Inside The Huskies

Former Husky Rusher Wooching Will Play in Rugby Showcase in London

The former Washington outside linebacker is a steady fixture on the American national team who will face England on the Fourth of July.

Mike Martin

Psalm Wooching used to play football in Husky Stadium, with his most notable performance coming in 2016 when the edge rusher came up with 3 sacks in a 44-3 victory over Stanford. 

This weekend, he's still competing on a big stage, but in a different sport.  

Wooching will wear jersey No. 20 when the USA Eagles national rugby team faces England on the Fourth of July at Twickenham in London. This is a particularly noteworthy match because the Americans have not played in the United Kingdom since 1999. Live stream of the event will begin on florugby.com at 6 a.m. PST.

"My goal is to represent my country while playing rugby," Wooching said when changing sports. "This has been a dream of mine for quite some time."

Wooching made his national-team rugby debut with these USA Eagles in February 2018, starting at flanker when the Americans defeated Chile 45–13 in the Americas Rugby Championship. 

He scored his first try, the rugby equivalent of a touchdown, for the Eagles as a substitute in their 61–19 victory over Uruguay the following year.

Wooching is a long way from his college football days, but he's still in the sporting limelight internationally.

He hasn't forgotten that Stanford victory, which was shown on national TV by ESPN on a Friday night. It motivates him.

With Husky Stadium roaring around him in the third quarter, Wooching recalls stepping into the defensive huddle and scanning the eyes of his teammates. They were easy to read. There was a lot of game left but it effectively was over.

"We knew Stanford was defeated," Wooching recalled. "We could see it in each other's eyes."

In reality, the outcome of that game was determined the previous summer. Wooching and his teammates lost to Stanford 31-14 the season before. It left a very bad taste.

In the summer months of 2016, Wooching and his teammates committed to each other to make a Pac-12 title run. They pointed to an early-season home matchup against the Cardinal as a game they would need to win to make it all happen.

They were determined to leave no doubt and that's what they did.

"We knew we had Stanford beat that July," Wooching said. "After a workout, we'd pushed ourselves so hard, we were all puking on the ground — everyone. That's when we knew."

Wooching later turned to rugby, choosing not to pursue an NFL career, and he's still playing just as hard as he ever did. The competition doesn't get any bigger than facing an English team in London. 

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Mike Martin
MIKE MARTIN

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