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Speaker 1: Rugby rugby. Let's get back to the rugby. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: more about the rugby American soil this week in all

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Speaker 1: blacks feet g of course. Now, James Patterson, former Crusader,

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Speaker 1: former Highlander, played for the US at the Rugby World

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Speaker 1: Cup back in twenty eleven, currently coaches the Kansas City Blues.

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Speaker 1: He is with US James, very good morning to you,

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Speaker 1: Morning to you. What's your sense of the vibe? There

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Speaker 1: is this sort of taken America by storm? Or is

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Speaker 1: this something that most people would never clues on.

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Speaker 2: I would say it'd be regional. You know, anybody that

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Speaker 2: loves rugby is obviously knowing it's happening here. But obviously

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Speaker 2: America the machine ities were sports, it falls pretty far

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Speaker 2: down the list. In fact, I think the most rugby

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Speaker 2: coverage I think we get in the States now is

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Speaker 2: lest Reese's Amets transitioning to the NFL and playing for

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Speaker 2: Kansas City. So that kind of gives you a state

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Speaker 2: of where rugged is out in the States.

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Speaker 1: What is the state? So your Kansas City Blues if

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Speaker 1: they played let's pick aside the Crusaders superside, how would

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Speaker 1: they go?

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Speaker 2: I mean, they would struggle against club teams, you know,

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Speaker 2: probably a Division two club team in christ which I think,

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Speaker 2: like if you look at where rugby is in the States,

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Speaker 2: I think it's on the right trajectory. So we've had

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Speaker 2: a couple of cracks that having a professional league here.

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Speaker 2: It was prob rugby in the past, and now we're

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Speaker 2: into our fifth year of Major League rugby, and I

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Speaker 2: think there's been a big shift in the game here

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Speaker 2: in terms of what's going because I think if you

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Speaker 2: look at it from a player standpoint, the big shift

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Speaker 2: is it's actually a serious sport. From a player registered number,

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Speaker 2: I think what America's got one hundred and twenty thousand

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Speaker 2: players and New Zealand's got one hundred and fifty thousand players.

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Speaker 2: But back in the day, the one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: thousand players were all your social players that played it

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Speaker 2: to drink. And now I think it's changed dramatically with

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Speaker 2: the introduction of professional rugby and people seeing there's a

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Speaker 2: career in the sport and there's a high profile around rugby.

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Speaker 1: So you would argue the All Blacks playing Fiji in

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Speaker 1: San Diego is part of the puzzle. It's a good thing,

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Speaker 1: it's a positive thing, and things are headed broadly speaking

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Speaker 1: in the right direction.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I mean anytime you bring the All Blacks, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think I can remember back to them Neil Blacks

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Speaker 2: played Chicago at Soldier Field and sold them out. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's the biggest brand in world rugby, and I think

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Speaker 2: it transcends to rugby, to be honest. I think it's

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Speaker 2: a global sports brand, and anytime they come to the States,

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Speaker 2: they generate a lot of interest. And I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of the interest in world rugby and USA rugby

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Speaker 2: is to get them here, and it's to pull in

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Speaker 2: the peripheral fans. You know, for America to be successful

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Speaker 2: in rugby, it's not your foreigners living in the States,

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Speaker 2: the American, the average American looking at the sport and

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Speaker 2: loving it.

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Speaker 1: Would you pay three hundred bucks for a ticket?

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Speaker 2: I mean I would. And if you compare it against

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Speaker 2: most sports, if you discard baseball that's got three hundred

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Speaker 2: games a year, it's very I mean going to sports here,

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Speaker 2: there's a big entertainment fact around it. So I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, I think Snapdragon Stadium is an awesome venue.

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Speaker 2: It's great, thirty five thousand fans can get there. It's

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Speaker 2: well supported in California, good weather, and I mean it's

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Speaker 2: going to be an open, flowing game. I'd anticipate there's

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Speaker 2: a pretty good turnout. To three hundred bucks is and

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Speaker 2: out of the realm of what's average for American sports.

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Speaker 1: Great insight James Gowell this week. I appreciate it verty much.

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Speaker 1: James Patterson, New Zealander, obviously, But to coach these days

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Speaker 1: with the Kansas City Blues, I mean, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. I paid nine hundred dollars to

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Speaker 1: go see Steven Eddams playing Los Angeles, and then I

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Speaker 1: thought it was expensive at the time. Mind you, I thought,

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Speaker 1: you know, ROAs lamb last weekend for two people at

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Speaker 1: one hundred bucks was expensive. So what do I know.

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Speaker 1: By the way, just to finish off the all Black story,

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Speaker 1: which I feel now has gone on far too long,

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Speaker 1: is we were offered and we turned down. We were

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Speaker 1: offered because they'll come back and go. We offered you

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Speaker 1: a player. We were offered a backup prop, a backup prop,

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Speaker 1: and only on Tuesday morning. So how I could interview

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Speaker 1: a backup prop on a Tuesday morning for a game

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Speaker 1: that's on Saturday. I've got no idea. So we said no.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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