Rugby prodigy will sherman leads anthem to first win
Will Sherman, the 22-year-old second-row forward, may be the future of US rugby, but his roots are in the game's American past.
Son of a cal berkeley champion
He is the son of Wade Sherman, a member of a champion Cal Berkeley team that included Mark Bingham, who on 11 September 2001 was one of the Flight 93 passengers who fought their hijackers and kept it from reaching Washington.
Will Sherman's connection to rugby came through his father. There was a super old photo that my dad pulled up, and the first time I heard that story was from him, Sherman said. He was like, 'That guy standing to my left is an American hero.'
Wade Sherman had found rugby in Australia when he was 14 or 15. He and his buddies went to the beach at Bondi, and they saw these guys throwing the ball around, tackling each other, and they were like, 'Wow, that looks like the most fun thing ever.' They joined in.
From that, Wade Sherman played at Cal for two years, then at BYU two more, before becoming Will's first coach with a kids' team in Salt Lake City. One reason Utah has such a strong rugby scene is that lots of Pacific Islanders live there, and the Islander influence ran deep with that community, Sherman said.
Will Sherman, who grew up mostly surrounded by Pacific Islander teammates, is an unusual 6ft 4in second-row who can also play flanker, a testament to the versatility of the sport.
He had to learn to love rugby, too. He honestly didn't love rugby when I was really young, when I started playing tackle, because I was getting beat up every weekend, Sherman said. But I think it was good for me. It's important to play that physically hard sport and go through those trials and tribulations, get beat up a little bit, skin your knees. I think there's a lot of value in that.
He started to have more fun once he grew into his body and got bigger and a bit stronger. Sherman made his MLR debut last weekend against the California Legion, playing about 50 minutes, taking a yellow card for persistent infringements, and making 19 tackles.
By comparison, he made 36 tackles in just one game for Randwick, a storied Sydney club, last year, a mark that could be an MLR record for a debutant. The credit goes to coaches Harry Bennett and Agustin Cavalieri, influential mentors who helped Sherman develop.
Now, with Cavalieri in charge at Anthem, Sherman is leading the team, which is backed by World Rugby as a vehicle to develop American talent ahead of the US-hosted 2031 World Cup.
After Anthem's first-ever win, 39-26, over the California Legion, Sherman was level-headed about the significance. Coming in as a rookie, you hear a lot of stories, he said. For the players that were involved in years prior, beating California was an amazing moment, a long time coming for them. I was really happy to be a part of that, not only because I love to win. These guys are family now.