It's a simple request but at least it's being answers: let the national teams play.
With the exception of the USA Men's U23s, all levels of USA 15s teams are in action this year, with the summer being full of games.
USA Rugby's bankruptcy in 2020 and the poor results from both senior national teams (women bow out in the World Cup quarterfinals; men fail to qualify for the World Cup) many, including GRR, called for a re-emphasis on the age-grades. The young players will drive improvement, and when the USA hosts World Cups in 2031 and 2033, it's those young players who will be hugely important to those on-field efforts.
So this year so far we have our national teams playing 21 games (and the WXV will have three more games in October for the Eagle Senior Women). All but three are again peer teams (U20 National Team vs U20 National Team). The three that aren't like-vs-like were the U23 women playing senior national teams from less powerful rugby nationals, and the USA senior men playing Stade Toulousain, one of the best clubs in Europe. So no patsies there, but the key thing we think is that when the U18s play, they're playing national U18 teams. Same goes for the U20s.
And the results? So far they've been pretty good. National teams have, through July 4, have gone 5-1-1. Not that we expect that going forward, necessarily. But it's also worth pointing out that these are under relatively difficult circumstances. Only three of the 17 games schedules so far will be on US soil. The rest will be at the opposition home or on neutral territory. That's also a good thing in that it tests players, especially developing players.
