USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville, who famously captained England on his international debut against Australia in 1984, had a successful top flight coaching career with both Wasps and Gloucester, winning England’s domestic league and cup competitions. But when he left Kingsholm in 2005 he knew that he needed a new career challenge and a change of scenery.

“I couldn’t see myself coaching in the same type of role for another 10 years,” said Melville. “I’m interested in the development of sport and how organisations improve. The opportunity at USA Rugby came up – the new board was different to the average rugby board. I was sucked in by their ambition.”

therugbyblog

Melville knew, however, that he had a serious job on his hands.

“I had my interview at around the time of a USA Eagles v Uruguay game in 2006, which was played in front of a very small crowd. I couldn’t believe that the winner of that game was going to go forward to the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France to compete in a group with England, South Africa, Samoa and Tonga.”

The men’s and women’s US teams continue to improve at IRB sanctioned tournaments and Sevens is thriving. There are greater numbers at adult level, but crucially, under Melville’s stewardship, more youngsters are also now playing rugby at school.

“When I joined we had roughly 45-50,000 members. We now have 115,000 members. Two million children have also been through our Rookie Rugby program [similar to tag rugby]. That’s how we introduced the game to kids. We now have high school children that have been playing rugby for several years and they are much better players.”

Despite rugby being a minority sport in the US, Melville recognises that by introducing the sport to youngsters, there is always the possibility that some may come back to the sport if things do not work out with American Football, Basketball and the other traditional US sports.

“The best athletes will always go to the mainstream US sports but during that process most will get cut at high school or at college. If they have played rugby as a kid they can come back to us at any time during that process. Our goal is that when they get cut they can come back to rugby and pick it up much more easily.”

The mighty All Blacks will play their first match on American soil since 1980 when the two sides meet at Soldier Field, the home of NFL side the Chicago Bears, on November 1st. Melville is hugely excited by the prospect.

“The city and people of Chicago have been fantastic – they’ve really got behind the event. With Chicago being a sports-mad city we felt it was a real opportunity to stage the event at a big stadium.”

56,000 out of the 60,000 tickets have already been sold and when I ask him how the game is being marketed, it’s clear that all bases have been covered.

“The marketing campaign will really kick in over the next couple of weeks – there will be a number of television commercials, features in the press and a lot of visibility with adverts on lampposts and at bus stops throughout Chicago. There are also gala dinners planned in the city, which will be attended by hundreds of people.”

The Eagles and All Blacks also have a number of school visits for the players planned during the week before the game but a real game changer for USA Rugby could be how many people tune in to the match on television. NBC have the rights to the game, which is also likely to be shown in the UK, and the match therefore has a potential reach of 100 million homes stateside.

Whilst it is difficult to predict how many people might tune into the biggest rugby event to ever take place in America, Melville is quick to point out that with the game kicking off at 3:30pm Eastern time on a Saturday, “it’s a pretty good window” for sports coverage on television.

The USA Eagles will need to be at their very best to remain competitive against whichever fifteen players All Blacks coach Steve Hansen selects for the game and there is still a slight question mark over whether certain players from Aviva Premiership clubs, including the likes of Leicester Tigers’ Blaine Scully and Northampton Saints’ Samu Manoa, will be released for the match. Melville remains confident that USA coach Mike Tolkin will be able to select his strongest possible squad.

“We haven’t finalised things yet but we should be able to come to an agreement. We’ll need to compromise but we’re working on other things with Premiership Rugby so I’m hopeful there won’t be any issues.”

The outcome of the match will be largely irrelevant but the exposure of the event could provide a lasting legacy for rugby in North America. One of the rugby highlights of 2014 will be the All Blacks performing the Haka in front of a probable sell out and vocal US home crowd in the Windy City. Melville and USA Rugby look ready for their biggest challenge yet.