Eagles, Azzurri Get Ready
The USA and Italy prepare to meet for the first time in four years at Avaya Stadium Saturday at 6pm Pacific Time.
Both teams got their time in on the Avaya field Friday in the captain's runs.
Beat Italy? Scrum, Kick, and Man Up
The USA faces Italy Saturday at 6pm Pacific Time at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif., hoping to get off the schneid after four straight losses to the Azzurri.
The first clash between the two was at the 1991 Rugby World Cup, won fairly convincingly by the Italians 30-9. Since then it’s been a series of very competitive games, but ultimately in Italy’s favor.
In 2004 the Tom Billups-coached Eagles played the Italians while on tour and lost 43-25 in a game where Italy led 30-3 at halftime only to see Paul Emerick, David Fee, and Albert Tuipulotu lead a comeback.
Rating Our Wild Guesses
So how did we do in our wild guesses on who would play this weekend against Italy?
Well, we did OK. We got basically the entire pack correct. Of course, we said the back row would be easy. The props were pretty straightforward, and there was a bit of a question about the second lock, and hooker. We knew that, and didn't really take a side. We'll take that.
Scrumhalf - kind of thought Augspurger would start, and then wondered if it wouldn't be Mike Te'o. So that's maybe a half-point. Flyhalf was easy, and we got right wing and one of the centers right.
Eagles Name Side to Face Italy
CHULA VISTA, Calif. (Edited from USA Rugby Release) - USA Head Coach John Mitchell has named his squad to face Italy Saturday in San Jose, Calif.
USA 7s player Nate Augspurger (University of Minnesota, Southside HS), will earn his first international cap, as he gets the start at scrumhalf. Todd Clever (Nevada-Reno, College Park) returns as captain and will lead the Eagles for a record 46th time.
"The ARC was much more a development team, whereas this team has genuine experience from overseas, professional sevens players, and the players that played well in the ARC have been rewarded," Mitchell told Chad Wise at USA Rugby. "From the camp here we've eliminated some players that haven't met our standards, and some players have missed selections because of lack of conditioning and the number of penalties they've given away.
Wild Guesses About Eagle Lineup
This is an opinion column, and basically all pure speculation. As reported on Goff Rugby Report, the members of the USA Men’s 15s team in assembly know who will be starting and who will be on the bench this weekend against Italy.
We don’t know that list - it’s being kept secret until later this week, so let’s have fun and guess, shall we?
If I was really courageous I would just flat-out list my starting 15, but I am not that brave, especially seeing as I haven’t seen the training sessions. So I am going by what I think the coaches are thinking and what the team needs - stuff like that.
And of course there are some questions.
Four-Year Ban for 7s Resident Williams
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced Monday that USA Women's National Team hopeful Nia Williams has received a four-year ban for using prohibited substances.
Williams is from Naperville, Ill. and played for Eastern Illinois University. She has been in residency with the USA 7s team since the winter, made her USA debut in Dubai in December. However, once USA Rugby learned of her positive drug test, she was removed from the program.
Mitchell Sets Goals After Tough Camp
USA Men’s National Team Head Coach John Mitchell made a very direct appeal to his players this spring - get fitter.
"We are kidding ourselves if we think we are as fit as we can be, so we have to find a way to bridge our gap in 15s to realistically and authentically compete against Tier One nations," Mitchell said at the time. And now, after an expanded camp and now into preparation for Italy this Saturday, he has backed that up, sending some players home because they’re not fit enough.
Other players have returned home because they’re not quite there, or are injured, but fitness was one of the reasons Mitchell whittled his squad down.
60 Minutes Sports on USA 7s Teams
TV's Phil Keoghan hosted a CBS 60 Minutes Sports look at the USA 7s team (mostly the men but a mention of the women, too), and their Olympic dream.
The feature includes interviews with Zack Test, Madison Hughes, Carlin Isles, and Nate Ebner, among others.
See below (if you don't see the embedded video, please refresh the page).
Boys HS All American Details Coming Together
The Boys High School All Americans will split up for the summer of 2016, with two separate teams on two separate tours.
The apparent reasoning behind this is in part to expand the pool of players used, and in part to make travel somewhat easier for everyone. In addition, this plan will give players a little more time to plan for the travel.
