America will rule at sevens and women’s game if we create buzz

SPEAK to any kid in America and their dream is to become an NFL star. They all want that Super Bowl ring and a front-row seat when Beyonce is doing the half-time show.

Will rugby ever be as big as football in England? No. Will rugby ever be as big as NFL in America? No.

That’s the reality and we should never strive to get there. But there’s still a huge rugbyplaying beast waiting to be unleashed in the US — in all forms of the game — and the key lies in sevens.

The American psyche is all about winning. If you’re not, it’s a struggle to get eyes on the game. Sevens is easier to watch, faster moving and, most importantly, the US are good at it.

World Rugby think XVs is the key to everything and it’s easy to get stuck in this bubble where it all revolves around England and the All Blacks. But there’s the rest of the world out there. If we can open the door through the sevens, then you get the eyeballs of the American public on the XVs. If the USA won a gold medal in rugby then little Jonny watching on NBC might think: ‘You know what, if I can’t be Tom Brady and win the Super Bowl then maybe I can be Perry Baker.’

We need to get into High Schools, targeting 12- to 18-year-olds to take up rugby as a complimentary sport.

Rugby has just been introduced to the curriculum in Massachusetts and I can’t wait to see the results in six years. In 1995, the USA were probably five or six years behind England when the game went professional. Now they’re probably 40 or 50 years behind because we’ve been wasting time.

If America fully embraces the women’s game professionally too, they would be world champions and Olympic champions in four years as their athletic pool is second to none. The women’s game has not been going long enough for anyone to really steal a march. The US could blow the doors off.