This weekend the England Counties U20s will play the UK Armed Forces U23s in Doncaster, and there's an American in the lineup.
Fatman Thorndyke (whose given name is Chris but he goes by Fatman) is a former standout for New Trier in Illinois and will be suiting up for the CRAA U19s in Mexico in August. Instead of going to college, Thorndyke opted to go to England and play in a senior club.
He is playing for Esher in National League 2 East, surrounding himself with experienced players and coaches.
"I was with New Trier at Nationals [last spring] and we did pretty well," Thorndyke told GRR. "I was buzzing coming out of there. But then I arrive at Esher and I was like 'Oh, wow, these guys are pretty good!'"
With a starting scrumhalf who played for Exeter (Pierre Thompson) and another who is on the United Arab Emirates national team (Sam Bullock), each of whom are the gameday captain when they start, and then another who was contacted to Harlequins, he had some competition for game time.
"I got humbled pretty quickly," Thorndyke said. "And it was tough being on the 2nd team instead of the 1sts. But I came here to learn, not be cocky. I learned a lot from [Esher Sporting Director] Mike Brown, and they brought in Mike Friday and I learned so much for him."
Friday, of course, is the former USA 7s Head Coach and a former England scrumhalf.
His performances have impressed and he was a regular starter on the Abbots, which is what Esher's 3rd side is called, and then moved up to the Cardinals (the 2nds). He also has become involved in other ways, such as helping run a junior rugby cap last fall at the club.
All of that got him noticed for the Surrey County U20s, and after playing for them he and a few more Esher players were picked up for the London & Southeast team, which played games against the North U20s and the Midlands U20s.
"Going into that last game I knew I had to play well and I was in competition for the England Counties team with my opposite," Thorndyke said. "I thought I played pretty well, maybe good enough to be on the bench."
Instead, he will be starting. (Note this England Counties team is not a 'capture' team, meaning that Thorndyke is not committed to England.)
