Quote Originally Posted by Pannonian View Post
That's an accident rather than an endemic problem. One of the criticisms of American football, healthwise, is that the padding and armour makes people feel invulnerable, and thus encourage them to throw themselves around beyond what their bodies can cope with, harming both themselves and others. Rugby players are pretty much standard human beings, if bigger and fitter than average, and they are more aware of what their bodies are doing. There's the odd nutter like Chabal, and some scummish tactics like spear-tackling and eye gouging have been tried (and outlawed), but for the most part, anything physical is balanced by the need to avoid injury to oneself, and thus has limits.
How can armor make people feel invulnerable if there are so many injuries?

Also, in rugby it's not a big deal where you tackle someone. If they get an extra foot or two it's no big deal. In football that extra foot can be crucial.