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'Coming from the NFL, leading with your head is not good... I found out the hard way'


Paul Lasike
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Reporting from Japan

Former NFL player Paul Lasike is looking forward to making his bow at the Rugby World Cup as the US Eagles look to upset Eddie Jones’ England in Kobe on Thursday.

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The 114kg centre played full-back for the Arizona Cardinals and the Chicago Bears after transitioning to America football from rugby during his time at Brigham Young college in Utah.

The New Zealand-born 29-year-old joined Harlequins in 2018 from MLR side Utah Warriors. Somewhat inevitably the American was asked to compare both contact sports.

“It’s kind of similar in terms of the stage. With the huge World Cup stage, you get those similar vibes and the similar nerves running through, so it does bring back memories. So I’m looking forward to the experience.”

The hard-running centre admitted bad habits learned in the American code have had to be unlearned in rugby. “Coming from American football, leading with your head to someone’s lower body is not good. I figured out the hard way,” said Lasike. “But I do like playing physical.”

(Continue reading below…)

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The Rugby World Cup hasn’t gone completely unnoticed among the NFL’s elite. New England Patriots NFL star Tom Brady sent a message of support to the Springboks before sending a subsequent one to the USA. Eagles wing Blaine Scully said the team was ‘grateful’ for the message from the superstar.

“Nate Ebner, who is a US Olympian for us, had a word with his team-mate (Brady) and he did give us a shout out on his story, so we’re grateful for that. It’s good that he’s taking some interest in the game.”

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Back row team-mate Cam Dolan also spoke to the influence England defence coach John Mitchell had on the US Eagles during his stint in North America. “John introduced us to a new style of rugby, which Americans were not used to in the past.

“US players have grown over the last two years. Full-time training environment is massive. We had some guys only training on maybe a Wednesday and Thursday… working accounting jobs. You can train all day, but if you don’t have that match experience, you don’t have the fitness, especially on an international level.”

WATCH: Eddie Jones and George Ford hold a team announcement press conference ahead of England’s World Cup match against the USA in Kobe

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Olly 47 minutes ago
Is defence going out of fashion? 'The trick now is how quickly you stop the bleeding'

IMO, with all the physical changes to the players and the law changes for faster more ball minutes etc…The Def role has changed. All the usual stuff of the def system, line speed structure, communication, pressure etc etc are all critical. For me, game management has become def and the role of the modern def coach. Yes, it has always been important, but I feel it has switched from more attack focus to a def focus. It is very hard to stop teams from coming away with points when they get in range now and we are seeing more and more of just pick-and-goes over actual attack in this red zone. You can tackle your heart out, but the system will fail, and from what I have been seeing in SRP (with the new laws), teams seem to be holding on in def….then suddenly the opposition gets in the right area (mostly a run of penalties), and we have a run of points. Lots of points in bunches at critical points of games which make a tight contest look like a comfortable win.

Not sure if I am getting my point over clearly (at the end of a tiring day so rambling); I guess I just see the game is all about managing where the game is played, which has always been important…But I think it is def more important now then he has been in the past and a critical part of def coaching now. A def team stopping a team from getting points when in the reds zone is celebrated as a miracle now and a complete failure from the attacking team….



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