After Falcons, before Qualifiers, Gold Looks at Where Eagles Are
After Falcons, before Qualifiers, Gold Looks at Where Eagles Are
In a few days the USA Men's 15s team will name its squad for the Final Qualifier Tournament in Dubai next month.
Goff Rugby Report spoke with Head Coach Gary Gold before the recent USA Falcons games about preparation for for the qualifiers against Hong Kong, Kenya, and Portugal, and we checked in with him after the Falcons games.
Tactical Focus
Some of what we spoke about was about tactics. Were the Eagles kicking too much against Chile and Uruguay or making mistakes in their kick chase? That question prompted a longer discussion about what tactics and approach the Eagles will take.
"Yes we need to look at our kicking and we also we need to re-look at our attacking game and our ability to hold onto the ball through multiple phases and actually be a threat with ball in hand," Gold told GRR. "Because the minute we do that it’s going to open up opportunities for us should we choose to kick, because if the opposition choose to put 13 or 14 in the front line then there is going to be space in behind. And if they put players back because we choose to kick the ball, then there’s going to be opportunities to play."
So consistent phase play, which the Falcons showed in South Africa at times, is a goal. It is also, added Gold, part of the defensive plan.
"Holding onto the ball is going to be the best way to defend," he said. "But having said that we have got to be a ruthlessly physical defensive team."
The physicality shown with the Falcons has some good moments, Gold added after the trips to South Africa and Uruguay.
"We are still emphasizing for our forwards to be a lot more dominant, specifically around set piece," said the coach. "We had some good scrum pictures but we need to improve a lot more at maul time and maul defense, which is really where the Cheetahs hurt us.
Everyone Has a Plan ...
"The question is not only what is you plan, but what is your execution?" added Gold. "If you've got this great plan but you kick the ball directly into touch or you kick it out dead, it's not going to help matters."
Skill execution, and execution with confidence, then, will be important. Certainly the Falcons—as two groups and as individual players—found that out. You can't give away dumb penalties. You can't be disorganized on defense, especially on kick chase. And you can't misfire on prime scoring opportunities.
"Lots of learnings out of the two camps," Gold said this week. "Most importantly was to get the regular game and training time and giving such a large group regular time together. Lots of specifics learned. Defense is getting better. We definitely trying to be a lot more of a threat on attack and asking a lot more questions with ball in hand."
The Other Guys Want to Win Too
And Gold had some key warnings about the tournament. The Eagles will play Kenya on November 6, Hong Kong on November 12, and Portugal on November 18. Most observers consider the USA vs Portugal game to be the meeting of the two strongest teams, although it would be foolish for the USA to look past anyone.
Still, Gold used Portugal as an example about being complacent.
"If we kick the ball badly against them they have got some freakishly good broken field runners," Gold said. "They’ve got guys who are scoring tries for fun out of the backfield. If we are irresponsible with our kicking game it’s going to be a long day at the office for us. So the truth is, this is going to be a massive job."
