in the mid-1990s, Billups was one of the first American rugby players to sign a professional contract in 1996. He started his professional career playing for the Blackheath Rugby Club in London from August 1996 to February 1997. Billups then played for the Harlequins from 1997 to 1999 and was the Supporter's Club Player of the Year during the 1997-1998 season. In 1999, Billups finished his professional playing career in Wales playing first for Neath RFC and then with Pontypridd RFC. International Tom Billups played and captained the United States national rugby sevens team from 1989 until 1993. He first represented the U.S. at the 1989 Hong Kong Sevens tournament. Billups earned his first international test cap in June 1993, when the U.S. played Canada. During his international career from 1993 to 1999, he won 44 caps, with 12 of those as captain. Billups represented the United States at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, where he played his last game of rugby against Australia and officially retired. Billups is the most capped hooker in USA Rugby history. Coaching career United States national team Tom Billups served as the assistant coach of the United States national team during the 2000 season, the 2001 Pan-American Championship and England's June 2001 tour of the United States. Later in 2001, Billups accepted the interim head coaching position for a test against South Africa and was named the Eagles' full-time head coach at the start of 2002. Billups is the only Eagles coach to own a winning career record against "Tier 2" and "Tier 3" countries, with a 12-8 mark. In 2003, he posted a 7-6 mark, an American record for single-season wins, including four straight victories. At the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Billups steered the Eagles to their first World Cup victory since 1987 against Japan, as well as an admirable one-point loss against Fiji (19-18). The USA's second-place finish at the Pan -American Championship in August 2003 was its best-ever showing. In 2004, Billups coached the team to two three-point defeats to Canada and a 39-31 loss to France in July, which is America's best-ever showing against the Tricolors. Tom Billups finished up his tenure with USA Rugby in April 2006 with 12 wins, including the second largest US national team victory (35-20) to date over rival Canada in 2003. United States sevens national team Tom Billups directed the United States 7s National