CRAA U19s Working Hard As RAN Championships Loom

The players have been working hard and Duffy praised his assistant coaches, Peter Malcolm and Joe Rusert-Cuddy.

"The team is gelling and we have gotten some basic systems and shapes in place. It’s a limited window so we are doing as much as we can," said Duffy.

Players are making an impact in training. Fatman Thorndyke will be the team's captain and will be playing scrumhalf. Kody Goldman (see above) will be the our vice captain at blindside flanker. 

Thorndyke Makes Impression During English Experience

Shea Summers, who, like Goldman, is at Penn State, has showed skills as have Cal's Flynn O’Connell and Ohio State powerhouse Sam Bosco.

The CRAA U19s opens up their RAN U19 Championships Wednesday at 11AM ET and 9AM Mexico time. They play Bermuda in a shortened game (the tournament follows U19 rules and so won't play more than 90 minutes in a day). Later on Wednesday (5PM ET) they play a very strong Mexico side.

"We open with Bermuda and we know they will be a challenge, especially in Match #1," said Duffy. "But the guys are up for it and we are hammering the importance of process in this player development experience."

On Thursday the CRAA team will play the Cayman Islands and Trinidad & Tobago.

Then on Saturday the top two teams will play for the trophy, the next two will play for 3rd, and the next two will play for 5th.