Carlin Isles Made Me a Rugby Sevens Fan For 15 Minutes

Certainly not Carlin Isles, the man who could possibly make a less-small portion of America care about Rugby. It’s been barely two months since we (at this site at least) first heard about Carlin Isles. He’s a sprinter and former football player and he’s probably the fastest Rugby player in the world. Isles was on display this weekend on NBC for the Las Vegas Sevens event.

On Saturday afternoon, Isles showed how dangerous he is over a very short stretch, scoring two tries (trys?) is less than 2-minutes against Spain. It was electrifying. Isles scored twice and Team USA scored on their final possession of the game and kicked one of their crooked extra points to advance in the tournament. It was pretty damn exciting.

I was yelling at my walls, but there was no one there to listen. I jumped on Twitter, but not a single person out of the 711 I follow (mostly sports fans) was smashing their keyboard with a Rugby hashtag at the end. It was an international sporting event that featured an American doing something spectacular and not a single fuck was given.

But I have hope. Carlin Isles is barely 23-years old. He is the hope for Rugby in the United States. For the 15 minutes I consumed Rugby this weekend, it was awesome. It’s a brutal sport and the violence is universal. Carlin Isles isn’t the only sprinter / football player who isn’t making a living playing a professional sport, but he’s the first to take up and dominate Rugby.

This could be the start of a future were American football players decide to take up Rugby and the Eagles (That’s our team name) become a world Rugby power. Then people will care. Then maybe we’ll know the plural of a try is. Or any of the other rules that just look like a dog pile. I can’t wait, because it is kind of awesome.

Previously: Carlin Isles is Blazing Fast: Former Track Athlete Now Taking Rugby Sevens By Storm