Bath jibes put Yankee Dan's nose out of joint
Bath No.8 Dan Lyle will have a bone to pick with England when he anchors the USA against Clive Woodward's side tomorrow.
The back row forward broke his nose and cheekbone against Argentina three weeks ago and his club colleagues back home have been, as it were, rubbing his nose in it.
'I've had a few nasty e-mails from Jon Callard at Bath,' said Lyle.
'But it's not a gamble for me to play.' The USA's Europe-based professional forwards - Luke Gross, Philippe Farner, Dave Hodges and Lyle - will ensure a competitive battle up front. Behind the scrum, though, the Americans offer little apart from the raw pace of wings Jone Naqica and Jovesa Naivalu, try scorers in the A game on Tuesday.
Things are looking up for the Americans off the pitch.
Tomorrow's Test will be the first time a home international has been televised live in the States.
'That is vital for the growth of the game out here,' said England captain Kyran Bracken.
'They take sport so seriously, with the amount of TV coverage and the money they pump in. If they ever did that to rugby it would be unbelievable.'
USA (v England, San Francisco, tomorrow): K Shuman; J Naqica, P Eloff, J Grobler, J Naivalu; G Wells, K Dalzell; M MacDonald, K Khasigian, P Still, L Gross, P Farner, D Hodges (capt), K Schubert, D Lyle.
