Thursday, June 10, 1999
Associated Press
Eagles fullback Kurt Shuman stops a Fijian charge
into U.S. territory, stripping the ball in the process.
Honolulu scrum
Hawaii hosts rugby's Epson
By Pat Bigold
Cup Pacific Rim Championships
at Kapiolani Park this weekend
Star-BulletinNo forward passing, no subs, no timeouts, no helmets, no pads.
Scoring and bone-crunching contact -- plentiful.
Those are two of the essential ingredients of rugby.
Despite featuring much of what makes hockey and football appealing to American fans, rugby has never developed a major fan following in this country.
One obvious drawback is that Americans don't get to see the caliber of play that packs huge stadiums to capacity in other countries.
But this weekend at Kapiolani Park, it will be possible to find out what makes high-level rugby one of the world's most popular spectator sports.
The USA's team, dubbed the Eagles, will face the Japan Cherry Blossoms in a critical match of the Epson Cup Pacific Rim Championships on Saturday at 2 p.m. It will be Hawaii's first international rugby match, and surprisingly the USA is unbeaten in the six-nation Pacific Rim playoffs.
In fact, the USA team can take control of the playoffs with a win over Japan. There are only three games left to play. This is the only one scheduled here.
Fiji helped the USA's cause by upsetting previously unbeaten Japan, 16-9, over the weekend. (The USA beat Fiji, 25-14, in San Francisco last month.)
But the USA's earlier Pacific Rim victories over Tonga and Fiji are considered suspect because neither of those opponents were at full strength.
Japan will be the first full-strength team the USA has faced in the playoffs.
That's one reason promoters of the Hawaii match say Japan is still the favorite. Another reason is the talent on the Cherry Blossoms' roster. Two former members of New Zealand's legendary All Blacks -- Jamie Joseph and Graeme Bachop -- play dominant roles. The All Blacks are to international rugby what the New York Yankees are to baseball.
The USA is led by American-born captain Dan Lyle, who also plays rugby professionally in England. The Eagles also have a former NFL linebacker: Richard Taridits.
Both teams, or "sides," as they are called in rugby terminology, are now in town and training for Saturday's match.
In other weekend Pacific Rim action, Tonga tied Samoa, 6-6, leaving the Samoans at 1-1-1.
The game is played on a 100-meter-by-65-meter field with 15 players a side. There are two 40-minute halves.
Hawaii Sports Inc., which is staging the event, will install 4,000 bleacher seats around a new field at Kapiolani Park for Saturday's match. Admission will be free.
TV crews from the U.S., Japan, Australian and United Kingdom will cover the match.
USA coach Jack Clark said he thinks American youngsters are turning more to the alternative contact sport of rugby.
Clark said rugby is played on 450 American college campuses and in park leagues throughout the country.
He said he believes the American public will grow to like the game because of the heavy contact, the fact that players' faces are visible, and the fact that there is a lot of offense.
