It’s just three weeks until the USA Men’s National Team opens up its Rugby World Cup year season, and there’s been a slight change.

Todd Clever, who has captained the Eagles 42 times - far and away the most by any player - is team captain no longer. Head Coach Mike Tolkin has named Chris Wyles as the team’s captain, with Blain Scully as vice captain. It’s a momentous move, is it not? Well, maybe.

First off, there was going to be a time when Clever was not captain anymore. It’s an important job, and one that can get stale on a player sometimes. Very, very few players get to play at the top of their game until the very end and then go out on their terms. With Clever facing ever more competition for a spot on the team, is it right to just automatically say he’s the captain? Can Tolkin afford to look at his World Cup pack, which could include Samua Manoa, Scott LaValla, Hayden Smith, Lou Sanfill, and Cam Dolan, and say that one spot in the back row is a certainty for Clever? The whole point of the Eagles developing depth was to make it difficult to keep your place.

Add to that the ongoing form of John Quill and Danny Barrett, two battling, grafting flankers who Tolkin likes very much, and you see how Todd Clever is a great player in position to play for the Eagles, but not a certainty. 

So Tolkin has made the change now, and now is likely the right time. His choice is unimpeachable. Chris Wyles has been a consummate professional for the USA since 2007. He is widely respected for his rugby knwoeldge and his leadership. He leads by example, and he is well-known to referees (which often helps, unless you’re known for the wrong things). He is articulate and vocal (two things that don’t always go together). That’s not to say other candidates are not these things - it’s just that it’s true that Wyles is these things.

Scully as a sort of backup captain is a smart choice, too. Scully was the guy who stood up among the USA 7s players back in 2011 and said the players weren’t doing enough to be professionals. He is also a highly-respected player. And, to speak to the whole question of what do you do i the captain isn’t playing, Scully might be a wing for the Eagles, but he is also the backup fullback. So if Wyles is down, the vice captain is in his place in a leadership position and a rugby position.

There are other players who could be captain of the team, but picking two full-time professionals who are considered very professional in their approach, is hard to argue with. We might see another player become a vice captain (mirroring the ice hockey model of one Captain and two Assistant Captains), but perhaps the right thing is that the change has been made now.

Clever has been a wonderful leader for the USA, often through difficult times. He stands to set the all-time caps record for the Eagles this year, and that’s a wonderful achievement. But that doesn’t mean he has to be the captain of the team now.

And in addition, having Wyles as captain 2015 doesn’t mean he has to be captain in 2016. Perhaps the position needs to be moved around, rather than locked into one player.

Notes: This year, as we said, Clever stands to break Mike MacDonald’s record of 67 caps (Clever has 63). In addition, Mike Petri, who captained the USA three times, should break 50 caps, and Wyles will likely do that, also. 

Samua Manoa is not in the PNC squad. He is training with Toulon. The battle between clubs and World Rugby on releasing players for international duty is not over, and sometimes a national team, or a player, might have to make a tough decision. Manoa will need to be available for the World Cup, and so misses the PNC as a result.