Cold War adversaries the sleeping giants of rugby

There is an ominous threat hanging over the established order of the oval ball, from lands large and rich in diversity. Since the coming of the professional era, rugby has slowly been spreading itself across continents with the IRB aiming to make the game rival soccer in popularity. It’s a tall order, but not impossible if you hold the long view. They’ve already begun by getting Sevens rugby included into the Olympic programme for Rio 2016.

Credit should go to the IRB for spreading the game via the Sevens rugby route, which has seen teams such as Kenya surprise the big players every now and then on the Sevens circuit. Sevens is becoming more popular due to its fluid nature and accessibility to teams who don’t necessarily have forwards that weigh 120kg and are two metres high. By extension the 15-man code will benefit, since that is the natural progression from Sevens. It’s appears to be a seed and tree idea of growth, and it is making some difference, which can only benefit the long-term future of the game as a whole.

The countries I’m referring to are the US and Russia.

Who can forget this, when Zimbabwean-born Tiger Ngwenya skinned Bryan Habana (and we also get to see the most monster of hand-offs by Todd Clever on Butch James). It was voted try of the year for 2007, a title richly deserved. The USA Eagles have been at the Rugby World Cups, missing only the 1995 edition in South Africa. They haven’t quite cracked the top tier, but with players such as Ngwenya (France) and Clever (South Africa) having played rugby elsewhere, the sport is on the rise.

In an article published in The Economist, it is stated that rugby is the fastest growing team sport in the US, with approximately 750 000 people playing it across the board in 2009. That figure represents a 20% rise from 2007. Officially, the US has 2 433 clubs and 88 151 registered players. Though this is nothing in comparison to SA, with 632 184 registered players (but with only 1 453 clubs), it’s a start, and considering the US has a population of roughly 308 million people, the potential for growth is abundant.

It’s especially true at college level where USA Rugby are seeking to make in-roads with the launch of a national competition played across the country, which they hope will begin drawing top high school athletes into the sport. Though American football is very much the entrenched sport of contact, and overflowing with money, it’s the correct place to start. The sports inclusion in the Olympics has also changed the interest of network TV with NBC acquiring the rights to the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, and set to broadcast matches from the Las Vegas 7s this year. The US, with such a large population base, would also be able to field a side as big as New Zealand and SA, which do enjoy the advantage given their respective Dutch and Maori genetics.

The US’s Cold War adversary, Russia, is another nation that in the future might become a force in the Rugby Union world though nowhere near as popular as in the US, with only 97 registered clubs and 14 519 registered players, the IRB have signalled their investment by awarding the country the 2013 Sevens Rugby World Cup. The Bears (I can only assume judging by their emblem, a bear holding a rugby ball) have also qualified for this year’s Rugby World Cup for the first time, meaning you will be seeing more very large men from the Eastern Bloc bashing their way over the advantage line like we saw in 2007. That year, Georgia, who have once again qualified for this year’s tournament, nearly shocked Ireland losing 10-14 in the end. Their tactics weren’t that subtle, preferring to keep the ball tight, but by George, they took no step backwards.

As nations known for their resilient attitudes, rugby is just the sport that would suit both the gladiatorial needs of the American public and their Russian counterparts. Rugby is a physically demanding game, something that would appeal to those looking for activities shying away from American football, soccer and ice hockey to just name a few. Rugby is also a game that is played in winter, something the northern US and Russia know much about.

Though this potential growth is still at least a couple of decades in the making (any sooner and I would be most surprised) before they can be classified as world powers, the ball is now rolling towards the game’s expansion. With Argentina joining the Tri-Nations in 2013, Rugby Union is slowly colonising different parts of the world and it is only a matter of time till some of the biggest players in international sport would want to get in on the action.