Piping welcome gives US rugby converts the five-star treatment

Published on Thursday 28 May 2009 22:57

THE pipe major welcoming the competing teams to Edinburgh Airport, ahead of the final leg of this season's IRB World Sevens Series at Murrayfield at the weekend, looked as bemused as the business travellers who had been startled by the wail of his doodle-sack a few minutes earlier.

He had just presented James Gillenwater, captain of the US Eagles team, with a silver quaich and the customary shortbread tin. The American had graciously thanked his new kilted friend before informing him in a thick southern drawl that he had been born and raised in Glasgow. "That's Glasgow, Kentucky," he added with immaculate comic timing.

So often the super-power in contests of international might – both military and athletic – you can usually tell the Americans are nearby by the hoopla of a frenzied press pack chasing glamorous but sullen celebrities.

This team shatter that stereotype. Affable and laid back, they are minnows in the world of international rugby sevens and they love it. To describe them as a rag-bag bunch of misfits and rejects would be overly harsh, but team coach Al Caravelli is happy to recognise the fact that his squad are way down the food chain when it comes to sporting prestige in their own country.

"Every one of these players is a convert from another sport," he smiles. "The majority played American football but were not quite big enough or fast enough to make it. We've also got a basketball player, a water polo player, a soccer player and a wrestler – so they come from lots of different backgrounds. But the important thing is that they are great athletes who have identified rugby as a sport suited to their particular skills.

"We have one player (Alex Ross] who has only been playing rugby for four months and had never played sevens before last weekend's tournament at Twickenham. He did well, he scored his first try against Argentina and that has given him a bit of confidence. He has finally realised that he is actually quite fast.

"The learning curve the guys are on is fantastic," he continues. "When we were in camp two weeks ago I was panicking. I was thinking: How am I going to teach them to scrum in time?

"Well, we won every scrum last weekend, took away some from our opposition, and also won all our own line-outs. That might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but with a team that has been together for just two weeks that is pretty impressive.

"We are very excited about this weekend for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because we have never been here before; and secondly, because we have a pretty tough pool – with New Zealand, South Africa and France – and we'd love to do a bit of spoiling. We're hoping the Scottish crowd can get behind us and help us do that. We know they love the underdog."