{"id":475141,"date":"2026-03-14T11:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/475141\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:37:07","slug":"rugby-is-growing-in-america-sammy-sullivan-on-life-as-a-us-eagle-army-captain-and-lego-influencer-rugby-sevens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/475141\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rugby is growing in America\u2019: Sammy Sullivan on life as a US Eagle, army captain and Lego influencer | Rugby sevens"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, World Rugby\u2019s HSBC SVNS lands in New York<\/a> \u2013 well, New Jersey \u2013 for two days at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, a short ride from downtown Manhattan. The governing body will be watching keenly, as two days of traditional warm-weather sport are held at the end of a north-eastern winter. In New York\/New Jersey on Thursday, it snowed.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s US Eagles are not playing, having lost their place at the top table. But the Eagles women have hopes of a home-soil win after a third-place finish last week in Vancouver, beating France in a thriller after a narrow loss to New Zealand. Coach Emilie Bydwell\u2019s team are third in the season standings<\/a>, set for Championship tournaments in spring and summer.<\/p>\n

Bydwell can no longer call on Ilona Maher, the breakout star<\/a> of the 2024 Paris Olympics, at which the Eagles took a historic bronze medal<\/a>. But Sammy Sullivan, another standout on the field and on social media \u2013 in her case via the unlikely medium of Lego<\/a> \u2013 is back in the squad after six months off attending to her duties as a captain in the US Army.<\/p>\n

Sullivan discussed her remarkable American rugby life and challenges to come. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n

You found rugby at college \u2013 but did you know the game before?<\/p>\n

When I was little, like 7, and we were living in northern California, most army installations had a rugby team. My dad [a Green Beret<\/a>] served over 20 years, and there\u2019s pictures of me at my dad\u2019s rugby games, which is wild to think about how full circle that\u2019s all come. He grew up playing football, then like most football players when he tried rugby, concussed himself three times in his first practice, knocked himself out, but he loved it. I\u2019d never played before college, but I knew a little bit through him. I\u2019d seen clips of the Black Ferns and the All Blacks, South Africa, viral clips. I kind of thought, \u2018Well, that\u2019s a bosh sport if I\u2019ve ever seen one.\u2019<\/p>\n

So how did you come to play?<\/p>\n

My dream was to play college soccer, but my bigger dream was to go to [the United States Military Academy] West Point. I had gone to soccer camps at West Point. I tried to get noticed by the coach. I sent film in, and kind of my last resort was trying to walk on to the team during Beast, which is basic training for West Point cadets. And she wanted nothing to do with me.<\/p>\n

But Bill LeClerc [a former US Eagles prop, then West Point coach] reached out to me because when all the sports went around and said, \u2018Hey, this is what our deal is,\u2019 I checked the \u2018interested in rugby\u2019 box. Bill was all in on trying to get me into the team. So I\u2019m really grateful for him for doing that. One door closes, another door opens, for sure.<\/p>\n

West Point is a four-year hothouse. I suspect you couldn\u2019t have had a better crash course in rugby?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if I could have gotten through West Point and become the officer I am today without rugby, because it\u2019s a sport where you\u2019re in high-intensity moments and making split-second decisions and having to stay cool under pressure, and that directly translates to the military.<\/p>\n

My first two years, I was an emotional wreck. Getting a starting position really early in my freshman year due to injury but not being the best at it really frustrated me. I was crying after every game. But eventually, learning to hone and use that emotion, on the rugby field and often in my military service, it was life-changing. One would not have happened without the other. I\u2019d say I was either gonna go through West Point and play rugby, or neither.<\/p>\n

How did you make it to playing rugby full-time?<\/p>\n

When I was graduating from West Point, the rule to get into the Army\u2019s World Class Athlete Program was you had to do your key leadership time, which as a lieutenant is platoon leadership. And it worked out very well for me, given that the Tokyo Olympics were pushed back to 2021. I graduated in 2020 and there was no way I was going to make the team.<\/p>\n

I went to West Point wanting to be a platoon leader. That was one of the best experiences of my life. The army is a bond unlike any other. People from all backgrounds, coming together for a common goal. It\u2019s like being on a sports team. I was also lucky to go to Fort Carson in Colorado, which meant I was able to play rugby in Denver, keeping up those skills.<\/p>\n

Sammy Sullivan in her US army uniform, with her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photograph: SSG Antony J Martinez\/Antony J Martinez<\/p>\n

You won one cap for the US at 15s but found your niche in sevens. Paris 2024 was an extraordinary moment for American rugby. But it wasn\u2019t easy for you?<\/p>\n

