March 2009's edition of Rugby World magazine profile Saracens and USA lock Hayden Smith.
March 2009's edition of Rugby World magazine profile Saracens and USA lock Hayden Smith
One ploy USA Rugby chiefs are using to boost their talent pool is to encourage some of the fine athletes who fail to make the top grade in America's leading professional sports to try rugby.
That's what happened to lock Hayden Smith, who is honing his rugby skills in England with Saracens after US Eagles coach Scott Johnson persuaded his old Aussie pal Eddie Jones to give him a go. "Saracens is the perfect environment for me to continue to develop," says Smith, 23. "The staff and the players are always raising the bar and it's fun too. I feel very lucky to be in this situation."
The son of an Englishman, Smith grew up in Australia and played some rugby at school, but the 6ft 7in youngster's initial dream was to play professional basketball. He won a scholarship to the US and played four years of college basketball, but when he finished his finance degree in Denver last May, he failed to land the crucial professional contract. USA Rugby swooped and he joined Denver Barbarians, then flew to Saracens on a one-season secondment.
USA Rugby clearly rate Smith as they handed him his first Eagles cap against Uruguay in November, and Saracens boss Jones agrees: "He is very young to rugby but physically he's quite a specimen. He's got good twitch fibres and can obviously jump a bit. If he works hard he could do well. His attitude is outstanding; he's desperate to make it and that is one reason why we were keen to have him here."
Rugby has much more contact than basketball, but Smith doesn't mind: "Playing basketball I always missed the physical contact of rugby. I was known to be a little rougher in practice than most guys!"
VERDICT Could be a leading light for the USA at the next World Cup.
