Most sports fans don't know this, but Utah is a rugby hotbed in the United States, and it's especially important this year.
Four players with ties to the state were selected to represent their country in the upcoming Rugby World Cup, which gets under way Sept. 8 in France.
BYU and Utah get to split the honors of which school nurtured the four in the beginnings of their rugby careers. Henry Bloomfield and Salesi Sika honed their game at BYU, while Blake Burdette and Matekitonga Moeakiola came to national prominence after playing for the Utes.
The veteran of the group is Sika, whose selection to the Eagles — nickname for the national team — will be his second trip to the RWC. He played in three of the four first-round games in the 2003 tournament in Australia.
After leaving BYU following the 2006 season, Sika earned a two-year contract with French second-division club Beziers.
"It was quite an adjustment to make," Sika said of turning professional.
Training full-time at a high intensity is out of the norm for most American players, who might train twice a week for a club match.
Bloomfield was a first-team all-WAC selection at defensive tackle for the Cougars in 1996. Rugby is in his blood, though, and it shows in his willingness to sacrifice time away from his family and work to gain a spot with the national side.
"It's always been my goal of playing for the Eagles," he said.
Despite his age (34), Bloomfield keeps getting noticed because he has been fortunate enough to play for Belmont Shore in Long Beach, Calif., perhaps the best overall team in the country the past several years.
Burdette is a former running back at Utah but gave up the game for the hopes of getting a professional contract to play rugby overseas. That option didn't pan out, but he still stuck with the game, and it has paid off well in 2007.
Fans can catch these players in action on Versus, which is carrying all the U.S. games on a tape-delayed basis, or on Setanta, available on DirecTV or Dish Network.