The 35-strong team from the state of Montana, in the western United States, made a return visit to Dunedin yesterday to play Otago University at Logan Park.
They stand out in a crowd with their cowboy hats and have adopted the All Black colours as their playing strip.
This honours Otago University Rugby Club life member Dr Rex Thomson, who was player-coach of the Maggots when he was a masters student at Montana University, in the city of Missoula, in the 1970s.
The Maggots originated at Montana University but spilt from the student body in the late 1970s when there were more non students in the club.
Thomson's contribution to the development of rugby in the university town of Missoula is honoured by the Rex "Tubby" Thomson Trophy contested each year between the Maggots and Montana University.
Thomson began the link to the University of Otago and it was continued by former Otago representative Ken Hodge when he spent three years as a masters student at Montana University from 1982-84.
Maggots life member Dewey Loge (60) was one of original members of the Maggots Rugby Club when it was formed in 1976.
He was a member of the Maggots team that toured New Zealand and played against an Otago University team in 1978.
"We played 12 games on that tour and won four," Loge said.
"On tour we realised how important the clubhouse is to a rugby club."
The relationship continued in 1980 when Otago University toured the United States and Canada and played two games in Missoula.
Hodge was a member of that team.
Russ Cherry, another original Maggot, is touring with his wife Diane, who played for the Maggots' sister team, the "Missoula Betterside" women's team.
Cherry now coaches a high school team in Missoula and his first five-eighth, Cassell Crichton (19), was the best player in the Maggots team that was beaten 56-20 by Otago University yesterday.
The other key players in the Maggots team were the captain, Rory O'Rorke, an aggressive blindside flanker, and wing Willie Lakely, who scored two tries.
This is the third World Cup tour by the Maggots. They went to Australia in 2003 and France in 2007.
The Maggots are playing five games in New Zealand. They lost to Riversdale 22-88 and Otago University 20-56 and have games in Wellington, Palmerston North and Tauranga.