Former Xavier HS star and Cal captain Seamus Kelly is at an interesting crossroads as he looks ahead to an international fall.

After captaining Cal to the Varsity Cup final and a win at the CRC 7s invitational, Kelly has finished his five years of eligibility at Berkeley, having helped the Bears to two CRC titles and two DI/DIA titles. Cal also made the final of the CRC in his first season and the final of the Varsity Cup the last two years - losing out to BYU both times.

During that time he was capped by the USA Men’s National Team 11 times, earning his first cap against Canada in May of 2013, and his first start, against Ireland, two weeks later.

Kelly started all three games for the USA this past June, and he is now hard at work trying to cement a place with the Eagles as they look to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

“I felt I made some strides forward in that assembly and am starting to feel more comfortable adjusting to that level of play,” Jelly told Goff Rugby Report. “There is a lot for me to improve on and I am setting myself up to be in the environment to do that.”

That would be training at Cal’s uber-impressive High Performance Center in Berkeley. That work gets him physically prepared, but there’s a mental aspect, too. New, young players on the USA team don’t always take charge of their game the way they have at other levels, and Kelly recognizes that. As an outside center, he has a chance to make a big impact on attack.

“You’ve got to not only be confident in calling your own number and putting yourself in position to make a play, but it’s also putting your hand up as the guy who is just as capable as the next, taking your own run or making a play,” Kelly said. “At your club or college team you would do that - you’d probably be the guy to do that. It’s being that kind of player at the international level which is also important.”

The USA came out of June with a competitive loss to Scotland and a loss to Japan that they could have won. And then there was the 38-35 defeat of Canada, when a series of mistakes put them behind 35-18.

“There was a bit of shock initially that we were behind,” said Kelly of the Canada game. “We all realized that we had the run of play for most of the first half and we had them on the rack a few times. So in the locker room everyone was pretty calm, knowing we didn’t have to get it back all at once, we just needed to chip away. And that’s exactly what we did.”

Kelly’s international career may just be starting, but he can be forgiven for being a little nostalgic, as his college career has ended. He was able to go out on a winning note, however, with the CRC victory.

“It was definitely really nice to go out with a victory,” said the Cal captain. “It’s a very challenging tournament, especially on the second day. UCLA [in the semis] was very tough and so was Kutztown. In the final I think we played that pretty well but I thought we should have put them way earlier - Kutztown was a real physical challenge.”

KU was led by Mike Lawrenson, now playing professionally with the Counties Manukau Steelers in New Zealand.

“He played really well for them,” Kelly said of the CRC final. “In the space of a few minutes he stole a lineout ball and scored a big try. I rate him very highly, especially for his athleticism combined with his size.”

But there have been disappointments, also. Kelly scored the game-winning try for Cal in their DIA final win over BYU in 2011, but Cal didn’t compete in the playoffs in 2012 due to issues over scheduling and how USA Rugby was running the DIA playoffs. Then in 2013 and 2014, the Varsity Cup went to BYU, although one of Kelly’s great moments was scoring a late try to tie the 2013 championship match - only to see Jonny Linehan slot the winning drop goal for the Cougars.

This year, BYU were solidly the stronger team.

“It was definitely disappointing,” said Kelly. “We look to win in any competition we’re playing in, so when we don’t come out on top we’re disappointed. BYU had what I think was the best team in the country this year. They are really, really talented. But we also had our bright spots.”

One bright spot is the fact that many young Cal forwards held their own against a bigger, more experienced BYU pack. That, along with the return of several experience backs, should bode well for the Bears in 2014-15.

But meanwhile, Kelly is a player looking for a playing opportunity. He is training and healing from a tough few years of rugby, and says he now hopes to go overseas to play. But there’s always one other, bigger, goal in mind.

“Whatever I do, I want to put myself in a position to play well in the World Cup,” he said.