While the USA Eagles may hold the most number of Olympic Gold medals for rugby, having won two in 1902 and 1924, they have had as much chance of defeating the Wallabies since then, as Alan Jones has had of ever becoming prime minister of Australia.
I remember him telling me in no uncertain terms in 1984 that he was ‘going to be prime minister of Australia one day’.
Alas for Alan, that ship seems to have sailed a long, long time ago, if indeed it ever got out of the dockyard.
As frustrating as that may or may not be for Jones, at least the Eagles are in the contest when they take on the Wallabies on Sunday in Chicago. The question is – for how long?
Like Jones, the USA is nothing if not ambitious. However, ambition is one thing but the level of skill, cohesion, fitness, rugby maturity and commitment is another.
While the Eagles will struggle with a number of the elements required, commitment will not be one of them.
Back in 1983 the Wallabies played the USA in Sydney and defeated them 49-3. As part of that team, I recall the level of intensity the Eagles brought to the match and it was impressive.
They are fearless.
However, in those days some of the American lads must have thought they were still playing American football, as their tackling style could only be described as kamikaze.
This often meant the use of the head, albeit without a helmet. I don’t need to tell you that this didn’t end well.
We decided that provided we were prepared to take the hit, and keep the ball alive, we could suck the Americans into a two-on-one game thereby creating an overlap. This was great for our backs but not so much fun for us in the forwards.
The Eagles have come a long way since then, but still have a long way to go. Their biggest obstacle is and will remain, American football.
Ironically, American football was born from rugby in or around 1875 and has since become the number one football code in the USA.
However, rugby is making some strides from its origins as a university sport. During the last five years, the number of rugby participants has increased 14 per cent year over year to climb to a total of 1.2 million participants throughout the country, according to recent USA media reports.
NBC has been airing rugby matches since 2009, shortly after it was announced that rugby would be a part of the 2016 Summer Games. Importantly, NBC recently televised the Eagles game against the All Blacks with close to 62,000 fans packing Soldier Field in Chicago.
The key to America’s rise in world rugby lies in the growth of the sport in high schools.
A few seasons ago I had the pleasure of conducting some high school rugby coaching clinics in Tennessee and had geared the toughness and complexity of my sessions for an age appropriate male audience. What I did not expect was the number of girls that turned up to the session – almost 50 per cent.
While I played rugby in America with former dual international Michael O’Connor in 1978 after the ’77 Australian schoolboys’ tour to the UK, I had forgotten just how popular rugby is with girls. Almost every club had their own women’s team way back then and that’s 37 years ago.
If the level of growth in high school rugby continues and there is sufficient television media coverage, there may come a day when the USA rules the rugby world.
But it will not be at the aptly named Soldier Field against the Wallabies on Sunday. At this point, the Eagles are not good enough.
For the Wallabies, this game will blow out the cobwebs for a few of the lads, particularly the named forwards, most of whom badly need a hit out. It also gives Michael Cheika the chance to look at Bernard Foley and Matt Giteau in the inside backs and the outside three.
While the Wallabies are in a difficult Rugby World Cup pool, the lead in to the tough matches is good. Fiji on September 24 followed by Uruguay on September 27, before the heavy hitters England on October 4 and Wales on October 11.
The USA face an uphill battle to make the quarter-finals with Samoa on September 20, followed by Scotland on September 27, South Africa on October 7 and Japan on October 11.
Whatever the outcome for the men in red, white and blue, it will not be for lack of trying.
Mr.Media
Roar Rookie
A good game, but no coverage here in Queensland. "Mr. Jones" might be good too as the Prime Minister, in view of the present economic situation....maybe he can bring back the Rugby matches....
anopinion
Guest
I do know what I am talking about (thanks for the insult) as I played in the USA for 7 years and won a few National Championships in the Super League and D1. I also coached in Universities and Junior development. I worked very hard for the pathways from Flag to tackle that the USA is benefitting from now. As an example of why I think the USA has NO CHANCE in the next 20 years, the years we won National Championships, we did ZERO scrum sessions in practice. That is correct, we never, ever,packed a scrum at training. The competition was so weak we did not need to. No pressure ever got applied through scrums. Also we had 3 lineout throws and no one ever worked out how to defend them. I played against and with many of the USA Eagles. They were very good players. They were not at an international level. Can you fill me in on how the coaching history of your current Eagles 7s and 15s coaches please? How many professional clubs did they coach at before they were given the top jobs in the USA?
hikikomori
Guest
americans need to see 'footballers' wearing pads
Jamieson Murphy
Roar Guru
At least 20 (possibly more) of the WC squad were born in America.
