On Wednesday, Donald J. Trump became the next President of the United States of America in a landslide victory nobody saw coming.

As always, the decadence of an American election sucked us in. As they say, everything is bigger in America.

We know The Donald is a huge NRL fan – loves his Knights apparently.

So while we’re at it, let’s look at some of America’s contributions to the greatest game of all:

USA TAKE ON KANGAROOS IN PHILADELPHIA
At the end of their United Kingdom tour in 2004, Australia had one last stop in the United States where they faced the Tomahawks. On a freezing night at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, America shocked the heavyweights shooting out to an 18-0 lead on the astro-turf field. Matt Bowen scored his first try of the night before former Western Suburbs Magpies centre Brandon Costin scored a classic individual try to have the Tomahawks leading at half-time 24-6. After a spray from coach Wayne Bennett, Australia came out and flexed their muscle eventually winning 36-24 with Bowen bagging a hat-trick. You can watch the full game on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eyBSWFS4s

COCA-COLA SEVENS
One of the highlights of the Sevens back in the day was watching some of the underdogs go at it. Teams like Japan, Russia and the mighty United States.

CALIFORNIAN STATE OF ORIGIN
A fourth State of Origin match was played in California in 1987 with the Blues and Maroons going at it in front of 12,000 fans. Peter Sterling was man of the match as New South Wales prevailed 30-18.

2013 WORLD CUP
One of the stories of this World Cup was the underdog USA making it to the quarter finals after victories against Wales and Cook Islands. The Americans then came up against the might of the Australian Kangaroos who destroyed the underdogs 62-0 on their way to winning the World Cup undefeated. It was a wonderful campaign for the minnows who have qualified for the 2017 World Cup in Australia.

USARL

The Americans have their own domestic competition which includes fourteen clubs spanning from Boston to New York to Florida. The Philadelphia Fight are the current USARL Champions.

American All-Stars
Without ever playing a game of rugby league, a squad of Americans toured Australia in the 1950’s and even wore full-blown gridiron uniforms!