Z is back.

After about a year away from the USA team, Takudzwa Ngwenya is back on the USA team - it will be interesting to see if the fit sticks this time.

Ngwenya has been one of the USA's most exciting players, but garnered the ire of the current coaching staff by sometimes being incommunicado, and when he did show up and play, going off the game plan. That soured relationship seemed to coincide with a dip in production from the speedy winger.

Ngwenya moved from Zimbabwe to the USA as a teenager and played for the Plano in the Texas HS league before getting a look with the USA U19 team. He didn't make the junior Eagles, but continued to play, and was selected, at age 21, for the NA4 in 2006. Fast but green, he was an exciting 7s player, and then worked his way up to the full Eagles 15s team, getting his first cap in the 2007 World Cup. There he ended up scoring two tries, including the IRB Try of the Year against South Africa.

He continued to score tries for the 7s and 15s teams, and later signed on with Biarritz in France. There he became a more complete rugby player, and helped the club to plenty of success. But the last couple of years have been tough. Biarritz fell on hard times, expecting Dimitri Yashvili to kick goals and Ngwenya to score tries in order to win games. When that didn't work, they plummeted to the Top 14 cellar, and are now in Pro D2 in France, and not playing all that well there.

With the Eagles, Ngwenya scored seven tries in his first 16 internationals, but in his last 11 games, has scored only three, a 38% drop in his strike rate. He hasn't played for the USA since August, 2013 (he did score in his lat test match), and the USA coaching staff seemed OK with that. But now playing in France's 2nd division, Ngwenya might be looking for a little high-profile greenery to get noticed by a higher-level pro club. At the same time, the Eagles will be without Blaine Scully during most of November, and could use an experienced pace man out wide.

But to stay with the Eagles, Ngwenya has to do a better job of communicating. That, it seems, is the major problem between him and coach Mike Tolkin. When they talk, things are OK. When they don't, we don't see Ngwenya play.

It remains to be seen whether the reconciliation fits.