That's great. I'm picking up on that theme. Blaine , you mentioned earlier the decision-making that the players have on the field, and the kind of passing of the baton from the coach over to the players,particularly the captain in your case.
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. Blaine , who do like playing, and who drives you mad?
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. And Blaine , you're involved-- the chair of the Players Association.
So maybe starting here with Blaine . I'm Blaine . I started rugby when I was 18. I was introduced to a friend.
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. I know Blaine , you mentioned about looking stuff up on YouTube-- the hard part about YouTube is there are tons of videos,
It's weird that our court system that has "in God we trust" on the money and wants to put the ten commandments But David Blaine and Criss Angel, if you want to call them magicians.
- Yep. - I haven't done anything. - It's like a David Blaine . - It's like the nerdiest David Blaine . - Yeah. - Sweet, so.
How did you get your start in the game, and what do you love about it? So maybe starting here with Blaine . I'm Blaine . I started rugby when I was 18.
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. Being involved in an environment-- Blaine says that it has many collisions, that it's all about force and power.
It's weird that our court system that has "in God we trust" on the money and wants to put the ten commandments And I have had conversations with David Blaine and he actually believes this.
It's weird that our court system that has "in God we trust" on the money and wants to put the ten commandments I've talked to David Blaine and Criss Angel for hours and hours and hours and they still stick with you know I want to tell people I've done
Or that you're really starting sort of from scratch? A lot of magicians got jealous when David Blaine 's special first came out, because they're like, he's just doing small tricks.
That's great. And I noticed some kind of common uncommon theme maybe here. You know, Blaine , you said you didn't really get into rugby until you were 18, whereas Rosie and Ross grew up with it. So we do think the kind of turning point for rugby in the US is, and how can we get more kids involved in a way that in New Zealand, Australia,
So you touched on two things that I want to pick up on, one for you, and then flicking it back to Ross. But for you, Blaine , trying to explain to the American audience, or people who haven't seen rugby before, the concept of a scrum or a line out. Rosie and I know what that means because we grew up with it.
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. I mean, when Blaine started, his age.
Are you going to use my name? My daughter, Blaine , who lives with her mother in Texas, but comes to visit a lot.
PCP so what do I do bend the bars get out make a star map catch a deer okay later that day the professor that captured me told me Blaine we didn't give you PCP we gave you the placebo what is that what's that what's the placebo was it it's not real no it's
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. 15 minutes? It's a bit like Blaine 's version of that.
Got it. The Atavus folks, all of the experience was great for the last five years. Excellent. And last but not least, we've got Blaine Scully who's captain of the USA men's team, and is a local born in Sacramento, California, didn't begin playing rugby until college, but took over the game pretty quickly.
And hopefully the awareness is grown through this tournament, and then the participation is also growing through this tournament. And from a national governing body perspective it's a balancing act, as Blaine said-- having an aspirational team, raising the profile, having more rugby on TV.
Because I imagine you want to be identifying folks early, and taking them all the way through to these kind of aspirational paths that Blaine was mentioning. Yeah, we touched on that a little bit, and Blaine obviously represented the All-Americans at various different age groups, and there's a good history of age group representation with the US. But there are challenges.
And people keep on talking about it, and there's some great examples in the sevens game as well of the crossover athlete, and players that maybe haven't quite made it to the NFL or the NBA, and Blaine will probably talk more to that. It's interesting that football is obviously seen as a farm for building athletes, but a lot of what happens in basketball has probably got more synergy to the game of rugby,
But I was with a lot of my American friends who were very clearly supporting America. So talking about the sevens and the 15s form of the game, Blaine , how does your training change depending on-- you mentioned the kind of lung capacity required for the sevens, and the form of the game is quite different.
Are you going to use my name? And they announced at some point that they wanted to call us Daddy and Papa as little Blaine in Texas did.
It's weird that our court system that has "in God we trust" on the money and wants to put the ten commandments magician period. Derren Brown is wonderful who started out leaning way towards David Blaine .
Your phone's still locked, right? - Yep. - I haven't done anything. - It's like a David Blaine . - It's like the nerdiest David Blaine .
development programs. And the amount of times we'd go to areas, and people would get hooked, but then they've got no club or association to play with. So the younger the kids are playing, then the more you care, and then I think as Blaine said, the Jesuit High School here in the Bay Area has a long history, but there weren't very many high schools.
into the USA Rugby program? Because I imagine you want to be identifying folks early, and taking them all the way through to these kind of aspirational paths that Blaine was mentioning. Yeah, we touched on that a little bit, and Blaine obviously represented the All-Americans at various different age groups, and there's a good history of age group representation with the US.
And touching, then, on some of the safety aspects. You know, Ross, it's probably a question for you, as well as interested in thoughts from Rosie and Blaine . But what are you doing for USA Rugby to encourage parents of young children
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. Who are you looking forward to seeing play, and maybe in your case, Blaine , if you want to-- who do you like playing against, or is
Talk to us a little bit about that, especially given the spotlight on American football in that regard. team, of course. Add something then I'll pass on to Blaine , but I think that that's the-- each team has its own character.
Who was like, yeah, who really got me excited about YouTube, you know? We'd stay up at night and we'd be like, "Ok, David Blaine ." I mean, like, YouTube David Blaine for six hours, you know? And then it would be like, the best soccer goals of 2004, you know, and-- and I'm still that way.