At this point, two drubbings into the Rugby World Cup, it’s going to be awfully hard to convince U.S. sports fans to care about rugby.

After suffering beat-downs from Samoa and Scotland, the USA Eagles haven’t given anyone back home a lot of hope that rugby supremacy is coming soon. Wednesday brings South Africa. Barring a miracle, it’s going to be a long afternoon for the U.S. team at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

And yet, I’m fairly certain plenty of good reasons remain for why the U.S. sporting public should set aside some mental space for this game that seems so foreign to most and to others little more than a warm-up activity for some serious drinking. Rugby, I believe, is the future for a country that learns each day how much more impossible it is to turn our backs on the rest of the world.

There are essentially two views of how America confronts the world beyond its borders. Owen Wilson’s miniature 19th century cowboy character, Jedediah, in the brilliant “Night at the Museum” films sums up one view. When asked why he is so insistent on blowing up anything in his way to make room for more railroad tracks Jedidiah screams, “It’s manifest destiny! You can’t stop it and neither can I!”

The other view is that the world gets a little bit smaller every year, making it more important for us to get along with it. We spent the last century turning our backs on the games the rest of the world plays. We blew off soccer and cricket and rugby in favor of football, baseball and basketball. This century, we now accept that those other sports aren’t so dumb after all. (Truth be told, cricket still seems kind of silly.)