USA sevens players have upped their rugby IQ to dominate World Series, says ex-captain and NBCSN pundit Dan Lyle
- Sevens is taking off in the US thanks to the Eagles and the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic Games
- 1996 Bowl winner Lyle also pays tribute to the late Beth Coalter, who he says helped to make the Hong Kong Sevens the best in the world
Former USA captain and NBCSN commentator Dan Lyle said the Americans have significantly boosted their “rugby IQ”, which is why they are among the dominant teams in this season’s HSBC World Sevens Series.
The 48-year-old Lyle helped to take USA Sevens to new heights as a player in the 1990s, with Hong Kong providing the stage for some of his greatest moments. Now, as a commentator, he is helping to embed the sport into the psyche of Americans via his expert analysis.
Lyle is the media face and voice of rugby in the United States at a time when sevens, in particular, is taking off thanks to the success of the Eagles and the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic Games.
“Our sevens players have significantly upped our athletics ability,” said Lyle. “One through 12 are all well-conditioned athletes, they have great physical attributes and within a full-time daily training environment, they have upped their rugby IQ.
“We know that by adding more and more men and women, and increasing our rugby IQ we would produce high-quality teams and that’s what we are doing.”
With rugby sevens now an Olympic sport, Americans audiences are becoming increasingly aware of the game and are falling in love with it.
The Americans are leading New Zealand in the series (113 points to 106) after six tournaments, having reached five finals in a row and winning on home soil in Las Vegas in March.
An active social media user, Lyle often retweets posts by fans who watch rugby on his show for the first time and are amazed at the sport’s athleticism and skills.
“Sevens is a wonderful sport for American audiences,” he said. “It’s perfect for our attention span. It is also part of the Olympics and Americans follow the Olympics like nobody else.”
While USA’s Bowl victory in 1996 was a highlight of his Hong Kong Sevens playing career, Lyle told the South China Morning Post that some of his fondest memories involved interaction with Hong Kong and World Rugby stalwart, the late Beth Coalter, who died in 2015.
Coalter was an integral part of the Hong Kong Sevens organising set-up for two decades before joining the International Rugby Board, as World Rugby was called then, in 2005 to help it launch the global world series.
“Memories of Hong Kong always involve Beth Coalter,” said Lyle, who is also rugby director with entertainment giant AEG. “And how we miss her. She was probably one of the first women in [what was perceived to be] a man’s work and she was streets above everyone else in how she ran things. She was tough and at the same time had a level of compassion and understanding.”
Lyle said Coalter shared equal memory space with the likes of the great New Zealand teams of the past featuring Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen and the incomparable Fijian master, Waisale Serevi.
“Not sure when I made my debut, but seeing players such as Jonah and Cullen, [Glen] Osbourne, Eric Rush and Serevi and, looking at the dynamics, it was incredible,” said Lyle, who skippered the US 15s side at the 1999 World Cup.
“Here I am as an American athlete and seeing the diminutive magic of Serevi and the raw power, strength and speed of Jonah was just amazing.
“I remember my first glimpse of Hong Kong and I can remember the colour with the backdrop of the stadium and thinking what an event it is. It was wonderful.”
Lyle, along with his 1986 coach and Hong Kong Sevens legend Tommy Smith, paved the way for the modern American sevens players who these days are among the best in the world.
