GRR: Eagle Men
You can picture it now, the tall, bony frame cutting and baling hay on a farm in the mountains of Colorado, no phone, no email of course, and then he stops ... out in the distance a truck is coming, leaving a rooster tail of dust behind it.
Gary Lambert is repeatedly named as one of the very best Eagles to ever play the game.
A massive man who was both physical and athletic, Lambert was big enough to be a lock, and mobile enough to be an openside flanker. He was a towering presence for White Plains 18 times for the USA team. He scored three tries, including a massive try in the 1987 World Cup to help beat Japan.
Born in Virginia but trained in Australia, Mike Hercus returned to the United States with an eye toward making the USA team, and not only did he accomplish that fete, he obliterated records.
The lock forward from the Back Bay club was a California, and USA, guy through and through.
Born in Southern California, which is where he played and coached, Ed Burlingham was an imposing lock and supreme leader, captaining the USA in nine of his 14 capped matches. This included the 1987 World Cup, where he led the USA to a victory over Japan.
Chris Osentowski was a throwback, or more accurately, the end of an era.
As rugby became more and more professional, Osentowski was an avowed amateur. He worked extremely hard to be a great prop, and was the best tighthead in the United States for some period, but he did all of that while holding down a demanding career.