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Former NFL tight end becomes Major League Rugby's latest signing

Ryan Smith is hit by Jalen Elliott after a first down catch at Notre Dame Stadium (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

There has been a growing number of players transitioning from rugby to the American football in recent years, Christian Wade the latest to make the move.

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The former Wasps wing has been assigned to the Buffalo Bills and will be a part of the NFL’s international player pathway programme for the 2019 season, joining both Christian Scotland-Williamson and Alex Gray in making the most of the opportunity that has been afforded to elite athletes from outside the United States.

Athletes transitioning the other way have tended to be less high-profile, although Paul Lasike, previously a full-back with the Chicago Bears, signed up with Harlequins this season. Former Washington linebacker Psalm Wooching had trials in Europe, too, before signing with San Diego Legion and winning multiple caps for the US national team.

Another name is set to be added to this list, with Old Glory DC, one of the expansion teams in the MLR for the 2020 season, securing the signature of Ryan Smith.

Smith, 23, graduated from Miami (Ohio) in 2018, the same college that produced future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, signing up with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent. Like Lasike, who has made a success of the transition, Smith has a history of playing rugby prior to his NFL stint.

At 6 foot 4ins and weighing in at over 18 stone, Smith should bring impressive physical stature and ability to the MLR when his new club join the fast-growing competition next year.

Old Glory DC are not the only team set to be added in 2020, with New England Free Jacks and Rugby ATL also set to join and the tournament set to adopt an east and west coast conference format. This expansion follows Rugby United New York and Toronto Arrows being added this year in what is just the MLR’s second season.

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It was Lasike’s performances on the Utah Warriors roster in 2018 that caught the attention of Harlequins and now Smith will get a similar opportunity to press his claim for a stint in Europe if he can perform at a high level in the US capital next season, especially with the Scottish Rugby Union having invested in the fledgling franchise and almost certain to keep a close eye on his development.

WATCH: Jonny Wilkinson backs Owen Farrell to give England leadership quality

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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