USA Rugby has named Scott Lawrence the USA U20 (aka AIG Men’s Junior All-Americans) Head Coach, returning Lawrence to the post he held in 2011 and 2012.

Lawrence, a former USA flanker, is well-known for his exacting approach to the game. He is a planner and a taskmaster and it was his detailed mapping out of the 2012 U20 season that turned a program that finished 7th in the Junior World Rugby Trophy into the tournament winners a year later. Lawrence submitted an even more detailed plan for the program going forward, but with funding a question the plan wasn't adopted.

Lawrence went back to work at his job and with Life University, and the U20s went through three coaches in as many years, with mixed results.

In USA Rugby's annoucnement, USA Rugby Director of Perfortmance said that “Scott is highly organized, a tremendous educator of young men, and has the ability to get others to buy into the vision. The head coach of the Juniors needs to be able to relate to coaches, athletes, and parents in high school, college, and the club game. Scott has the versatility and proven ability to connect these disparate parts.”

You can bet that Lawrence will address all aspects of preparation with his players, and will be detailed and agressive in his scouting of players.

Joining Lawrence is Paul Holmes of Tiger Rugby, and Holmes will coach the U20s 7s team under the aegis of Lawrence and in collaboration with Eagles Sevens coaches Mike Friday and Chris Brown.

Kevin Battle, Michael Engelbrecht, David Fee, and JD Stephenson will also work with the program.

In the announcement, Lawrence said, “The 2015-16 coaching pool provides a unique set of complimentary strengths, which will allow us to provide an enhanced development process to the athlete’s normal, daily training environment through cooperative development with coaches and the competitive pressure that representative play brings.”

This is a massive and welcome move by USA Rugby. Many believe Lawrence should have been retained as the U20s coach in 2013. Certainly Lawrence has great respect in coaching circles, and some think he might be a future Eagles head man. Certainly he has specific ideas on how a high performance team and player should operate.