So there’s the physical fitness, but with a squad still new to the SVNS World Series, having a short memory is crucial and while Tomasin understands it, some of the less experienced players don’t. We saw it with the more successful teams of the late 20-teens; when they first made the semis, and lose, they would not perform well in that 3rd-4th game partly because they weren’t experienced in dealing with that semifinal disappointment.

“It's a very hard thing mentally, to get yourself back up for those games, and we're learning how to do it as a group and do it consistently. That's the hardest part,” said Tomasin.

That’s one part of it, the other part is to stay focused within the game.

“A lot of at the moment is improve the game decisions,” said Head Coach Simon Amor. “We’re working on making the game understanding better and play very much of a decision-making based style of play, which is effectively what you need to do to be successful at top end. Now, the best teams in the world, all reacting and seeing things and learning very much less against the set system.”

The big thing there is that while experienced teams (and Amor pointed out that experience is in direct correlation with SVNS standings position this year) play their games and then recover in between. Inexperienced teams, such as the USA, spend that time reviewing film, going over issues, and learning.

“It’s a load of cognitive work,” said Amor. “So there’s a mental load as well as a physical load. Normally, you just switch off between games and have a lot more sort of downtime. We're not. We're spending a lot a lot of time looking through footage and learning. So come to the end of the tournament, there's a physical fatigue, there's also a mental, a cognitive fatigue, and a learning fatigue as well. And that's why you'll see some of the decision making in that last game on Day Three.”

Amor clearly is looking at this season as a learning process. It has to be. The squad he has chosen for the two Asian legs of the SVNS have a few more tournaments under their belts now, and that’s a good thing. The standings can’t weight on them.

“That doesn't factor. You can't focus on the standings and the results. All you can do is go out and perform and prepare the best you can for the 1st game, which is Fiji, and on the back of that you learn and you grow,” said Amor. “You know, if you suddenly start to talk about standings with  a team has so many young people, that can cripple people with pressure and and expectation and stuff like. There are certain standards and the processes and goals that we need to achieve each tournament which internally, we mark and stuff, and we look at, and they've just got to keep on getting better. And I think everyone everyone can see that the team's getting better. What it's not showing at the moment is in wins and losses, but that will come so long as the boys keep on working hard and and keep on understanding that the easy thing right now is to let the losses negatively affect us.”

The players, added Armor, are desperate to win, and Tomasin offered an impassioned statement on that very topic.

“We're we're putting so much time and effort into fixing things and and progressing and, if you are watching our games, hopefully you are seeing that, and can be proud in the effort that we're putting in,” Tomasin told GRR. “Now, it's on us to flip the switch and start to to execute a little bit better and and pull out. You know the wins that we think that we should be getting will come. It's taking time. But like we don't lack confidence. And and we don't lack work ethic; we just need to be more accurate.”

Changes

Tomasin takes on the captain’s mantle, with Faitala Talapusi and Lucas Lacamp as vice captains. Amor has been giving many players captaincy roles and that’s clearly a part of his long-term plan. New on the squad is Ulu Niutupuivaha, a big, powerful 7s forward out of Kahuku HS in Hawai’i who represented the USA in 7s at the U18 and U23 levels.

He has been working hard in camp and earned the selection.

“I genuinely think he's got the potential to be a fantastic 7s player,” said Amor. “He's worked so hard. He's got some real natural instincts, and particularly for us right now, he's a big guy. We're a little bit small at the moment, but David Still comes back in as well. So that gives a bit more size as well. If you look at World 7s, all the teams just have big, physical, tall, rangy men, and it's difficult if you don't have that so he could be a grass and I’m excited for him.”

But aside from that it is Niutpuivaha’s work ethic and attitude that have put him on the side.

“He'll make some mistakes in Hong Kong. He'll make some mistakes in Singapore. But he'll do some good stuff as well, and with a little bit of resilience and support., he'll come through,” said Amor. “And he could be a great player for USA Rugby.”

You could say that about the team as a whole.