon on loan from American Football.

Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones is in the UK as a budding television presenter on a US travel series made by Red Line Films, and decided to give rugby union a try to portray English life.

Jones contacted Blackheath head coach Harvey Biljon asking if he could play a match and Biljon, having consulted the players and committee of the club who are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year, replied: “Yes, great.”

A crash course in learning the game will culminate in Jones “playing five or 10 minutes off the bench” against the Cornish All Blacks on Saturday, Biljon confirmed.

“Our players thought it would be fantastic to have a full-time athlete from a top American sport testing himself among our amateurs,” Biljon said.

“Because Dhani [pronounced Dee-hah-nee] is a defensive lineman, his catching and passing are the things we need towork on.

“All being well, he will come on the field as a flanker. I don’t think it will make much difference whether it’s blindside or openside.

“We just have to make sure that when he hits someone it is an opponent who has got the ball and that he’s notrunning an illegal blocking move.”.......snip

Defensive lineman? Who knew eh? Knowing our luck, he'll blow both knees out.

[COB]

If he were under contract, there is no way he'd be allowed to do this. I would love to see film of how he holds up in a rugby game. That film you posted with thousandfootkrutch playing the soundtrack showed a bunch of pretty brutal hits. One word to Dhani Jones - mouthpiece.

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If he were under contract, there is no way he'd be allowed to do this. I would love to see film of how he holds up in a rugby game. That film you posted with thousandfootkrutch playing the soundtrack showed a bunch of pretty brutal hits. One word to Dhani Jones - mouthpiece.

lol. Yeah. Mouthpiece a must have. TBH, he'll run rings around them in terms of fitness. Not sure any of the hits will be quite as big either as the in the vids - that's international rugby mostly or the professional domestic leagues. They're only an amateur side after all. His stamina would be tested if he goes more than a few minutes. As a linebacker I think he could do ok. He's not going to play a position where he's a playmaker so his passing won't have to be anything other than servicable.

Let's hope he plays a few, sedate minutes of amateur rugby and gets the hell out of there, ready to re-sign with us.

[Pidge]

Just saw a piece about this on the idiot box. He did quite well, was very good defensively straight away and improved quite well attacking wise. Made a couple of good tackles during the game and wore a headguard, no doubt on the advice of his agent and the Bengals.

It was a bit strange tbh. His legs seem a little thinner than his upper body and the rugby players tend to have thicker legs than upper body. Not important, just haven't noticed it before. I guess, considering the way the games are played, it makes sense.