Super Rugby side ACT Brumbies will use an NFL "dropout" as a "test case," but the manager of the club's academy program, Nick Leah, believes American players "could become prominent" in Super Rugby and the U.K. in the next decade, according to Chris Wilson of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The Brumbies have invited former Houston Texans tight end Chris Coyle to "spend three months training and playing in Canberra." Coyle has "publicly stated his ambition to become a professional rugby player after being cut by the Texans when he suffered a shoulder injury midway through last year." Leah admitted there was "a long road to be travelled yet" and predicted it would take an NFL player two years to "physically adapt to the needs of Super Rugby." But Leah said rugby was the fastest-growing sport in U.S. high schools and more American youngsters "now had a background in both football codes." Leah: "Over the next 10 years, 100 percent there'll be more American guys playing [professional rugby]. It will be an opportunity for American players to play not only in Super Rugby but the U.K." (SMH, 4/21).
