Rugby has not been part of America's sporting DNA for a very long time, but this year the US rugby sevens team is emerging as a new powerhouse.
Nearly a century ago, the United States won gold in 15-a-side rugby union at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920 and again in Paris four years later. From then until recent years, however, the game has been very much a sporting afterthought compared to American football.
Right now, though, US is tied with Fiji at the top of the Rugby Sevens World Series rankings on 57 points ahead of this weekends' Sydney 7s tournament at the Sydney Showgrounds.
It's been a meteoric rise for the US sevens team, which was on the verge of being relegated from the 15 "core" teams in the World Series just five years ago.
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Despite the obvious potential in the sport in the USA, the national 15-a-side team has a long way to go. A hugely promising 30-29 victory over Scotland in June last year was followed up by heavy defeats against the Maori All Blacks (59-22) and a largely second-string Ireland side (57-14) in November.
The US currently sit in 12th spot in the World Rugby rankings, but despite that, Friday — a former England seven's captain who has also coached the Kenyan and English sevens teams — believes the USA has what it takes to go all the way in the smaller-sided version of the sport.
"It would be a great achievement for us, as a tier-two rugby nation, to break the traditional super rugby powers top four on the World Series."
With more investment and an increased professional approach, Friday believes that rugby in the US could become an American staple.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-31/sevens-rugby-team-usa-on-the-rise/10761990
All Blacks will annihilate them.
for me rugby was always more interesting than grid iron.
Probably because American football is a mere few seconds of play followed by two minutes of everyone standing around, rinse and repeat, whereas the flow in rugby league and union never stops.
Rugby's just football without the helmets, right?
Rugby is what American football wants to be if it wasn't so heavily commercialized and butchered.
I'd recommend any American football fan to give rugby a go, the six nations will be starting up this weekend. (Mild Welsh bias)
But the commercialization is the most important part! How can I enjoy a fine sporting event without affirming my devotion to capitalism and paying tribute to our corporate benefactors?
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