Three-WIn Day for USA Age Grade Teams
Three-WIn Day for USA Age Grade Teams
It was a 3-0 day for the USA men's age-grade teams at the Corendon Summer Tour in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the USA U18s, U20s, and U23s all winning their games.
The U18s battled in a tough, back-and-forth game with the Netherlands. It was very close at halftime and but the USA team put in an improved second-half effort and pulled away 31-23.
This was the group's first hit-out as international rugby players ever, and it took them some time to adjust to the intensity. The Netherlands team, as was true of the other teams the USA squads faced Saturday, was physically large and tested the USA players' physicality.
"They found out what it was like," said Pathways Director Brendan Keane. "But coaches Ollie and Dom did a great job making adjustments and keeping them in the fight."
That would be former USA prop Ollie Kilifi as assistant coach and Dom Wareing as the Head Coach.
The players adjusted well at halftime.
The U20s torched a pretty tough Belgium team 55-7.
"This is a very dangerous U20 team," said Keane. "Several of these guys played in that three-game series against Canada a couple of years ago, and they came together nicely. They are talented, full of quality players who have played together."
The U20s handled the physical intensity and pressure they were put under, and any time they had space they threatened to score.
The U23s battled to a 22-20 win over Brussels Devils In this game the U23s pressured Brussels consistently through the first period. But they didn't score.
"We showed good shape," said Keane. "The forwards really stood up against a bigger team that is powerful and plays together all the time. So we ran through a ton of phases and that was good. We just didn't finish."
The U23s dominated the lineouts and Brussels never were able to launch anything from that platform. But they scrummed well and the U23s did struggled with the big, heavy Brussels tight five in that aspect.
Interception tries by Scholz Award nominee Daelen Denenberg from Santa Clara and Harvard standout Ryan Santos were crucial to the win, but Keane said he felt the U23s had played the rugby.
"Not bad for being together for only four days," said Keane. "It was a really good day, a really good start."
This event is also a nod to the fact that these All American teams or age-grade teams need to play as well as be selected. And they need to tour. That, after all, is what the senior national teams do.
"Games matter," said Keane. "You can only train pressure so much. You have to face real pressure and compete against teams that play in a different way. They play differently and we saw that today."
