Prior to their World Cup opener against Samoa in Brighton on Sunday, the US Eagles visited Admiral Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory. For the nautically bearded hooker Phil Thiel, one of the doughtiest ships of the line in a squadron commanded by the coach Mike Tolkin, the trip might better have been made to another vessel: HMS Dauntless.
“The people of Portsmouth have been excellent,” Thiel said of the Americans’ welcome on the south coast. “We were able to tour HMS Victory and have a meal there as well, and it was amazing to be a part of such a historically significant place.”
What the 30-year-old did not immediately say was how hard he had worked even to be there. A high-school wrestler and college football player from Michigan, Thiel switched to rugby and spent a season in England with Cinderford, where he was known to all at the Gloucestershire club as “Dave USA”.
Last year, he grappled with professionalism at Saracens. But as for many members of the Eagles squad, full-time rugby has never quite panned out. After the 2011 World Cup, finding himself “pretty much broke”, Thiel took an extended break from the game.
“I used to work for a small but really good software company called Somax who were very flexible with my travel,” he said. “But last year I was gone for nearly four months straight and it was just too much time away, so I had to step away.
“I’ve done consulting, construction, concrete, painting, handyman work, personal training, doorman work, and several other odd jobs while playing to pay the bills. It’s been an interesting ride, but always worth it.”
Thiel now plays in Atlanta for the Life Running Eagles, the team from a chiropractic college who have long stiffened the backbone of American rugby.
“It’s never a sacrifice when you are doing something that you love,” Thiel said. “Do we have trade-offs? Yes, but the people that care about the players understand that, they encourage us. My fiancée and daughter miss me, and I know I’ve missed them over the last three months. But they are also proud of what I’m doing, as all the guys’ loved ones are.”
After dining at HMS Victory, Thiel was alas not to be drawn on the quality of the ship’s biscuit – thus scuttling hopes of a joke about the Eagles choosing the lesser of two weevils when picking a team to face South Africa at the Olympic Stadium next month.
That game will be a tough ask for a squad in which, illustratively, the two hookers are Thiel and Zach Fenoglio, a chemistry teacher from Colorado. But Thiel’s reference to time away from family and work points to a key element in the Eagles’ preparation: facilitated by USA Rugby, they have spent an extended time together.
For a squad boosted by Toulon’s Samu Manoa, one of the best back row forwards in the world, and other pros including the captain Chris Wyles of Saracens, the a build-up began in June with two wins and two losses in the Pacific Nations Cup. Their pool opponents Japan provided one of the wins, Samoa one of the losses.
Then there was a second victory over Canada, a close fight with Harlequins and an entertaining defeat by Australia in Chicago after which the Eagles, only four down at the break, were entitled to wonder what might have been. Such an unprecedented build-up has stoked hopes of unprecedented success.
Still, a large part of whether this proves to be a World Cup of historic significance for the USA, seen by many as a giant awaking after visits by the All Blacks and Olympic qualification, rests on the shoulders of men such as Thiel. He is, after all, one of only 11 in Tolkin’s 31-man squad to have played at a World Cup before.
“If they ask,” he says of the promising but green likes of the lock Cam Dolan, the prop Titi Lamositele and the No8 Danny Barrett, “I just tell the guys to approach the rugby aspect like any other tour. The festivities and events are fun, but we’re here to compete and play rugby.”
At World Cups, to mix military metaphor with marine, the Eagles have met more Waterloos than Trafalgars. Competitors in every event except 1995, they have three wins – against Japan in 1987 and 2003 and Russia in 2011 – and 18 defeats behind them.
Asked about his experience in New Zealand four years ago and how he could use it this year, Thiel pointed not to the victory over the Russians but to an emotional defeat by the Irish, 22-10 in New Plymouth on a day of resounding importance.
“Playing on the 10th anniversary of September 11 and being with my brothers was amazing and humbling,” he said. “It may sound like a cliché but that really puts it into perspective that we get to play a game on the world stage and compete and test ourselves. With all of that, at the end of the day we get to go home to our loved ones. Not everyone can do that.”
“I believe the summer was successful,” he added. “The goal was preparation for the World Cup, and of course to put ourselves in position to win games, and I think we achieved those goals. You have to just build and build.”
After all that building comes the battle with Samoa, who as opponents including Australia know all too well are very good at knocking things down. But any Eagle will tell you Tolkin’s squad believe that in a pool also containing the Scots, a quarter-final is not out of the question.
Before that, as part of a front-row unit well used to battles against the odds, Thiel knows there are some resounding collisions ahead.
“Samoa always bring a physical brand of rugby,” he said. “They play their way, and you have to match that energy. I never make predictions, because no one ever steps on the field not to win, but if we get our processes right and play with the relentless energy that we want, it should be an exciting contest. We are looking forward to it.”
To borrow and only slightly treasonously modify the signal sent by Nelson aboard HMS Victory at Trafalgar, before the big guns started booming, Uncle Sam expects that every Eagle will do his duty. Thiel and his team-mates await the first broadside with relish.
Nine matches of the IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast in the US on Universal Sports and NBC Sports. Check local listings. All 48 World Cup matches are available via livestreaming and on demand via a robust PPV service and through most connected devices at rwc2015ppv.com. Single matches also available.
