These Americans don’t stint on the names. Glendale Raptors, Houston SaberCats, New Orleans Gold, San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves, Utah Warriors, Austin Elite. On Saturday, all seven of these newly-constituted teams set out to finally provide one of the key lost pieces of the jigsaw of global rugby — a professional league in the USA. Major League Rugby. No doubt with hearts in some mouths, it all gets under way.

Next season, Rugby United New York will join, so too Dallas, under the coaching of Mike Ford, formerly of Bath and England. After that, Kansas City, Toronto and Vancouver are due to launch.

Until now, the logistics have been prohibitive. Rugby has always had a thriving amateur club culture, but there has never been anywhere