Bradford & Bingley’s director of rugby Henry Paul has been given the task of transforming American football discards into rugby players in a couple of weeks.

Paul has agreed to be head coach of an American Barbarians side that will face London Irish in August for the Independence Cup as the curtain-raiser to a planned US professional rugby union league next summer.

The organisers of the match in Boston on August 10 are hoping for a crowd of 30,000.

A return game is planned for Twickenham a week later.

Paul said: “The rucking, the passing, the key skills that rugby union's foundations are on, are going to be a challenge.”