Pacific Nations Cup 2013

[USARugger]

West Philadelphia born and raised baby (not even kidding)

I'm not sure about the funding aspect but the 7s pathways have seen more investment and development in the past two years than the 15s pathways have in the past decade.

If the London Irish match in Boston is successful though the NFL will be spearheading an East Coast-based professional 15s league here. That would be a game changer.

 

[SevensPhD]

I was born/raised in the USA and still live here (Philadelphia). Where did you grow up/play?

Born in Texas (my dad helped start the El Paso Scorpian Club), but did not start playing rugby until college (BYU) due to no youth/HS teams in my area. Played at Belmont Shore and Tempe in the 90s/early 2000s.

7s has already helped the USA XV cause. It opened more High Schools to include it in PE classes and more colleges are taking it more seriously. 7s is the perfect "gateway drug" for rugby in general- Easy to learn and more touches of the ball per player on the field. It also gets rugby on TV (albeit 7s), giving it more exposure/media coverage.