What rugby could learn from American Football and UFC

Earlier today, I saw a quote by the captain of the Springboks (South Africa):

“Look at American football, they put on a show. They celebrate individuals with their own touchdown routines. But in rugby, if you show your individual side, or express yourself, it’s immediately frowned upon.”
- Siya Kolisi

He's right, of course.

At the end of the day, professional sports are meant to entertain, and players with individual story arcs definitely add to the entertainment value.

One person who understands this very well is Conor McGregor (UFC). He knows he's not just a fighter, but it's up to him to drum up interest for his fights; and that smack talk, creating an abrasive character/personality for himself, and manufacturing other forms of controversy is therefore part of his trade.

There's no denying that he's been crazy successful doing this.

We have really cool individuals in rugby too, but we seem scared to show it.

Think of Joe Marler being a (sometimes dickish) clown that will somehow always be needed by England; Makazole Mapimpi's path from the South African slums to the world stage, or Aaron Smith's life of perfectionism leading to an unmatched career as All Blacks’ scrummie.

Not to mention the team arcs:

* All Blacks, the small island nation of New Zealand has somehow managed to keep dominating the world stage for an entire generation, desperately defending its place at the top against much larger nations

* Springboks going from apartheid state to rainbow nation, uniting its divided people to go on and win the world cup

* France, the proud, chauvinist nation, dragging itself out from under a decade long streak of underperformance, and now proudly standing up, ready to finally take its place among the undisputed rugby giants in the World Cup to come

There is so much untapped potential that could pique the interest of people who know very little about rugby as a sport otherwise.

It’s time we show it.