Rugby players who tried to crack the NFL

Louis Rees-Zammit and Travis Clayton are the latest players to have quit rugby to pursue a career in the NFL.

It has proved a difficult task. Only Jordan Mailata has managed to make the transition.

“It recalibrates what you think is hard,” says Christian Scotland-Williamson, one of those who missed out.

So as Rees-Zammit and Clayton prepare for the next stage of their NFL adventure, what can they learn from their predecessors?

Here’s a reminder of those who chased their American dream.

Wade’s instant impact

Like Rees-Zammit, Christian Wade has pace to burn and quit rugby in his prime. He was 27 and third on the all-time Premiership try-scorers list when he left Wasps in 2018.

After going through the International Player Pathway (IPP) in 2019, he trained with the Buffalo Bills and made an instant impact in their first pre-season game.

On his very first carry in American football, Wade burst through the Indianapolis Colts’ defence to run in a stunning 65-yard touchdown.

He played in two more pre-season games but spent the next three seasons on the Bills’ practice squad. That sensational start was as good as it got.

Wade returned to rugby in 2022 with French side Racing 92 and is now back in England, coincidentally helping to fill the void Rees-Zammit left at Gloucester.

The big hitter who went viral

Christian Scotland-Williamson was playing for Worcester when he produced a crunching tackle that went viral.

Among those to reach out was the NFL and months later he was working up to 17 hours a day on the IPP programme in 2018.

He joined the Pittsburgh Steelers and played in pre-season as a tight end, but ill-timed injuries scuppered his progress and he was released after three seasons on their practice squad.

He briefly returned to rugby before becoming a barrister, but insists he wasn’t looking at rugby as a Plan B.

His advice is: “You’ve got to burn the ships behind you. You can’t think ‘Oh, I’ll go for a bit then come back’.

“The odds are so stacked against you, you can’t have the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rugby-players-tried-crack-nfl-070233320.html

Author : BBC

Publish date : 2024-08-30 07:02:33

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