Hot American LaValla takes long route to final
His old Trinity College stomping ground is a 20-minute stroll in towards town.
No doubt about it, the American couldn’t be happier to be back in Dublin. He is happy to shoot the breeze and have some fun as Stan Wright, the prop forward who spent five years with Leinster and won two Heineken Cup medals with the province, walks into the room.
“I am actually looking at the glorious presence of Stan Wright right now,” LaValla says over the phone. “The magnificent aura of Stan Wright. Some say it’s just the smell. You can print that. In fact, it would be great if you printed that.”
The story about how Wright morphed from the mocked and overweight player who first arrived in Dublin to the fan favourite whose departure for Paris was so widely mourned is one of rugby’s more peripatetic journeys — and yet it pales in comparison to LaValla’s.
Born and bred in Olympia, Washington’s state capital on the west coast of the USA, LaValla’s presence in a French team for a European final owes itself to a necklace of contacts that spans his homeland, Ireland, the UK, France and Australia.
His father, Patrick Rick LaValla, sowed the first seeds.
An emergency management consultant whose work it was to advise local authorities and governments on how to deal with everything from a hurricane to a bomb threat, LaValla Snr was introduced to rugby by friends made on his many visits to the UK. Scott saw the game first hand for himself on family trips to England and his curiosity was really piqued when his best friend’s older brothers persuaded the 15-year olds to tag along to rugger practice when the American football season ground to its annual halt back home.
That, basically, seemed to be that.
Ambitions of becoming a lineman at Oregon University were waylaid and replaced by an ambition to embrace a very different oval ball game. A local coach’s connections with Tony Smeeth, who coaches Stateside and in Trinity, provided the first step, to Dublin.
Impressive as he was at Dublin University, it took another happy happenstance to bridge the yawning chasm between AIL player and Top 14 regular and that was provided by Damien Quinn, an Aussie who was coaching the Trinity seconds and who knew Adrien Buononato from a previous life.
Buononato wasn’t sure whether he was about to start work with the Stade or Biarritz academies at the time, but he saw enough in LaValla on a trip to the Irish capital to recommend him to Michael Cheika when he ended up as the underage head honcho at the Paris club.
Cheika already knew about the American at Trinity.
LaValla, who spent some time playing with the Ulster Ravens, had also had a trial with Leinster’s sub-academy during Cheika’s time with the province and he offered the youngster an U23 contract before he left Stade for Australia and the Waratahs.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of people who back you,” says LaValla. “It is very empowering.” So too are his talents. He has adapted to his new life with alacrity.
He may not be fluent en Francais, but he needed only three months to pick enough up to get by comfortably and he has immersed himself further into the fabric of life on the continent by registering for a Masters in international politics and conflict resolution.
The long-term plan after rugby involves something along the lines of diplomacy, political think tanks and consultancy, but for now he is happy to be back in Ireland playing the game he loves and embracing the opportunity to meet up, and have dinner, with some college pals.
Wednesday night saw him sitting down with 10 of his old buds in an Italian restaurant on Baggot Street where he just couldn’t resist but order the American Hot pizza. “I thought that was appropriate,” he laughs.
Leinster will see to what extent tonight.
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