While he played for the U.S. in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Dan Payne remembers a scrum breaking out against South Africa, the eventual winner of the tournament. And he distinctly remembers what the Springboks players chirped at him, saying Payne and his teammates would be on a plane headed home the next day.
“Yeah, we have to,” replied Payne, now the general manager of high performance for USA Rugby. “We have to go back to our jobs.”
That was the reality of rugby in America at that time, with amateurs competing against some of the best players and teams in the world. The American players understood the gap in preparedness and circumstance. But over the years, Payne and others within the sport have seen evidence of the gap narrowing — not necessarily on the scoreboard, but in other ways.
Major League Rugby, a professional league in the U.S., debuted in 2018. U.S. rugby is among the teams competing at the Tokyo Olympics. And as USA Rugby tries to increase the spotlight on the sport in America, the organization announced Monday a match against New Zealand’s All Blacks at FedEx Field on Oct. 23, hoping to simultaneously raise interest at the professional and youth levels while building a resume for a World Cup bid as early as 2027.
“What the All Blacks can do, they’re so good at promoting this game,” said Thretton Palamo, who plays for D.C.’s Old Glory rugby team. “The way they play is so exciting, and I feel like that will inspire a lot of kids, like, ‘Wow, I had no idea you can play this way.’ The way they juke is so different from what you see in any other sport, the way they move and everything else. Hopefully, my ultimate goal is that we inspire all those younger generations to play.”
The path to rugby’s increased relevance and participation in the U.S. doesn’t come without hurdles, particularly as rugby competes for attention and players in a crowded sports scene in the U.S. Payne compared the task to Australia suddenly starting an American football team, then attempting to play the best NFL teams. The outcome might be lopsided for years.
So USA Rugby understands one match against New Zealand won’t capture the focus of the American public overnight. Nor will it immediately make the U.S. competitive against the best teams in the world.
But to get to the point where the U.S. can be competitive — as well as engaging to a large audience in the country — matches such as the one coming Oct. 23 are imperative.
“It’s like wine: you can’t just flip a switch and make it great; you have to learn how to grow and appreciate wine,” Payne said. “Rugby is the same. And you can’t develop players by just flipping a switch; it takes time. So to say we can do anything quickly wouldn’t be fair to our players and how hard they’re working, or fair to those countries that have had it as a staple in their diet for 100 years.”
As USA Rugby pushes to host a men’s World Cup in 2027 or 2031 and a women’s World Cup in 2029, they point to the 1994 soccer World Cup held in the U.S. At the time, soccer hadn’t entered the mainstream. Major League Soccer began play two years later, and American players infrequently earned key roles on European club teams.
Almost three decades later, though, soccer has taken firm root in the country. MLS plans to have 30 teams under its umbrella by 2023, and several American stars — such as Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic — play for top European sides.
Ross Young, the CEO of USA Rugby, hopes America’s interest in rugby expands well before a potential World Cup comes to the U.S. To do that, he recognizes the U.S. rugby team needs to find success in the next few years, and matches such as the one against New Zealand in October could be part of that process, just as Pulisic playing for Chelsea inspires young Americans to dream of a future in soccer.
“You need those, and all of a sudden, kids buy that shirt, they want to be kicking the ball around like them,” Young said. “We’ve got a real opportunity to do that. And hopefully, we have a strong opportunity to come back with a medal from Tokyo, the men and women. The more success we can get, the more it drives growth.”
USA Rugby said the Washington, D.C., region is home to the third-largest rugby fanbase in the country. There are some two million rugby fans within a five-hour drive of D.C. A matchup with the All Blacks, though, could attract — and hook — a whole new set of supporters in the U.S.
“It’s the next frontier as far as the game is concerned throughout the world,” Payne said. “It can’t be called world rugby unless the sport is strong here in the United States. The rest of the world really wants us to cross that frontier, as well.”
• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.
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