Mike Hercus

Mike Hercus (born June 6, 1979 in Falls Church, Virginia) is a retired American rugby union footballer who played at fly-half for the USA Eagles and several top level professional clubs around the globe.

Hercus was born in Virginia but his parents returned to their native Australia where he was brought up and educated at Shore School North Sydney. He started in their first XV for two years and was captained by Phil Waugh when they were in year 12. He played for the Australian schoolboys rugby union team and later progressed to the Australian under 21 side before the American national team, the USA Eagles, gave him a route into international rugby union.

Hercus made his Rugby World Cup debut in 2003, scoring 51 points for the Eagles. He played at Sale Sharks for two seasons as Charlie Hodgson's understudy before moving to Llanelli Scarlets. There Hercus was able to secure a starting position at fly-half during the season, a position which he maintained in the 2006 Powergen Cup final (which saw the Scarlets lose to London Wasps 26-10). Hercus moved to the Newport Gwent Dragons in the summer of 2006 when it was announced that Welsh international fly-half Stephen Jones was to move to the Scarlets. Also in 2006, Hercus received an invitation to play for the prestigious Barbarians FC, joining an elite list of only seven USA Eagles who have done so. His Barbarians cap came in the annual clash vs. Leicester Tigers in which he scored 17 points, including a try.

He returned to the USA for the start of the 2007 Rugby Super League season where he played for Belmont Shore and was in the US Falcons NA4 squad. In addition, he captained The Eagles for the 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay.

Hercus signed a contract at the start of 2008 to play for Japanese club IBM Big Blue. In 2009, after just one season, Hercus signed with the Australian club Sunshine Coast Stingrays where, in limited action (he was with the USA Eagles for summer internationals), he was the club's leading scorer.

In 2010, Hercus decided to return to Australia and his junior club the Gordon Highlanders who compete in the Shute Shield. Hercus was named Gordon's captain to start the season, but saw limited action due to injury. By mid season, rumors began to leak out that he had retired or intended to retire from both international and club rugby due to persistent reoccurring injuries. Although no official announcement has ever been made, he has been presumed retired since summer 2010.

Hercus is the USA Eagles' all-time leading scorer and at the time of his final match, was also the Eagles' all-time most capped back. He is currently 20th all-time on the international scoring list, which is an accomplishment in itself considering the limited international schedule the USA plays when compared to major rugby playing nations.

References

http://www.rugbymag.com/news/national-teams/men/stats-and-milestones-for-usa-v-uruguay.aspx http://www.usarugby.org/ http://www.eaglesxv.com/players/mike-hercus http://www.scru.com.au/content.php?id=20&category=stingrays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leading_Rugby_union_Test_point_scorers http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk/player-archive/profile/3930/mike-hercus

External links

• Stats from The Scarlets
• Stats from Newport Gwent Dragons
• Stats from Sunshine Coast Stingrays