WHEN EAGLES SOARED

EARLY ON a midweek afternoon in April 1991, the locals at The Mayflower in South-East London were growing increasingly weary. Three American tourists, clutching pints and singing, had commandeered the jukebox and were playing Queen’s We Are The Champions on repeat. But, as Freddie Mercury’s voice sailed through the historic pub for what seemed like the thousandth time, a barman appeared and cut short their fun.

“It’s supposedly where the Mayflower ship set sail from, where the pilgrims went off and found America,” ex-USA women’s lock Tara Flanagan says. “The bartender guy, after we probably played it ten times, unplugged the jukebox. He was like, ‘That’s enough, we can’t take it anymore. Who are you?’ We were like, ‘We’re the world champions, of course!’”

Flanagan, Tam Breckenridge and Chris Harju had plenty to celebrate. All three had played the previous Sunday as the USA won the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup final, beating England 19-6 at Cardiff Arms Park. Breckenridge and Flanagan had lived up to their