The High School All Americans come back to USA soil with a renewed understanding of what life on the international stage can be like.

 

They played well - improved, in fact, over the last couple of years - and yet were stung whenever they weren’t completely vigilant.

 

As always, not an easy lesson to learn, and not a lesson that’s easily earned before you get burned by it. Miss touch, drop the ball, expect a defense to crumble because you’re close to the line … all mistakes.

 

Head Coach Salty Thompson talked earlier in the week about players used to starting on their other teams having to accept a sub’s role. It’s not that they complain about being on the bench, it’s that they don’t realize that being a sub means you have to ramp up the intensity of those around you, rather than match it.

 

Still, the ultimate message from the HSAA trip to South America was encouraging. Over the last two years, the average score against Argentina was 47-10 in favor of Argentina. And those opponents weren’t even the full Argentina U18 team - either slightly younger or a split squad.

 

In 2012, the HSAAs split a series with Uruguay, winning 23-22 and losing 17-15 for an aggregate score of 38-39.

 

This year, the scoreline against Argentina was 35-13 for the Argentines, a 15-point improvement, and done against the full Argentina U18 squad. The result against Uruguay, a 27-17 HSAA victory, was an 11-point improvement. Italy won the Cuatro Naciones, and the HS All Americans led them 9-7 well into the second half.

 

All this done without several top players who graduated, including Saracens pro and full Eagle Titi Lamositele, prop Valdemar Lee-lo, center Zach Webber, and a host of there graduated players. Possibly considered the USA team’s best player on tour, Hanco Germishuys was injured in the warmup game against Cordoba Academy, and didn’t play anymore. And yet they got better. 

 

Three players were named to the Cuatro Naciones all-tournament team, with flanker Maclolm May, hooker Steve Branham, and wing Jojo Tikoisuva getting the nod.

 

May is an odd one on the team as he is actually in college, at Penn State. But the graduate of St. Igantius HS in Illinois is still only 18 years old and as such qualified for this event. The ground-hungry flanker certainly stood out.

 

Branham is a junior at Fallbrook in Southern California, and a tough, powerful player at 5-11, 215. With the USA set piece being an important element of their game, the selection of an American hooker in the middle of all of these scrum-happy teams was quite a compliment.

 

Tokoisuva is a senior from the Sacramento Islanders. A lanker and elusive wing, he scored a try against Argentina, and almost scored one in the opening minutes against Italy. 

 

 

Along with those, Ben Cima (Gonzaga) was against very good, and obviously his kicking was crucial. Prop Bubba Fuga from the Liberty program in Washington is another in what is becoming a production line of powerful props from that state. Calvin Whiting and Seth Halliman remain classy players in the midfield. 

 

But the players to watch are in the second row. Leki Fotu, who, like Whiting and Fufa, scored a try in the Uruguay game, is 6-5, 225, and only 15. He’s a sophomore with potentially two more years with the HSAA team. The Peninsula Green second row can probably get a waiver for the U20 team in two years, but even if he doesn’t, he could play with them in 2017 and 2018. Athletic, tall, strong, still growing, and with a desire to learn, he has enormous potential.

 

Same goes for Liam Jimmons, who is also 6-5, and also a sophomore, and has the added advantage of having an English parent and thus can more easily secure a place playing in an academy in England if he so chooses.  Playing for Back Bay in Southern California right now, Jimmons got invaluable experience in South America. Consider how this could all play out with those two alone - by the end of 2016 they would have had three HSAA tours, and potentially a tournament with the U20s as well, all before they’ve graduated High School.  

 

It’s easy to see that these trips help the players, and with the EagleImpact Rugby Academies providing the ink between assemblies, and the high school coaches doing their part, we can see improvement on the team level, as well.

 

Even if that improvement involves a little bit of pain.