Clever shines for America
by Paki's Corner | 02 March 2010 (06:18)
USA captain Todd Clever played a storming match for the Lions in yet another Super 14 start for the 8th man.
Clever made history in 2009 by being the first American rugby player to apply his trade in the exciting Super 14 competition. He had some fine moments last year – but didn’t get that much game time playing in a struggling Lions side. This year – however – the Californian has started two out of three matches. His work rate has been extremely high on defense, and with ball in hand the 7s star has touched down for two tries already.
His performance is vital to American rugby. Perceptions of rugby in the United States will vary all over the world, and with a very poor international record (17th in IRB World Rankings), Clever can certainly change this. There are a host of outstanding American players like Chris Wyles (Saracens) who are impressing week in and week out in the Northern Hemisphere. In fact several more USA players are likely to sign with European based rugby clubs, which is a step in the right direction for the ‘Sleeping Giant’. Having American rugby player’s play professionally on a full time basis will certainly increase the playing standard.
Also the club rugby structure together with the drastic weather on the East Coast doesn’t help the standard of American rugby. Several teams have withdrawn from the club premier division called the Super League as around $100,000 a year funding is needed to participate mainly due to travelling expenses.
Despite this, rugby in America is very much on the rise, especially after the highly successful IRB World Series Sevens tournament that was held in Las Vegas this past month. National TV coverage on ABC featured an hour-long highlights package from the sevens event – which also focused on the American players. I feel that this was a very smart move on the producers’ part (USA 7s LLC & American International Media LLC) to promote rugby in this large country. As a viewer you felt like you got to know the players better and became part of their lives during this short feature.
The tournament was also available LIVE online at ESPN360.com and people can access the video archive to see the superb tournament. The Las Vegas Invitational – which was played alongside the IRB event leading up to the tournament - featured almost 100 different teams and is a great sign of things to come. I can easily see the event drawing 30,000 to 40,000 people next year.
Moving on to the Super 14: the competition has had some mixed results over the past three weeks. The Lions vs. Chiefs encounter took some criticism in this 18-try thriller, but one forgets the Crusaders smashed the Waratahs 96-19 in 2002, and last year the Bulls won the final 61-17 against the Chiefs. In fact when speaking to Todd Clever after the record scoring match he joked “the defensive coaches from both teams have been fired and the offensive ones given a raise!”.
The Lions team of 2010 may not have many big names (besides a 34 year old Carlos Spencer – one of my favourite flyhalfs of all time), but they aren’t afraid of running from anywhere with some great results. What I enjoyed about that comeback against the Chiefs was that there was no chance of them winning it (Chiefs 72 Lions 27) – but they almost defied all odds scoring 35 points in the final 9 minutes.
For the South African sides, the Stormers had a frustrating match against the Brumbies this past weekend. Lack of finishing (and a TMO decision) cost the side from Cape Town. Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie have been well received at Newlands but not used effectively, and one hopes the Stormers can make the semi finals or it will be two weeks on the beach for these Springboks.
The Cheetahs upset the Sharks in week two, but still find themselves near the bottom of the log. Their England international import Andy Goode turned out to be bad when he was sin binned this past weekend, sealing the match for the Crusaders.
With the bottom three sides taking the shape of the Lions, Sharks and Cheetahs, it’s up to the champion Blue Bulls to carry the pride of South Africa. A superb second half comeback against the Waratahs saw the Pretoria boys stay composed and clinch a thrilling match. Moment of the game for me was flyhalf Morne Steyn’s beautiful chip kick which sent Jacques-Louis Potgieter over for the winning try.
It is tough watching 7 Super rugby matches every weekend, so my pick for this weekend’s ‘must-see’ game is the Crusaders vs. Blues encounter in Christchurch.
Enjoy!
Dallen Stanford played 54 matches for the USA 7s team throughout his career spanning from 2006 to 2009, including 13 IRB 7s tournament appearances. To read other articles by the South African visit www.ur7s.com and www.pakiscorner.com.