The Twins
Roar Rookie
oops I stand corrected - France win 2-0 - well done France
The Twins
Roar Rookie
not sure I agree with yr France series win - the final results was 1 - 1 (check the states) but okay with the rest...
The Twins
Roar Rookie
at a guess about 20,000 less than watched the ABs
The Twins
Roar Rookie
Oh dear...is it a B-side??? obviously cotton-wooling their A-side - tsk tsk
union
Guest
Dont forget the appearance jones made getting arrested for lewd acts in a public toilet in london
moa
Guest
jibba Jabba---sorry I didnt see this earlier---mate---if you jump on your keyboard an hour or so before kickoff (of any game) and google "live streaming" insert sport/names of opponents.....you will find a veritable plethora of options.There are some excellent and reliable free streams avaialable;pays to have a backup option but usually you will find something. The sites are sometimes closed down for copyright infringements/run ads for gambling etc (which you can ignore) then pop up again a week or so later....
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
Yeah I think I've mis-spelt his last name a few times now...
Tricky Dick
Roar Rookie
This is an under-appreciated point. I will of course be supporting my national team, but most U.S. representative sides are naturalized Americans down to the regional level.
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
Alan Jones' rugby knowledge, I believe, is very understated. As are his contributions to Australian rugby. I see a bit of a double-standard in your remark. When Mark Ella was preparing for his first Test for the Wallabies, the night before he faced the All Blacks, Bob Templeton came into the room and asked them, "So, how do you want to play the All Blacks tomorrow?" Of course, Ella only knew one way. And Australia won that first Test. Roger Gould has said before that Tempo was mostly a forwards coach. [Gould, by the way, has said that Jones was the best coach he ever had.] But do people criticize Tempo for giving Ella lincence to play freely? No. So what if Alan Jones let Ella be Ella. Bob Dwyer in "The Winning Way" and "The Rise and Rise of Australian Rugby" lauds Alan Jones for being smart enough to give Ella a free-range. Ella played his best in 1984.
smell the fear
Guest
oh dear, we can only thank god he never became PM. a decent rugby coach is another thing
smell the fear
Guest
you do realize that almost the entire side only has a loose affiliation with the USA (a distant relative, went there for UNI, went to HAwaii for a holiday etc
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
Oops! That was a typo! I meant to say: One of only two AUSTRALIAN coaches to have gone to New Zealand and won a series over there. Oh and Daniel... add "FRANCE 2009" to your list. There was a series trophy, it went to the side that won the series, and that trophy went to France. France won that series on aggregate and it's not history's fault that Graham Henry dropped the ball and lost sight of it. It counts as a series win in New Zealand.
Bakkies
Guest
Kearns made a similar remark before the Ireland pool game that year too. The NZ game the US had very little preparation. When they play the Summer tests in very warm temperatures they play a very structured game. Ireland played them in Texas with a second XV and only won by a few. The crowd was 25,000 in a 30,000 seater and the atmosphere was intense.
Gary
Guest
And of course I meant Chris Roche.
Bakkies
Guest
He has to be resident for three years to qualify for the Eagles
Bakkies
Guest
It's not up to Foxtel to set the prices for a rival sports network and in its various guises unlike ESPN Setanta has been a separate subscription. They're competitors in regards to sports rights bidding as well. In the UK and Ireland the channels come part of the Virgin, Tiscali and UPC sports package. Neither network have their own sports channels so that doesn't concern Murdoch in terms of rights bidding. Legally they have to carry Sky Sports channels. UPC the Irish network take the BT Sports channels as well as Setanta and BT have an agreement.