If there’s one thing USA Men’s 7s Coach doesn’t want, it is for his squad to sit on their laurels.

Sports can be humbling, and rugby 7s, where 14 minutes goes by like that (snap your fingers), is more humbling than most. The USA won two tournaments in a row in May and June - the London 7s in the World Series, and then the NACRA 7s Olympic Qualifier. But then a slightly different lineup was beaten by Canada in the Pan-Am Games, and that was just the thing for Friday to remind his players that victories, or places on the team for that matter, are fleeting.

And then there was the Halloween 7s, where an almost-USA team lost to Canada in pool play after a discipline meltdown, and settled for the Plate.

“The squad has responded well to the disappointment of our performance at the Halloween 7s, which highlighted a number of issues that we needed to remedy on the pitch and in our approach,” said Friday. “As such it may well have been a blessing in disguise as all the details we need to address are within our control and are a matter of attitude adjustment.”

As we said, coaches love a good teachable moment.

So last week, Friday set forth the standard. 

“[The] week has been highly challenging for the group, but a challenge they have embraced as a group, and we have seen a thirst and desire to apply themselves which we will need if we want to be successful in Dubai and CapeTown.”

Friday made some changes from the team that won in London. Two players who played a big part in the USA 15s World Cup effort, Danny Barrett and Andrew Durutalo, stay home. Martin Iosefo also stays home. In their place, Friday has made some interesting choices. Will Holder is more of a playmaker than the finisher Iosefo is, brings a different dimension with his kicking skills and ability to put players into space. He’s also a big, long-striding runner.

Kevin Swiryn isn’t really like Barrett or Durutalo. He can, however, play almost any position. The former St. Mary’s captain and former USA 7s team captain is a more experienced player, and certainly an even more savvy one. Swiryn was a huge part of the team that made the semis in San Diego in 2009 and the final in Brisbane in 2010. He runs through tacklers, and pass, and can play as a forward or a center.

And the final addition is Brett Thompson, a big, strong wing who energized the team two seasons ago with his try-scoring. What the team trades then is power and ball-poaching in tight, but they add offensive firepower. Garrett Bender and Zack Test will have a lot to do in the breakdown. Test, who years ago was considered problematic in the rucks, has become hugely useful in stealing ball and finding counter-rucking opportunities.

For Friday, he knows that maybe everybody will need a bit more time together.

“We recognize that we may well be sightly undercooked going into these two tournaments,” said the coach. “It is a long season and having had the 15s World Cup, it made for a fragmented pre-season for the group. However we are in reasonable shape as a group and complacency is not a word that is accepted or welcome in our environment.”

Friday expects high standards, and he is always quick to tell players that they should play as hard as possible, because there’s always someone on the bench to sub in.

“We expect high standards of each other and we will be be emptying the tank for each other and all those that we represent come the start of Dubai,” …said Friday. That tournament, he added, “can't come quickly enough for the boys who are itching to get out on the pitch in the Eagles shirt.” 

This is a good enough team to do well in Dubai, but it is a different team, and they run the risk of missing Durutalo's ability to steal the ball at the breakdown. But, they still have the twin jet engines of Carlin Isles and Perry Baker. They have a settled halfback group of Nate Augspurger, Madison Hughes, and Folau Niua. And they are starting a season, for the first time since the fall of 2011, with the same coach they started the previous season.

The USA is in Pool C with New Zealand, France, and Portugal, a pool they should expect to get out of and into the Cup Quarterfinals.

They open up against Portugal on Thursday, Dec 3 or Friday, Dec. 4 depending on your time zone:

1:52am Dec 4 Eastern Time

12:52am Dec 4 Central Time

11:52pm Dec 3 Mountain Time

10:52pm Dec 3 Pacific Time

9:52pm Dec 3 Alaska Time

8:52 pm Dec 3 Hawaii/Aleutian Time

Then v France at 5:36am Dec 4 ET, 2:36am Dec 4 PT

And finally New Zealand at 10:58am ET, 7:58am PT Dec 4