Over 60 men’s college rugby players and several HS players will converge on the campus of Cal Maritime Academy next week as the Men’s Collegiate All American coaches look to identify the top players in the college game.

Gavin Hickie will oversee the assembly, with the USA’s most-capped player, Mike MacDonald, working closely with him on the forwards. USA Men’s National Team coaches Mike Tolkin, Phil Bailey, and Justin Fitzpatrick will also be in attendance.

The assembly will end with a Stars & Stripes game on the morning of Saturday, July 18, giving the players time to leave and go see the Eagles play Samoa at Avaya Stadium. There will also be a strong 7s component, with MCAA 7s Coach Tony Pacheco and USA Men’s 7s Assistant Chris Brown working with players through the week.

The 7s players will be identified and worked with in preparation for the Serevi RugbyTown 7s in Glendale, Colo. August 14-16.

“Working with Chris Brown is going to be great,” said Pacheco, who coaches the Central Washington University team, and led the All Americans to victory at the RugbyTown 7s last year. “Last year we had a pretty fresh bunch of players. We’re excited to build on that and also there are several other players we really want to see.”

Currently it seems there is no additional playing opportunity for the 15s All Americans this summer. As stated by USA Rugby’s High Performance leadership, the emphasis has been placed on talent identification and development, not tours. Still, there may be a tour next year.

In this new era of National Tracking Camps, more players are being looked at, and, said Hickie, as teams and players become more familiar with the NTC system, more athletes will bubble up.

Hickie used one player as an example.

“We have a lot of players from Cal, BYU, and St. Mary’s, as you’d expect, but we’ve also got players from less well-known programs,” he said. “We saw Matthew Moore at the Life University Camp - he’s from North Alabama and a big, physical, raw talent, but one with a lot of potential. We’re getting more of those players.”

Hickie said the training and work at the AA Stars & Stripes Camp will be “as high-end as possible,” and will provide players with feedback and information to help them improve their game.