Californian resident, blond hair, surfing junkie with a penchant for flip flops and addressing colleagues as "dude" - nothing to suggest that Kevin Dalzell would be an archetypal rugby player. Pre-conceptions, though, can be misleading and there was little to suggest that the 25-year-old who strode across the lobby of the Killiney Castle Hotel was any different from the rest of his team-mates in the US squad.

The illusions were shattered by a dude-free zone interview. It quickly emerges that Dalzell is an articulate, intelligent, and committed rugby player who happens to like surfing and the ocean. Born in South Africa he moved to the United States when he was 12, but it wasn't until he finished High School that he nurtured his passion for rugby.

Prior to that American football, basketball, swimming and water polo dominated his leisure time. A running back in high school he conceded that "swimming was the big thing when I was young - I thought that was the thing for me".

It wasn't until his arrival at the University of California (Berkeley) that he kick-started his rugby career in earnest. "They have a very good rugby union programme and I played under Jack Clark (the current national team coach) for five seasons. It was then I really learned how to play the game. When I was younger I had played in the centre, so I had to re-invent my knowledge of the game. I learnt to pass with both hands, kick with both feet."

His positional change was facilitated by time spent at the OMBAC club in San Diego, working with the then American Eagles scrum-half Mike Saunders. "I was really fortunate to be around him as he worked with me one on one. Taking the next step once I had mastered the basic skills was more difficult than actually learning them.

"I needed to learn what to do and when during games, learn the ins and outs of playing scrum-half, getting involved in some bigger matches and then getting gametime."

Dalzell's rite of passage in the sport mirrors the problems facing American rugby: getting excellent athletes in their late-teens or early twenties and trying to mould them into instant rugby players.

Berkeley offered Dalzell the opportunity to play against top Canadian universities, but it wasn't until he had left campus life behind that he had an opportunity "to play in some of those big games".

His curriculum vitae during those Berkeley years is impressive. Twice an All American, he won the Woodleigh Award given to America's outstanding collegiate rugby player in 1996.

There was no fast-track to success, though. A debut against Uruguay in the Pan American Championship of 1996 preempted a long and sustained period on the bench. It was only in 1998 that he really established himself as the first-choice option. Dalzell was focused, unperturbed by endless bench duty.

"I am a confident person, confident in my own abilities. I understood that I had to learn little lessons and patience was one of them. I knew that when I first made the US team, I wasn't ready. The skills were in place. but the head-set was not there. My timing proved ideal because I came in when the team was struggling. The emphasis was taken off me and placed on the performance of the team. I could just step in there and feel pretty comfortable."

Dalzell's single-minded devotion to the game is illustrated through a decision to give up an excellent job as an executive recruiter at the start of the season. "I wanted to clear the book and focus on rugby," he says.

To this end the Californian resident is prepared to quit America after the World Cup and pursue a career as a professional rugby player in Europe.

"I have a British passport, so I would be classed as a non-foreigner. I have had a couple of offers, in France, the UK and Ireland. I am going to give it a couple of years as a professional, but won't make a decision until after the World Cup."

American rugby is virtually entirely amateur and it is against this backdrop that Dalzell outlines US ambitions for the World Cup. "We are a developing nation, looking to improve every time that we go out on the pitch. We've got some pretty determined guys, but they have a disadvantage in terms of their lifestyle, not being fully professional.

"We have set performance goals - one is to make it to the next round. I'm not saying that we are going to beat Ireland, Australia or Romania, but we have a gameplan. We have been written off and that's probably warranted given some of our performances. But that's great, the underdog role suits us and if we get it right on the day then we can make a big impact."

It will be interesting to see how the US address the legacy of the recent England match, a nightmare 80 minutes at Twickenham that saw the visitors obliterated 106-8. Dalzell offers an American perspective. "There was an eerie silence on the pitch in an American context. It was tough, very, very embarrassing and probably hurt the short-term development of US rugby from an individual stand-point as well as the team.

"I had never been in a stadium like Twickenham, never been around the media like we experienced in England. We were coming off a successful season and were caught with our pants down. England were red hot. I remember we produced great defence for 15 minutes, were well in touch at 7-3 and thinking that something might happen. "The wheels came off and perhaps the abiding memory is a of Jeremy Guscott flying through holes in our defence. We've been there now, done that and got the scar. Hopefully it will never be revisited. We have to learn the lessons of that day."

He is adamant that the US carry no emotional baggage into today's game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road. On a personal level he relishes the demands that will be imposed on him. "I love responsibility, have to have it when I take the field. I like to think that I have the support of the captain in decision-making, having a say in the tempo of a game, whether increasing it or slowing it down."

Dalzell boasts a reputation as a dynamic ball carrier, quick and powerful in probing gaps and a leader on the pitch. He will need to be monitored closely by the Irish back row. Whatever the outcome today, he knows that his family will enjoy the occasion, especially father Robert, known as Jim, Belfast-born and reared who quit Ulster at 21 for South Africa.

"He hasn't been back for a good number of years, but as soon as he heard that the US were in with Ireland he booked his flights and tickets. He hasn't stopped talking about it, I suppose it'll be a nice homecoming. Ireland has always been part of our background - Irish meals at home, stories about Belfast and the bad weather. It'll be a real family occasion."

Before that there is a chance for Dalzell to realise a dream of his own.