The Eastern HSAA will be chosen after the early RCTs (South, Northeast, West), and the Western HSAA will be chosen after the later ones (Midwest, Northwest), with possibly some crossover between those tournaments.
Some Eagle Squad Questions, and Answers
The USA Men’s National Team has less than two weeks now before the two-game summer series kicks off.
Head Coach John Mitchell has already made his statement - repeatedly - regarding fitness. Such as:
"We are kidding ourselves if we think we are as fit as we can be, so we have to find a way to bridge our gap in 15s to realistically and authentically compete against Tier One nations,. “We cannot do this without creating a model by where the players take greater ownership for targeting and raising their standards in their total distance covered and high velocity speed percentages daily. We need to find better ways to help the player implement to be in the optimal zone daily through guidance, supervision, and updating their daily work and volume."
Certainly Mitchell has left some players off the current training group because of lack of fitness.
Eagles Not on June Squad
Not in the USA squad for June.
These are players who were in the Rugby World Cup squad in 2015 or the Americas Rugby Championship squad earlier this year, but are not in the expanded roster for June.
We don’t have all of the reasons for these players. Some we’re pretty sure are injured but we don’t have confirmation. Some just weren’t picked. Some weren’t available because of work or other reasons.
JP Eloff (injured)
Samu Manoa (injured)
Ben Landry (injured)
Chris Wyles (retired from Eagles)
Nick Wallace (retired from Eagles)
Phil Thiel (retired from Eagles)
Mate Moeakiola (retired from Eagles)
Hayden Smith (retired from Eagles)
Lou Stanfill (retired from Eagles)
John Quill (retired from Eagles)
Scott LaValla (retired from rugby)
Changes for 15s MNT for June
June is soon upon us and that means the USA Men’s national team will play its summer series.
The “series” is, of course, just the two games, with Italy at Avaya Stadium (San Jose, Calif.) June 18 and Russia at Bonney Field (Sacramento, Calif.) on June 25.
Head Coach John Mitchell has already been through some intense highs and lows, seeing his team tie an Argentina XV and beat Canada and Chile, but then lose to Uruguay and (most ignominiously) Brazil. In doing so Mitchell saw the challenges of putting together a USA team when not everyone is available, and when higher-ups have made player-availability trades with major pro clubs.
Along the way, the team was criticized internally for being unfit, and longtime strength & conditioning coach Dave Williams lost his job.
Eagle Women 7s Struggle Again
The USA women’s 7s team ended the World Series season as Plate Runners-Up and 2-4 in Clermont-Ferrand.
The Eagles did not achieve what should have been their goals, losing fairly convincingly (twice) to England, losing to Spain, and, in the Plate Final, losing to France.
The Americans were close to France (22-19), but continued to have trouble putting away Spain. They did record wins over Kenya in pool play and Fiji in the Plate Semis.
The Eagles came back to push France in the Plate Final, but couldn’t quite do it.
Among the bright spots for the USA, Lily Durbin scored her first two tries as an Eagle, and Alev Kelter’s try against England was named one of the seven best of the tournament - a showcase of some impressive sidestepping.
Youngster Bolsters 7s WNT for Clermont-Ferrand
The USA Women's 7s team is set to face off in the final event of the Women's World Rugby Sevens Series, and there are changes afoot.
Lilly Durbin, who is still only 17 (and thus presumably needed a waiver) will suit up for the Eagles as they try to get the ship going in the right direction after a rough season that included two coaching changes, at least one come-to-Jesus meeting, and some seriously disappointing results.
Durbin was a standout for Fallbrook HS as a freshman and also for the Southern California girls select side. Of course, you first really heard about her here on Goff Rugby Report.
(See video interview below, and if you don't see it, refresh the page)
USA Rebounds, 3rd in London 7s
The USA 7s team finished 3rd in the London 7s Sunday, wrapping up a really strong finish to what had been a rough run of tournaments.
It was a weird tournament once again at Twickenham, mirroring somewhat how last year came about, where the Eagles had some really rocky performances in Glasgow and then turned around to win in London.
With the 3rd-place finish, the USA finished 6th in the World Series, with 117 points. That was just two points behind Argentina. Despite the mild disappointment at dropping from 5th last week, this is still the best the USA has ever done in the World Series.
