Chris Baumann’s try for the USA against Samoa was probably the first time that many rugby fans have heard his name.

The University of Wyoming, Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Life, Tempe Santa Monica, and NYAC player has certainly been all over the place, working and playing and trying to make it.

This year, he finally got his first cap, and Sunday his first USA try.

"I had my first opportunity with the Eagles when I was 22 and it didn’t go well,” said the 28-year-old. “I had a long evolution to go in my scrumming. I was playing for Aspen Rugby but they folded and then I tore my ACL playing for a different club, so there was probably two years where I was coming back from that."

Being a classic American amateur, Baumann spoke Tuesday about traveling around and finding a way to play and pay for it.

"Obviously being American, you’re not just playing rugby you also have to make money, so it was just a battle to even get in a position to have a go at the national team,” Baumann said. "When I got healthy again I decided I needed to play in a better club competition, so I went down to Australia and played for Randwick and that really helped, then came back [in 2013] and still nothing. This last year I saw that I needed to go out to New York Athletic Club and that’s where things started happening.

"I’ve done a bunch of different jobs, but the one where I didn’t need to work out (in a gym) was working at a woodmill in Steamboat Springs (his home town, in Colorado). You get real big logs where you need machinery to move them, but some of the smaller ones you can move yourself."

Baumann was called up to the Domestic forwards camp and then went to South America with the USA Selects. His play there got him into the Pacific Nations squad. 

His try isn’t why he’s on the team - his scrummaging has improved and his physicality in the rucks is strong. But having the presence of mind to pick the ball up and stay low and score was a big play, and put the Eagles in with a chance to make a comeback. Baumann didn’t have much opportunity to savor the moment, though.

“I didn’t really have time to enjoy it as I was trying to hurry everything up because I knew we needed to score some more points,” he said.