MLR Camp Diary: Calm After the Storm
MLR Camp Diary: Calm After the Storm
Wednesday night's evening session was, unfortunately, canceled due to lightning.
The players have been walking from their dorms at the University of Mary Washington to UMW's beautiful rugby field—it's not a super-long walk but it isn't short, either. So when the thunderclouds rolled in and the players had to repair to a utility building, the MLR coaches, scouts, and, yes, journalists in attendance rolled up in their vehicles in a sort of rugby-themed recreation of the evacuation of Dunkirk, ferrying players back to the dorms.
It was all quickly accomplished, but the players felt keenly the missed opportunity for a training session before Friday's game.
Meanwhile, there have been setbacks. Le'Donn Mathis had a scary moment late on Tuesday when his whole body cramped up after a hot day of training. He was quickly taken to the hospital and was treated there—he later sent a goofy photo to everyone to let them know he is coming back and in fact he was back in time for the team photo.
Louisville flanker Parker Anderson sustained a knee injury that has put him out of action. Anderson was understandably gutted at the setback, looking at this writer and just shaking his head, saying, "this is not the week for this to happen."
He attends training and said he could potentially numb the knee and play, but, he added, it wouldn't be fair to his teammates and would likely mess up his knee even more. Anderson's roomate, Matthew Conroy of St. Bonaventure, is also injured, having tweaked his hamstring. Once again, the smart move if to not play, but Conroy acknowledged the pain of being on the sidelines is worse than any physical pain he feels.
The Coach Comes By
One highlight of Wednesday was a visit by USA Head Coach Scott Lawrence, who spoke for several minutes with the players and then spent about 20 minutes answering questions. Lawrence was very direct, even blunt, with the players, but that has been the theme of the week in some sense. And the players appreciate it, saying they want to hear how it really is.
Lawrence inspired the American players, but the Canadians, also, drew inspiration from his words and spoke at length with GRR about their desire to bring Canada's men's national teams back to prominence.
Thursday
Thursday broke sunny and clear with the Red team under Josh Macy and Ben Cima, and the Black team under Tui Osborne and Andrew Cook, ran through team-specific paces. Coaches from all over the MLR were there to watch and take notes. Several players showed something that piqued some interest.
The game plans are not flashy, but some of the players are learning more about how kicking becomes a much more important skill for multiple positions—scrumhalves don't box kick much in the college game but they do in the pro game. Clearly the #9s in MLR Rising had been working on their box kicks. The adjustment to not being the best player on their team has taken longer for some, but by the end of these sessions those players looked more comfortable.
After those trainings the players received a presentation on the Atlantic Rugby Premiership. This dovetails with Coach Lawrence's advice to players that they play rugby this coming fall. The ARP, and also the Midwest Premiership, offer chances for players to get crucial minutes in good club competitions. The ARP—Mystic River, White Plains, NYAC, Old Blue, Charlotte, Life University, NOLA Academy, and Miami Tridents—is in a special situation in that the teams have been designated as part of USA Rugby's pathway. What that means is you can play for those teams and still remain eligible to play for your regular club team, because the ARP is not actually part of USA Rugby's championships.
The reaction from the players was positive: they felt this was good advice and helpful in getting them into a position to be MLR-ready, even as they also bristled at the idea that they might fall short of that MLR dream and need a Plan B.
The players also got to have some one-on-one time with MLR General Managers. This is all above board as no contract negotiations are taking place. This is more about players and teams getting a feel for if they are a fit (Chicago won't be drafting a player who doesn't want to move to Chicago, for example).
Finally it was time to name the lineups. Note: Shane Rikley-Kindle injured his ankle and his absence prompted some changed
S for Team Red.
| Red | Black | ||||
| 1 | Jesse Emerson | Grand Canyon University | 1 | Hunter Chulhansteff | St Mary's College of California |
| 2 | Jordan Auger | University of Victoria | 2 | Neil Trainor | Queen's University (CAN) |
| 3 | Connor Williams | Universite de Ottawa | 3 | Damon James | Mount St. Mary's |
| 4 | Jack Brown | University of Arizona | 4 | Joey O'Brien | St John's University |
| 5 | Chrisopher Jensvold | University of Louisville | 5 | Matthew Reed | Life University |
| 6 | Raymond Santiago | Renssalear Polytechnic Institute | 6 | Aaron Juma | Wheeling University |
| 7 | James Reed | Life University | 7 | Calvin Ihrig CAPT | Lindenwood University |
| 8 | Matt Carrion. CAPT | Life University | 8 | Pono Kayoshi | St Mary's College of California |
| 9 |
George O'Brien |
Arizona | 9 | Emanuel Lai | Santa Clara University |
| 10 | Aidan Ridgway (VC) | Arkansas State | 10 | Alex Park | Texas A&M |
| 11 | Brendan Bennett | University of Texas - San Antonio | 11 | Isaia Saldana | Central Washington University |
| 12 | Kyle Jaxon Stokely | Sam Houston State | 12 | Stuart Duncan | University of Mary Washington |
| 13 | Ashawnty Staples | NDC | 13 | Stephin Alberts | Lindenwood University |
| 14 | Hunter Simons | Ohio State University | 14 | Peyton Wall | Indiana University |
| 15 | Cale White | Mary Washington | 15 | Sebastian Schefermann VICE CAPT | University of Mary Washington |
| 16 | Maximus Clark | Ohio State University | 16 | Nicholas Sydorowitz | University of Mary Washington |
| 17 | Miles Bell | Michigan State University | 17 | Daniel Bray | University of California - Santa Barbara |
| 18 | James Aitken | St Bonaventure University | 18 | Patrick Beattie | CSU Long Beach |
| 19 | Jake Kinneeveauk | University of Utah | 19 | Daniel Blanc | University of Mary Washington |
| 20 | Lleyton Delzell | St Mary's College of California | 28 | Nick Andiarena | Adrian College |
| 21 | Sam Tsoi | Trinity Western University | 21 | Jack Morris | University of Guelph |
| 22 | George O'Brien | University of Arizona | 22 | Christopher Gamage | University of Victoria |
| 23 | Michael Sanderson | Elon University | 23 | Jamie Armstrong | Universite de Ottawa |
| 24 | Elijah Thomas | St Thomas University | 24 | ||
All of the players will see time, but as you can see, Anderson, Mathis, and Conroy are all out of the picture.
The captains and vice captains participated in a contest to see how many Oreo (TM) cookies they could eat (without using their hands) with the Oreos balanced on their foreheads. It is actually sillier than it sounds. We all found out that Matt Carrion is NOT an Oreo-cookie-eating savant. Ihrig led his team to victory in a cookieslide.
On a more serious note, thunderstorms are forecast for Friday. This could shake up the schedule, but for now the game will kick off at 11AM ET and will be on The Rugby Network.
