The USA U20 women’s team will play a two-game series against Canada in Ontario this month, after they have spent a humid few days training in Buffalo, NY.

 

For the entire squad, this assembly has two purposes - one, to beat Canada (which is always paramount), and two, to give players a taste of international rugby a year before the next U20 Nations Cup.

 

“The theme for this whole year is developing players,” said Head Coach and former Eagle Danielle Miller. “In selecting the team we looked for good athletes, but also tried to find the players that fit the way we want to play. We can’t ignore individual athleticism. In the Stars & Stripes games we made it clear how we wanted the teams to play, but we also wanted players to show their athleticism.”

 

One player that did was Lilly Durbin. The Fallbrook freshman fullback is not only a bit young for the U20s, she will be too young to play in the Nation’s Cup next year. For that reason alone, Miller would be forgiven for not picking the speedy #15. But Miller said Durbin played so well, she had to be picked.

 

“She played up so well, at every level, that we felt she was a special enough player that we needed to encourage her development,” said Miller.

 

What the coach hasn’t seen has been two-fold. Several colleges, including some varsity college programs, did not allow their players to try out. (Miller didn’t name names but Quinnipiac and Eastern Illinois come to mind.) 

 

“It would have sen nice to see the varsity coaches encouraging their players to get some exposure,” said Miller.

 

In addition, Miller said she is seeing overall a dearth of top-flight play in the back row. This is an odd predicament given that most teams put some of their best athletes in the back row. And yet, said Miller, “we’d like to see a lot more aggressiveness and a higher overall skill level in the back row.”

 

So on the field, Miller and her staff of Kelly Seary, Will Snape, Mark Smith, and Katie Wurst will be looking to train up some of these players, and give them a taste of international rugby. It’s more than that.

 

“We want them to see what tour life is like - what it’s like to get together as a national team, how we train, recover, and how we prepare and live together,” said Miller. “All of it is part of the development.”