Can Robbo be crowd pleaser San Diego and USA need?

IT might not have been uppermost in his decision but social-distancing is unlikely to be an issue when Chris Robshaw joins the latest band of trans-Atlantic pilgrims at Major League Rugby.

Crowds having been conspicuous by their absence hitherto, the promoters can only hope that the former England captain’s transfer from Harlequins to San Diego will help them find one.

The first MRL season in 2018 drew an average crowd of 1,833. The second showed a slight increase, gross attendances of 158,941 from 75 matches working out 2,133 per game.

An increase of 300 but still 300 fewer than Coventry managed during the truncated season of the second-tier English championsip.

Unusually for a country where showmen like Phineas T Barnum taught the rest of the world how to put bums on seats, MLR’s website makes no reference to any attendances during their second season, suspended in late March because of the pandemic.

Since then, MLR has lost one team (the Colorado Raptors) and gained new ones from Los Angeles and Texas, the Dallas Jackals whose campaign will be run by former Ireland hooker Allen Clarke who left the Ospreys before the end of their losing season.

The 13 contenders will compete over a six-month season on a truly pan-American scale, from sea to shining sea. Robshaw’s San Diego Legion, the best-supported with an average attendance of 3,043, will hope their English superstar’s arrival will spread the rugby gospel.