Ahead of the NFL International Series at Wembley, the IRB Youtube channel caught up with several NFL players, including Stephen Tulloch, and quizzed them on Rugby terminologies and the results were mixed.

To non Rugby fan, the term ‘binding with a hooker’ has a whole other dimension.

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Reds looking to secure Hayden Smith

Australian born Smith, left the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, to join a college basketball team after high school, he went on to play international rugby for USA before being drafted by the New York Jets in the NFL and is now playing for Saracens.

The 201cm 116kg lock played seven games for the Jets before being cut in the final round of team selection for the upcoming season.

Richard Graham, who was assistant coach at Saracens, took note of Smith’s abilities, and Graham’s now looking to bring him to Ballymore.

“The Queensland Reds are currently in the market for a big, athletic forward who carries strongly at the line,’’ Graham said. “Hayden is one of the players we will be considering when we make that decision over the next few months.

“I spent a season with Hayden at Saracens when he first transitioned to rugby.

“The level of professionalism he conducted himself with was matched by his strong desire to succeed.

“I am not surprised by what he has achieved in rugby, nor that he managed to beat thousands of other seasoned NFL players to secure a contract with the New York Jets.’’

Smith playing against the Wallabies in the 2011 World Cup

The fact that Smith has already played international rugby for USA. After transitioning to the game so late is testament to his outstanding athletic ability.

Born and raised in Western Sydney, he was expected to sign with the NBL’s Sydney Kings before the team struck financial troubles. Instead he took up a scholarship offer from a university in Denver, Colorado in 2007 where he started playing rugby for a local team.

Within a year he was playing Test rugby for the US and was offered an academy spot with Saracens in London.

Before the season was out, he was in the first-grade squad. After 43 games, Smith decided to try out for the NFL.

Signed by the Jets in December 2012, he became only the second Australian to play in the NFL in a position other than punter. Cut by the Jets, Smith accepted an offer to return to Saracens.

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