I was already dealing with a torn labrum. For the months leading up to Paris, I was taping my shoulder every day. It was hurting pretty bad. Then days before getting to the Olympic Village, we had a scrag against Ireland, a little friendly scrimmage, and an Irish girl tackled me weird and my collarbone slightly separated from my sternum.<\/p>\n

It felt like I broke my collarbone. I immediately went to the hospital. I was calling my parents, like, \u2018Hey, guys, might have just broken my collarbone a week before the Olympics. Don\u2019t fly out yet.\u2019 So once I found out it was just a sprain, I was like, \u2018OK, well, it\u2019s gonna hurt. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m just gonna keep playing like this. This may be my only opportunity to go to the Olympics.\u2019<\/p>\n

I could not have done that without Nicole Titmus, our trainer. She recognized how to talk me through that injury, what to say during a game when I\u2019m hurting. She\u2019s an amazing individual.<\/p>\n

What stands out in memories of Paris, other than winning bronze<\/a> against Australia?<\/p>\n

What I will forever hold on to is that group of women. It was just so special. The bond we had. The culture. I\u2019ll forever remember the hugs after the score that won the bronze<\/a>. I\u2019ll remember looking up and seeing my family, really beyond happy that we could do that for Em, the first female head coach at the Olympics, just to show the world what an amazing coach she was, to bring a team that had gone fifth and sixth to the podium. It was awesome.<\/p>\n

How has the team managed the comedown from Paris, the need to move on?<\/p>\n

Em and the staff really had a tough task, because that group of women had just woken up America to rugby. You get a taste like that, you want more. But so many of those girls were tired, or moved on, which they were always going to do, regardless of if we won. The staff is still rebuilding, while keeping those core principles that the 2024 Olympic team cultivated.<\/p>\n

I think you could see it in Vancouver last weekend, we got bronze in a very similar way, a very back-and-forth game. And these young players are showing so much promise and grit and work ethic and skill. They\u2019re so young, because rugby is growing in America, 100%.<\/p>\n

Two younger players I picked out are Sariah Ibarra, 20, and Tahna Wilfley, 19.<\/p>\n

Sariah, I have no doubt, is going to be a huge leader on this team. She has such rugby knowledge, she stays so calm and collected in pressurized moments, and is just really skilled \u2013 her step is unmatched on our team. She\u2019s making big-game decisions and we all back her.<\/p>\n

As Tahna goes, I love her so much, like I see so much of myself in her work ethic, her determination. She plays with anger and spunk and is such a light on this team. She is so energetic, never complains, just a great heads-up rugby player, making split-second decisions. When I was 19, I can\u2019t even imagine doing the things she\u2019s doing now.<\/p>\n

About this weekend, the SVNS in New York. How\u2019s the weather?<\/p>\n

It was very windy, rainy and cold at our training session this morning, which I think was kind of a shock to the system, especially when Vancouver was pretty mild-mannered this year, which is normally our cold stop. So I think all the teams are getting a bit of a shock here. We\u2019ve been really working on our attention and awareness in adversity. And what better adversity than classic, windy, rainy, late winter day in New York? I think we\u2019re ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n

Sammy Sullivan celebrates an Eagles try during a game against Japan. Photograph: Alex Ho\/World Rugby<\/p>\n

Win or lose, I presume your Lego videos will continue?<\/p>\n

Yeah, it is basically therapy. I was coming home every day, obsessing over practice film and going into that rabbit hole. And I was just in Barnes & Noble, I saw a Lego set, and was like, \u2018I haven\u2019t done Lego since I was, like, 14. I should get one.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just such a great way to turn your brain off, to kind of separate myself. I have a Lego set on tour right now. In Vancouver I was walking from the warm-up for the New Zealand game and a fan gave me the new McLaren F1 car. So that\u2019s what I have. I\u2019ll probably build that today.<\/p>\n

Really what I\u2019ve liked, how I\u2019ve used my social media<\/a>, is encouraging people to embrace what they like. I\u2019m a 27-year-old woman, and I\u2019m proud to love playing with Lego. I think when people are authentically themselves, like Ilona is on social media, people respond well.<\/p>\n

Everybody should find whatever their outlet is. If your life is just going to work, coming home and preparing for the next day, that\u2019s not very fun. It\u2019s so important to have work-life balance.<\/p>\n

I just happen to really think everyone should be building Legos.<\/p>\n

Martin Pengelly writes about rugby in the US on Substack, at The National Maul<\/a>. A longer version of this piece appears there.<\/p>\n