Murrayfield’s interest in Old Glory DC may have cooled, and the investment tap has been well and truly turned off, but a tartan seam still runs deep in Washington’s Major League Rugby franchise.
At the peak of their short-lived expansionist phase five years ago, the SRU bought a near-30 per cent stake in the club, but by 2022 were announcing a writedown of the outlay after Covid slowed the anticipated growth of the US professional scene.
With a second successive annual loss in excess of £10 million having recently been confirmed, there is little chance of the union re-engaging. But spend any time at the Old Glory training ground out on the sprawling George Mason University campus a 40-minute drive west of the United States capital and you won’t be long in hearing a Scottish twang.
Rob Harley, Glasgow Warriors’ record appearance maker, joined at the start of this season and has been a major figure in their run to the play-offs. They face the New England Freejacks in an Eastern Conference semi-final up in Quincy, Massachusetts next Saturday. Win that and they will take on either New Orleans Gold or the Chicago Hounds in the regional final. The winner of that match will play whichever of Houston, Dallas, Seattle and San Diego make it through from the western side of the draw.
Harley is the king of the Old Glory lineout, and Stevie Longwell their scrum lynchpin. The former Ayr, Jersey Reds and Bristol Bears tight-head — who, inexplicably, has never been offered a pro deal in his homeland — has been in excellent form since returning for his second spell in DC, while Damien Hoyland, the long-time Edinburgh campaigner, has enjoyed a fine debut year at full back.
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The head coach is Simon Cross, the former Edinburgh captain, who makes no secret of his keenness to add experienced players who want to dip a toe into coaching while still being ready, willing and able to contribute on the field. Harley is doubling up as forwards coach alongside the former Edinburgh and Harlequins lock Stan South, while Longwell has taken responsibility for the scrum.
“We don’t have a huge budget, so you’ve either got to go down the route of spending on high quality coaching and potentially less from a playing point of view or you’ve got to give guys who are coming towards the end of their playing careers an opportunity to coach,” Cross told The Times.
“Part of my remit from the owners is that they want to win with Americans. They want to be the most American team in the league, and so far we are third in the league for American minutes played.
“It’s all about getting people like Rob in the building, because he can develop the two young American second-rows we have faster than I can. Todd Blackadder was a huge influence on me at Edinburgh — an international player can have a huge impact on young, domestic guys. That’s what I want here — those Blackadder, Harley-style leaders to help the young American boys coming through.”
Cross says he is close to securing another couple of players with 100-plus URC appearances for the 2025 season. He himself is an evangelist for what there is to enjoy here both on and off the field. Having served a lengthy apprenticeship as defence coach of first Worcester Warriors then the Dragons, the 43-year-old is relishing both the chance to be his own man and the fact that his wife and their two sons have settled in so well.
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“Rugby in America is definitely growing. It’s a country of 330m-odd people and they love physical, contact sports. Rugby is certainly on the up and up and T20 cricket is the same thing — it’s starting to really embed.
“It took MLS [football] probably 10 years to get up and running, but we went down to Miami a couple of weeks ago and played at their venue on a field out the back. We were sitting in their changing room and it was just unbelievable. The facilities are incredible. Lionel Messi [the Inter Miami and Argentina forward] is absolutely everywhere.
“Away from rugby, life here is great. It’s a cliche, but the yellow school bus thing is really important. There is a bus stop in every neighbourhood, and if you hang out there with your kids, you’ll meet 15-20 families every day. There’s your community right there.
“We’ve been invited to Super Bowl parties, Burns nights would you believe, and they go crazy for St Patrick’s Day. For the 4th of July we were invited to a BBQ at someone’s house. It’s lovely.
“I still have aspirations to come home at some point and coach there. It’s taking me a long time to get back around, but this is a really exciting stop on that journey.”
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Cross is doing his best to introduce a “more northern-hemisphere” style, centred on physicality, strong defence and a willingness to put boot to ball which he says can come across as counter-intuitive to native ears.
“The Americans are big, strong, physical men. Why would you try to play wide/wide?,” he said. “We’re starting to get the message across that kicking the ball is not a bad thing. In the American psyche, giving up possession is something they don’t like doing. In [American] football, they don’t want to punt the ball away, in hockey you want to keep hold of the puck. In basketball, it’s a disaster if you lose possession.
“We’ve got to teach the boys how to kick, where to kick, when to kick, and that kicking is not a bad thing.”
Harley is also having a ball Stateside, especially having wisely elected to position himself as a second row — a decision which must strike him as all the smarter when the temperatures hit the ridiculous heights they have been in DC this past week.
“It’s damn hot, but hey it’s good for us,” Harley ventured. “Hopefully it will be less hot and humid when we go to New England, but if we are training under this pressure with the extreme heat and when the humidity is so high; if we are able to execute our skills and work hard under these conditions, we’ll be confident in our abilities in easier conditions.
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“We’ve beaten all the teams on our side of the conference already so it’s just about making sure we get our game on the field and put out an 80-minute performance. It’s open for someone to make a run.
“Glasgow have provided a good blueprint of what it takes to go away from home and play under pressure, hold your nerve, then bring good skill execution when you get the chance.
“I’ve been impressed with the play here, and there are definitely a lot of guys in the squad and wider league who would be able to make the step up to that level and make a contribution. So it’s below the URC, but the skill level is good and you see that there are a lot of guys with promise who will only develop further.
“There are a lot of big guys and a lot of big collisions. That’s one of the first things Crossy said to me before I came out: the Americans love the contact. You see that every week, every game.”
Longwell believes the overall standard of the league has risen sharply since he first experienced it back in 2021.
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“A few years ago there were [only] a few teams up there competing to win the championship, whereas now it seems like anyone can beat anyone, and they have been doing. Any one of the remaining teams could go and win the league.
“Weather plays a huge part, as do the fields [pitches]. More often than not you’ll be on turf [artificial] fields. Back in the UK it’s generally either grass or mud, so it’s certainly different.
“DC has been pretty tropical of late. I don’t remember it being as humid as this last time. You don’t tend to get this sort of weather until you go somewhere like Miami. We were down there a couple of weeks ago and it was exactly like this, but at 8pm. It was really difficult to hold onto the ball. Thankfully there were a lot of knock-ons, so a lot of stoppages and a lot of scrums!”
USA v Scotland
11.30pm
Audi Field, Washington DC
TV TNT Sports 1
● Glasgow Warriors will open their Champions Cup campaign at home to Sale Sharks on Saturday December 7, while Edinburgh kick off their Challenge Cup fixtures away to Gloucester the previous night.
Glasgow Warriors, Champions Cup pool 4
Sale Sharks (H), Saturday December 7, kick-off 8pm
Toulon (A), Sunday December 15, kick-off 1pm UK time
Racing 92 (H), Friday January 10, kick-off 8pm
Harlequins (A), Saturday January 18, kick-off 8pm
Edinburgh, Challenge Cup pool 3
Gloucester (A), Friday December 6, kick-off 8pm
Bayonne (H), Friday December 13, kick-off 8pm
Vannes (A), Saturday January 11, kick-off 1pm UK time
Black Lion (H), Sunday January 19, kick-off 1pm
