THE USA were the breakout stars of the 2013 World Cup.
With a bunch of lower-grade battlers, a few grizzled NRL veterans, a lot of can-do attitude and some generous helpings of Joseph Paulo, the Tomahawks scrapped their way to the quarterfinals with wins over Wales and the Cook Islands before they were smashed by Australia.
The final result didn’t put a damper on what had been a stellar campaign. The boys got a mention on ESPN’s SportsCentre, the Wiggles did a song about them, there was a campaign to carve Paulo’s face on Mount Rushmore.
But a whole lot has changed for American rugby league in the last four years. For starters, they’re not the Tomahawks anymore — they’re just the Hawks.
The USA were the breakout stars of the 2013 World Cup.
A complex civil war between the established American National Rugby League and the breakaway USA Rugby League (USARL) raged between 2011 and 2015 until the AMNRL folded. The conflict lurked in the background of the 2013 World Cup as only players affiliated with the AMNRL were selected.
Test fixtures were put on hold in the immediate aftermath of the tournament and as a result of the dispute, the Americans were not granted automatic qualification for the 2017 tournament. The newly renamed Hawks did it the hard way, downing Jamaica and Canada to qualify for their second World Cup.
With such a potentially destabilising period now well and truly behind them, rugby league’s future in the Americas looks bright.
After dozens of false dawns over the past few decades, things are on the up. The Toronto Wolfpack might be north of the border, but they could lead the way for American clubs to join the English competitions — perhaps one day they could crack Super League.
The American game has changed a lot since 2013.
News has broken of a possible New York team starting up, and the domestic competition grows stronger all the time.
Eleven of their World Cup squad play in the AMNRL for teams like the New York Knights, the Tampa Mayhem and the White Plains Wombats and two more are running around for the Wolfpack. Paulo is playing for Samoa but they do boast a little NRL experience in Bureta Faraimo, Eddy Pettybourne and former Souths and Panthers centre Junior Vaivai.
There’s continuity as well — only one player in the squad is uncapped and nine players were around in 2013. The ball-playing class of Paulo will be missed, but most of the players are homegrown Americans, which is a real credit to the native competition.
Outside of the game’s traditional countries, USA and Canada are the fastest-growing rugby league hot spots in the world. There is still much work to be done, but the potential of the sport in North America is tantalising.
Eddy Pettybourne is the only member of the squad who played in the NRL this season.
It might take 10 more years or 20 or more, but the USA and Canada are rugby league’s new frontiers. And unlike some of the other developing league nations, the USA boasts a large expat population, growing pathways to elite levels and, if this New York club does get off the ground, an attractive landing spot for NRL and Super League players. The sheer numbers of the Americas, both in terms of potential players and fans, means there’s a greater scope for growth. If rugby league is ever going to truly push beyond its traditional boundaries, which have barely moved over the last 120 years, America is where it’ll happen.
This shapes as a difficult tournament for the USA. They’re in Group D with the Italians and Fijians and will be underdogs against both teams. Fiji and Italy will both boast multiple NRL players — Jarryd Hayne alone has significantly more NRL experience than the American squad combined.
Could rugby league become a hit in North America?
Adding to their difficulties is the inter-group match against Papua New Guinea. No environment in this World Cup will be more difficult for away sides than the trip to Port Moresby to take on the Kumuls in the sweltering heat before a truly fanatical crowd.
Putting it simply, if the Hawks can win one game in this tournament they’ll have significantly exceeded expectations.
But the future for rugby league in the USA won’t be defined by one game, or even one tournament. With a lot of these previews we’re talking about teams trying to rebuild a once glorious past, or countries scraping by on the smell of an oily rag. With USA, the potential is all in the future. If the USA keeps building on what they’re achieving at home it won’t only change the national side, it could change the game as we know it.
SQUAD
As stated above, most of the American squad is US-based and home grown.
They’ll lean heavily on their three NRL players — Eddy Pettybourne is expected to start at prop while Bureta Faraimo will look to get heavily involved from the wing.
Junior Vaivai played his last NRL match in 2011 but he stuck around in the NSW Cup for several more seasons and has been a standout in the Illawarra competition for some time. Capable of playing centre and five-eighth, he shapes as one of the USA’s real gamebreakers.
In terms of the homegrown boys, keep an eye out for Ryan Burroughs, who had a fine season with the Toronto Wolfpack and had a stint with Wentworthville in 2015.
BEST XVII
1. Corey Makelim 2. Ryan Burroughs 3. Gabriel Farley 4. Taylor Alley 5. Bureta Faraimo 6. Junior Vaivai 7. David Marando 8. Mark Offerdahl 9. Kristian Freed 10. Eddy Pettybourne 11. Samuel Tochtermann-Talbott 12. Matt Shipway 13. Daniel Howard 14. Stephen Howard 15. Matt Walsh 16. Josh Rice 17. Taylor Alley
RANDOM USA FACT
In 2004 the Tomahawks played Australia in Philadelphia and led 24-6 at halftime before being run down and losing 36-24. If the Americans had won it might have been the greatest thing to ever happen in rugby league.
America lead Australia 24-6 at halftime in 2004.
PREDICTION
There’s no doubt the Hawks will give things the good old college try, but they’re undermanned compared to the other three nations they’ll face. Scoring one win would be a fine achievement for the US but it’s hard to see where it comes from.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...y/news-story/8714097815f741bacae6916447562310
