The Stars & Stripes isn't a HS All American tour, but the week and the game at the end of that week held plenty of benefit for the players and the coaches.

"It was a great coaching group," said Jeff Bonnett, whose Stars Boys beat the Stripes 42-38. "From day one it was about getting all the players better as a group, even though we had separate teams, we practiced against each other and shared coaches to help the players to try and advance their skill levels. What's very exciting for USA rugby is that most of the seniors are committed to high-level colleges, and every one of the underclassmen improved during the camp."

The Stars was a young group, only five were graduating seniors. Bonnett said he saw some superstars in the making, and some of those have been helped by additional work outside of their regular school/club setting. Specifically, there's the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, which works with players on a regular basis to develop basic skills.

"It is becoming very apparent that the academy kids are coming into these events much more prepared, so that we as coaches can go directly into game planning and challenging them on the next level as opposed to revisiting basics the first few days," said Bonnett. "It allows us to mirror the HSAA play book so that if they make the next level they are prepared already. We actually added a few more and the kids picked up and executed immediately which was very impressive to me."

On the player end of things, it was important for the athletes to come together quickly.

"I think we all worked together pretty well," said Leki Fotu, who had an excellent camp. "We had a lot of guys who knew each other, but some who didn't, and it was a challenge at first to get everyone on the same page. But we worked hard to have unity on the field. It was the most important thing. I know I felt really good about it."