Eagles

GHSAA Set to Face British Columbia

The USA Rugby Girls High School All-Americans powered by ATAVUS will run out a mostly Western USA team today, Friday, to face the British Columbia U18s in Seattle.

The West GHSAA squad hopes to recreate the success of the Eastern team, that swept Quebec U18s in two games at Mount Saint Mary's at the end of July (the U16s also won their two games). Eleven of the 23 players named are from the Pacific Northwest, with local power Kent Crusaders supplying six players to the squad. Three sisters will start - Tiara, Tiana, and Sui A'au from Grant in Oregon. 

USA Men Elite Groups Named

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (USA Rugby Release) - Men's Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell and the High Performance staff, led by USA Rugby Director of Performance Alex Magleby, have announced the second Eagles Elite Training Squad (EETS) and Eagles Development Training Group (EDTG) of the year.

Created prior to the Summer Series, where Mitchell's Eagles nearly upset Tier One Italy before shutting out Russia in northern California, the EETS and EDTG began as a way to better track athletes competing around the world in the build-up to national team assemblies, increasing the accountability around strength and conditioning and skill set needs.

Kickoff Time Soon as Eagle Women Land in Rio

The USA women's 7s team is in Rio and getting ready for the most important tournament they will ever play (aside, maybe, from the qualifiers last summer).

Head Coach Richie Walker posted on social media the following: 

"The last 3 days have been a crazy experience. From team processing with my name on the mirror in my private Nike dressing room and having two assistants go get you what you need, to having a police escort to the airport, to arriving in Rio and thinking that it is here and it is real with all the different countries walking around, to doing my first ever press conference with our team captain and the media just firing questions at you. The Olympics are a whole different level and a bit overwhelming for but very exciting at the same time!"

All Americans Off to Queensland - 1 Change

The USA Rugby Men's Collegiate All Americans are about to set off for Australia and there is one change in the touring roster.

Central Washington star Tanner Barnes has been unable to fully shake a hamstring injury, and he has been replaced by another CWU player in Scott Dean. 

All Americans Head Coach Gavin Hickie said the loss of Barnes is a shame, but center is a hugely competitive position on the squad, and there is plenty of depth there. So Dean, who projects as a flyhalf, might bring a new wrinkle to the depth chart as an extra playmaker.

The team flies out Sunday night (tonight), and will arrive in Brisbane on Tuesday morning. Then they travel out to Toowoomba, Queensland, where, as Hickie put it, "we put our bags down on the floor and get out on the pitch."

How Eagle Women Can Win a Medal

Richie Walker’s USA Women’s 7s team has a chance to sneak up on people. 

It’s no joke. Despite a poor 2015-16 World Series season, the Eagles have a shot at a medal - if Walker has got the chemistry right, and the selections right, and the plan right, then they can do it.

Let’s talk chemistry first. Team unity was all sorts of a problem this past season, in which the Eagles had three different coaches, and a real concern there’d be some sort of player revolt. 

Two of the players at the center of those issues - Bui Baravilala (Radford HS, Hawaii) and Kathryn Johnson (Hopkins, Minn.) - are on the team. Is that a sign that all is copacetic? Quite possible.

Atavus Supporting Olympic Effort

SEATTLE, Wash. As rugby is thrust into the Olympic spotlight this summer in Rio when it returns to the games for the first time since 1924, Seattle-based sports education and technology Atavus is throwing its full support behind the US Women's and Men's Olympic Rugby teams.

Two Atavus high performance coaches are leading the women's team, Atavus Athlete Ryan Carlyle has made the women's Rio roster and Atavus is engaging with local communities through regional Olympic rugby watch parties across the country.

Video HS All Americans v BC U18s

Game footage of the July 16, 2016 game between the Boys HS All Americans and the British Columbia U18s.

See more on the BC tour here.

A Look at the Men's Olympic Rugby Team

So the USA Olympic squad has been picked, and if you missed it, here it is:

Perry Baker - Wing

Danny Barrett - Prop

Garrett Bender - Prop

Andrew Durutalo - Prop/Hooker

Nate Ebner - Prop/Hooker/Center (?)

Madison Hughes - Halfback and Sweeper

Carlin Isles - Wing

Folau Niua - Halfback

Ben Pinkelman - Prop/Hooker

Zack Test - Hooker/Center

Maka Unufe - Center/Wing/Prop/Hooker

Chris Wyles - Center/Flyhalf/Prop (?)

Let’s look more closely at these guys.

USA Names Men's Olympic Rugby Team

LAFAYETTE, Colo.(USA Rugby Release with edits) – USA Rugby Men’s Sevens Head Coach Mike Friday has selected the 12 athletes and his seven staff to represent Team USA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The diverse roster includes athletes from across the country, international rugby stars and an NFL Super Bowl Champion.

The games will be broadcast on one of the NBC networks (NBC, NBC Sports, MSNBC, CNBC) or live-streamers on NBC's Olympic network. 

USA Names Women Olympic Rugby Team

LAFAYETTE, Colo.(USA Rugby Release with edits) – USA Rugby has announced the 12 athletes and eight staff members nominated to represent Team USA in the first Rugby Sevens competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

This will also mark the first time women’s rugby will be played at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, with all Rugby Sevens matches to be played at Deodoro Stadium Aug. 6-8. The games will be broadcast on one of the NBC networks (NBC, NBC Sports, MSNBC, CNBC) or live-streamers on NBC's Olympic network. 

The team is:

Bui Baravilala
Ryan Carlyle
Lauren Doyle
Joanne Fa'avesi
Carmen Farmer
Victoria Folayan
Kelly Griffin
Jessica Javelet
Kathryn Johnson
Alev Kelter
Jillion Potter
Richelle Stephens
 

HS All Americans Slam BC U18s

The Boys High School All Americans finished off their British Columbia trip with a convincing victory over the BC U18s Saturday.

The 54-3 (score confirmed) win wasn't a shutout like it was on Wednesday, but the HSAA team did hold BC tryless, finishing the trip north with a 2-0 record and a points for-and-against of around 102-3. Overall, the decision to split the HSAA team into an East team and a West team seems to have paid off.

Bald Eagle Omen and Other HSAA Notes

On the Thursday morning after sweeping the BC select sides, the HS All Americans and Eagle Impact Rugby Academy players went down to the beach near the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology.

It was a nice little rest (although the stair climb up from the sand is several hundred steps long), and a beautiful combination of scenery and perfect weather for the players to recover in.

And overhead, just as the players returned to the UBC campus, a huge bald eagle flew to her nest in a Douglas Fir. America’s national symbol making a patriotic fly-by? Why not?

7s Eagles Fully Engaged as Squad Announcement Looms

The USA Men's 7s team for Rio will be announced officially on Sunday, and it's been a tough road to pick that group of 12 players.

For many fans, there are likely to be some no-brainer - Perry Baker was on the World Series Dream Team; Madison Hughes is the captain; Danny Barrett is a special breed of monster the USA needs.

HS All Americans Shut Out BC U18s

The High School All Americans were superbly impressive in defeating the British Columbia U18s 48-0 Wednesday at the campus of the University of British Columbia.

The HSAA team shut out their counterparts, something the players said they took great pride in.

“We really wanted that zero,” said hooker Oscar Ockomichalek. “That was more impotent to us than anything.”