Former NFL punter Marquette King has perhaps not received the response he intended when tweeting that he’d dominate if he ever took to the rugby field.
Tweeting on Saturday afternoon “If I played rugby I would dominate easily”, King was quickly brought back down to earth by former and current international rugby players, as well as rugby fans from around the world.
If I played rugby I would dominate it easily.
— Marquette King (@MarquetteKing) June 20, 2020
The 31-year-old made his NFL debut with the Las Vegas Raiders (previously Oakland) in 2012 before being picked up by the Denver Broncos, however after just four games he was placed on injury reserve and later released. Last year he played for the St Louis BattleHawks in the XFL.
His tweet on Saturday quickly went viral and he soon learned rugby twitter is not a world to be entered into lightly.
— Simon Zebo (@SimonZebo) June 20, 2020
Former All Blacks flanker Jerome Kaino replied that he would love to see King on the rugby field adding a #NoPads to the end of the tweet, while England prop Ellis Geng wasn’t as diplomatic in his response, stating ‘I’d bend him right back up’.
Would love to see it brother #NoPads
— Jerome Kaino (@jeromekaino) June 20, 2020
I’d bend him right up, stick to wearing your bike helmet and shoulder cushions my boy.
— Gengey (@EllisGenge) June 20, 2020
The comments flooded in with King soon receiving up to 1.5k responses, many of which pointed out the brutality of rugby, and 880 retweets.
Really, leave your pads and helmet in your bag 👍🤣🥳
— Neil Back MBE (@NeilBack) June 20, 2020
Sides around the world invited the punter to training sessions including New Zealand’s All Blacks and England club side Leicester Tigers.
You’re welcome to join us for training anytime. https://t.co/QanJhkhV8z
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) June 20, 2020
Welcome to ‘ave a go in a session at Oval Park, anytime.
— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) June 20, 2020
After the flood of responses pointing out the use of padding in American Football, King posted a poll asking twitter ‘Which sport would you find the better overall athlete?’, he perhaps didn’t get the response he was after with 78.6 percent of over 22,000 responders voting for rugby over American Football.
Which sport would you find the better overall athlete?
— Marquette King (@MarquetteKing) June 20, 2020
— Mike Brown (@mikebrown_15) June 21, 2020
Come out and let’s see what you got, humble us or be humbled
— Mathew Drew Turner (@Mat_turner11) June 21, 2020
After over 24 hours of roasting from rugby fans around the world, King quickly acknowledged that he’d learned how passionate rugby fans are and perhaps won’t be tweeting about domination in the sport in the future.
I’ve gotta admit. The love that people have for rugby internationally is deep. I love the passion y’all got. ☮️🖤
— Marquette King (@MarquetteKing) June 20, 2020
Fingers crossed we see him take up the offer to attend an All Blacks training…