7s Team to Hp Camp in OTC

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – USA Rugby has announced the players who will assemble at the Olympic Training Center for the March 8-14 Men’s Eagles Sevens High Performance Camp.

The Eagles come off having finished in the top four at Las Vegas, their best single-tournament finish since 2010 when they made the final in Brisbane, and are now 7th in the World Series standings. Mike Friday’s team has been drawn in Pool D at Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens with England, Kenya, and Wales.

A few pieces of news from the list: Former captain Shalom Suniula is back in camp and will get a look as a scrumhalf/flyhalf. As he indicated on social media, Brett Thompson has left his pro club in Scotland and is with the USA 7s program again. However, Thompson, who injured his shoulder in October and re-injured it in November, is probably out until May, so is just working on rehab at this time.

School keeps Martin Iosefo and Kingsley McGowan out of the team for the moment, and some of the World Class Athlete Program members have military obligations. But this is a solid group nonetheless.  

“Martin needs to focus on his studies for this next period and I am very supportive of his studies and feel it’s important that players have other interests and goals to keep them fresh, motivated, and driven,” Friday said.

Suniula and five Eagles in residency at the OTC recently attend the Men’s Eagles’ Spring Camp in Florida, at which Mike Tolkin and staff deliberated selections for the Eagles Select XVs’ upcoming tour to South America. Men’s Eagles Sevens Assistant Coach Chris Brown joined Danny Barrett, Andrew Durutalo, Folau Niua, Zack Test, and Maka Unufe in Florida, where he collaborated with Tolkin and the rest of the XVs’ staff on player identification, monitoring, and progression.

“It was productive to have Coach Brown in Florida to observe the camp and interact with our staff,” Tolkin said. “The closer we can work together, the better both our teams and players can benefit. Navigating the crossover road isn’t always easy, but this makes that process much easier.”

Former AIG Men’s Junior All-American center and San Mateo product Lemoto Filikitonga was another attendee of the camp in Florida. Currently with the Spearhead Academy and Metropolis Rugby Football Club in Minneapolis under the tutelage of Eagles backs coach Nate Osborne, Filikitonga played for the Eagles Select XV at the Americas Rugby Championship last fall and will make his High Performance Camp debut at the OTC this weekend.

Nate Augspurger, who has played on the circuit in recent years and featured at World Club 7s at Twickenham Stadium with New York City Sevens, will also attend his first camp with Friday.

“Nate has continued to grow at Old Blue and in the Northeast ODA training environment under Coach [Steve] Lewis,” noted USA Rugby Director of Performance Alex Magleby. “Look forward to seeing him back at the OTC stronger, wiser, and a more experienced leader than before.”

“These are all guys that have been on the radar and this will allow me to draw comparisons on where they are physically compared to the group and to assess whether technically and tactically they can compete,” Friday said. “These boys are talented players but the world circuit is a few steps up from the club scene in terms of speed of the game both physically and in thought.

“I am hoping they will bring added competition to the group and will have the desire and drive to try and compete for a place and, if not successful, still want to persist and compete for the next one. Resilience and desire are big traits that we expect and want in the environment.”

Men's Eagles Sevens High Performance Camp | March 8-14, 2015

Unavailable for selection: 
Martin Iosefo 
Kingsley McGowan 
Zach Pangelinan 
Nu'u Punimata 
Brett Thompson 
Mattie Tago 
Michael Ziegler