By Greg Stutchbury
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - United States rugby coach Eddie O'Sullivan pulls no punches when he approaches former American football players to give rugby a try.
"Guys who play American football tend to retire after being beaten up (but), if they come to rugby we offer them the chance to get beaten up again witho3ut getting paid," the former Ireland coach told Reuters with a grin.
O'Sullivan, in his second stint with the U.S. Eagles having coached them in the 1990s before he joined Ireland, has two players in his squad who were signed up for National Football League teams.
Prop Brian Howard played defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs and St Louis Rams and winger Leonard Peters was a safety with the New York Jets and Chicago Bears. Tommy Saunders also had try-outs at wide receiver with several NFL teams.
"Brian played for three years in the NFL, but he played rugby in high school, then got a scholarship and played football in college then went to the NFL and has now come back to rugby," the Irishman said.
"Leonard ...is from Hawaii, where there is a bit of rugby, so he took it up and has come through the sevens program, while Tommy (also) came through the sevens program.
"So there are guys coming through who have finished with football and are attracted by rugby and the way the game works, but it's not something that happens often.
"It is good when it does, because you get a top class athlete, but then you have to upskill them."
"They have to change - Leonard played on the defensive side of the football, so he is great at tackling, but you have to upskill him when he has the ball.
"Tommy is the exact opposite -- he was a wide receiver so he always had the ball so you have to teach him to defend."
O'Sullivan said trying to develop and market rugby in the U.S. was like "taking two steps forward when pushing a rock up a hill, then having to take one step back," however when it was in the mainstream media, Americans took notice.
"By and large the thing we have found is that when people in America see the game, they love it," he added. "They immediately buy into it.
"The dynamics of the game is more interesting because we don't stop at every tackle, because there is a collision element to it, because the ball is kicked, there are a lot of reasons why Americans love rugby."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
