'Good value in pub' - ex-NFL star Kelce tries rugby

ByTim Durrans

BBC Sport, England

Amateur rugby national players from Hackney had a daze erstwhile they turned up for a grooming lucifer - to spot a erstwhile Super Bowl champion among the opposition.

Hackney RFC's players rocked up connected Wednesday for a 30-minute friendly, lone to find erstwhile NFL prima Jason Kelce playing for section rivals Old Streetonians.

Kelce - older member of Travis, the three-time Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs choky extremity joined to planetary popular superstar Taylor Swift - played 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The 38-year-old is present learning to play antithetic sports for his YouTube channel, and had a rugby acquisition from erstwhile Harlequins and England prop Joe Marler.

"It's a bully small communicative being capable to accidental we played rugby against Taylor Swift's brother-in-law, which I'm definite helium loves arsenic a title," Hackney full-back Peter Scott joked to BBC Sport.

"It's astonishing that the sporting community, not adjacent conscionable the rugby community, tin marque these sorts of things happen. It was beauteous surreal and it's beauteous cool."

Kelce was portion of Philadelphia's 2018 Super Bowl winning broadside and earned 7 selections to the Pro Bowl - the yearly NFL crippled featuring the league's apical players - earlier retiring successful 2024.

He was joined by erstwhile Philadelphia team-mate Beau Allen, besides a subordinate of that Eagles title broadside of 8 years ago, astatine Hackney Marshes successful London this week.

Hackney prop Dave Lewis told BBC Sport it took Kelce - a erstwhile center, an violative lineman, whose main relation is to drawback the shot to the backmost and past support him, each play - took a portion to get utilized to rugby's rules.

"We got a connection from our nine skipper saying our section rivals were coming down with 2 ex-NFL players, but we didn't cognize thing other astir it," Lewis said.

"With the rules, helium got there. At the precise start, helium benignant of went circular the backmost of a ruck and picked the shot up, which helium evidently was past penalised for.

"I handed him disconnected astatine 1 constituent and enactment him connected his backmost successful beforehand of his team-mates and each of our fans arsenic well. I anticipation they merchandise that footage due to the fact that I'll beryllium eating retired connected it everlastingly if they do.

"He conscionable got backmost up and perfectly smashed maine aboriginal connected erstwhile helium had the ball, moving done me. So, I don't deliberation helium has an ego. I deliberation he's conscionable up for the physicality of it all."

Lewis' team-mate Scott said helium thought Kelce picked the crippled up beauteous quickly.

"He's a beauteous intimidating figure," Scott added. "Very wide shoulders, almighty legs. They were utilizing him arsenic a fig 8, which, I think, is the cleanable presumption for him.

"There were a fewer intricacies, similar however helium was carrying the shot and wherever helium was successful the scrum, but helium intelligibly knew what helium was. He didn't look retired of spot astatine all.

"In rugby you are taught to tackle astatine an angle, and spell astatine people's shoulders. He was a batch much beforehand on, similar 'OK, way one, I'm conscionable gonna spell consecutive astatine anyone that came out'."

Kelce is successful England this week to commentate connected Sunday's NFL overseas crippled betwixt his erstwhile nine Philadelphia and the Jacksonville Jaguars astatine the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (14:30 BST).

Old Street president Will Gillgrass said some Kelce and Allen truly embraced the full opportunity.

"They were precise bully worth successful the pub afterwards," helium said. "We took them to 1 of our locals, and they enactment their cards down the bar, chatting with the lads for a fewer hours aft the crippled and truly getting involved.

"They adjacent did our initiation, singing a opus and downing a pint."

The Hackney players besides had their 15 minutes of fame aft the match, with Kelce's American movie unit interviewing immoderate of them.

"They were asking however helium got on, and what were the large differences to construe to an NFL audience," said Scott.

"The 1 I picked up connected was the magnitude of powerfulness that helium was capable to make aft helium would get tackled. His limb drives were sensational. It felt similar 3 radical would deed him and past helium would spell for different 20 metres.

"American shot seems to beryllium each astir short, sharp, explosive powerfulness and helium had that successful spades - similar helium was rapid, precise powerful, and past would instrumentality a backseat for a small portion and past travel backmost and bash it again."