The saying is never truer than in Spokane, Washington, where a small group of rugby players are flying the flag in a State where sports like grid iron, baseball and ice-hockey rule supreme.

Spokane is a city of about 400,000 people three hours drive across the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle in far north western America. The city’s main industry is based around the thee huge medical research centres and hospitals located in the town. A large aluminium processing plant once provided widespread employment until aluminium became cheaper to import than process locally and the plant shut down. Times were tough as a result but the friendliness of locals has clearly never diminished.

The Spokane Razorbacks Rugby Club was formed by surgical consultant James Stearns in 1996 and play in regular matches with teams from neighbouring Montana and Idaho, as well as occasional tournaments such as the Missoula Maggot Fest.

James Stearns is built a bit like the grizzly bears that roam in the nearby mountains and it comes as no surprise to hear he was once a very handy prop.

He played four seasons with Eastwood A-Grade in Sydney in the late 1990s, playing alongside names like Matt Burke and Scott Staniforth and winning a Sydney A-Grade rugby premiership.

The majority of plays played by Spokane still come straight out of the Eastwood playbook, James says with a wide grin.

Getting enough players to field a team for Spokane’s weekly matches comes down to luck, he says.

Most players are introduced to rugby in the US when they leave highschool and go to college. Rugby clubs based in college towns like Missoula which is home to the University of Montana benefit from the influx of college-based players each year, but in Spokane it can be a struggle to find regular players.