Saracens and the Crusaders will send teams to New Orleans on 1 August, for a game at the Mercedes Benz Superdome. The promoter of the game is RugbyLaw, operator of the nascent National Rugby Football League.
In an email, Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach told the Guardian of the game, which will involve the Knights’ development team: “We are excited to be able to showcase who we are and how we play the game.
“We are looking forward to meeting new people through this visit, and exploring opportunities of mutual benefit – we already have commercial relationships with a number of US-based companies, and getting to play in their country is both a thrill and an opportunity.”
Riach said the Crusaders’ participation had been arranged through Craig Dowd, the former All Blacks prop who is working with RugbyLaw in New Zealand, and added: “We have tried on a number of occasions over the last decade or so to have the opportunity to play a UK or French premier team, but were always thwarted by the congested playing window.
“In this instance, we were excited that 1 August worked well for us because the gap between Investec Super Rugby and the ITM Cup is greater due to no inbound Test programme in the Rugby World Cup year.”
Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, said of Sarries’ trip to Louisiana: “It’s a privilege to be able to play against one of the best teams in the world in a fantastic city and to be able to give the people of New Orleans the chance to experience professional rugby.”
The NRFL is an attempt to convert college and ex-NFL football players to rugby, as part of plans for a professional US league. On 8 August in Philadelphia it is set to stage a game between its first team, the Rough Riders, and Leicester. The Rough Riders, a mix of US talent and imports, are due to be captained by the former New Zealand lock Ali Williams.
The Minnesota-based RugbyLaw, whose NRFL project is two years old, is nothing if not ambitious: the Leicester game will take place at Lincoln Financial Field, the 68,500-capacity home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. The Superdome, the home of the New Orleans Saints, hosted Super Bowl LXVII in 2013 and holds more than 76,000 people. Like Saracens’ Allianz Park in north London, it has a turf playing surface.
“RugbyLaw’s mission is to boldly take American professional rugby to a level where nobody has taken it before, making rugby a major-league sport on par with others in the US sports market,” said founder and managing partner Michael Clements. “RugbyLaw will not only grow the sport nationally, it will simultaneously export the brand worldwide.”
In August, the Crusaders’ many All Blacks, including Richie McCaw, Kieran Read and Dan Carter, will be tuning up for their defence of the Webb Ellis Cup in England from 18 September.
Saracens will be in preseason. Among a host of internationals, they employ four current USA players – the lock Hayden Smith, wing Chris Wyles, centre Thretton Palamo and prop Titi Lamositele. All could be involved with World Cup squads and thus unavailable to face the New Zealanders.
However, amidst growing interest in the US from Premiership clubs – Harlequins will face the US Eagles in a World Cup warm-up in Philadelphia on 30 August – Saracens have established strong links. The former Seattle Old Puget Sound Beach club, one of the strongest teams in North America, is now part of Saracens Global Network and accordingly renamed. Sarries have previously travelled to Chicago and Miami in preseason.
The NRFL is one of a number of attempts to monetise rugby in the US, including a mooted professional league under the auspices of the national governing body and attempts to professionalise sevens. The Saracens-Crusaders game has been sanctioned by USA Rugby, and has the backing of New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Riach said: “The USA appears to many of us in the game as a sleeping giant of global rugby. From the number of potential participants, to the size of the potential fan base, to the size of the commercial market, to the sporting infrastructure already in place, the USA is clearly a key market for the game.
“The success of the sevens team in the latest round of the world sevens circuit shows that USA rugby has the potential to be a real force in rugby on the global stage.”
“The US is potentially a massive market to grow the game,” added McCall, “and the work of the NRFL is very important to that.”
