London Welsh prop Shawn Pittman and strength & conditioning coach Paul Cater have been getting in the mood for Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The American duo brought a touch of NFL razzmatazz to training at Old Deer Park recently when they got kitted out in grid-iron gear ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers.

While the pair may be united when it comes to trying to help London Welsh reach the Premiership, when the conversation turns to the Super Bowl they are firmly in opposite camps.

“Pittsburgh!” said 23-year-old Pittman, who hails from Washington but will be cheering for the Steelers on Sunday owing to his girlfriend coming from Pittsburgh.

“Her family are very passionate Pittsburgh fans. It’s great to go and watch a game with them.

“It should be a pretty even match – historically they’re both really good teams.”

Meanwhile, Cater, a San Francisco 49ers fan from California, is firmly in the Packers camp, he said: “I don’t think there’s a favourite, but I’d like to see the Packers win it.

“We have this thing at Welsh called [Vince] Lombardi [former Packers coach] time. He’s made it into the hearts and minds of a lot of rugby coaches and [London Welsh head coach] Phil [Greening] wants us to go by Lombardi time, and that pretty much means be ten minutes early.

“In that regard I like history and tradition and if that helps to build that Lombardi ethos over here then that’s pretty cool. So I’m going for the Packers to win it – I’m rooting for them.”

And a late start to training on Monday should allow the pair to stay up late and watch the drama unfold. For Pittman and Cater it will be a rare opportunity to watch some live NFL action.

“It’s hard to stay up late at night to watch the games and then be up for training the next morning, so you just have to catch up from the highlights or on the internet.,” said Cater.

Last October, Pittman and Cater were at Wembley to see the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 24-16.

“That was really good, I do that every year. That and the Super Bowl are pretty much the two games I get to watch and that helps me get back to my roots, and I got to catch up some friends that in know from the team, which was pretty cool,” said Cater, who spent four seasons at Wasps before joining Welsh, and who’s previously worked with the 49ers.

In contrast, Pittman arrived in England just last summer after a rapid rise in the game. Just five weeks after taking up the sport he was invited to attend a USA Under 19 camp, and he duly went on to be selected for the 2007 Under 19 World Cup in Belfast and the inaugural Under 20 World Cup the following year in Wales.

The first of his six full Eagles caps came against Uruguay in November 2008, with Pittman going on to help Eddie O’Sullivan’ side reach the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.

Pittman will be hoping for a win double this weekend with the Dragons in action against second placed Bedford Blues at Old Deer Park on Saturday (2pm).

The Exiles will be hoping to avoid a third straight Championship defeat after last Sunday going down 23-6 to Bristol at the Memorial Stadium, having also lost on the road at Rotherham Titans on January 19.