After winning the London 7s and gaining a berth in the 2016 Olympics a few weeks later, USA Men’s 7s Coach Mike Friday said that those accomplishments were nice, but they were just steps to bigger prizes.

And this weekend is one of those steps, too. Friday held a tough camp for a group of regular USA players plus several who hope to break back into the team, or to get there for the first time.

Now Friday has split those players into a group of mostly young players, the Falcons, and a group of more experienced players, the Hawks.

 “Camp was really good,” said Friday, who, along with assistant Chris Brown, is known for running the players very hard. “This one has been hugely focused on tactical understanding for the less experienced guys, as well as reconfirming the physical expectations required to be successful in the game of 7s.” 

Friday said the Falcons players have come together well, and “they are starting to grasp how to play the game and recognize the correct decisions. The senior boys have been excellent at helping and coaching the Falcons boys this week, which is great to see as we are recognizing we need to be a stronger group with greater depth so we can continue to all move forward and improve as a group.”

The need for depth has been accentuated by the fact that the 7s players who were in the Rugby World Cup - Danny Barrett, Folau Niua, Zack Test, and Brett Thompson - were not in camp.

So the Hawks will include regulars from the 2014-15 season, such as Maka Unufe, Garrett Bender, Carlin Isles, Perry Baker, Martin Iosefo, and Madison Hughes. In addition, players with recent Eagle 7s experience such as Nate Augspurger, Pat Blair, Nick Edwards, and Matai Leuta, and two others. Those others are West Point grad Be Leatigaga, who has been knocking on the door all season, and Peter Tiberio, the former Arizona All American who was a USA regular before leaving the program, and then getting injured.

“Peter has recovered from all his injuries and now able to resume and we felt it was better that he played with the senior boys in the Hawks so he can be managed, but [he is a] great addition to the pool,” said Friday. “The Hawks who are a late entry into the tournament, and will also get an opportunity to blow the cobwebs away and get a gauge of where we are in pre-season in the lead-up to Dubai. To date we have been in a bubble as a group, concentrating just on ourselves and to get a hit-out of this nature is hugely beneficial for the boys.”

That indicates that Friday was first looking at the Halloween 7s as a chance to get games for younger players. That will still happen, with the Falcons including six current college players in Alex Faison-Donahoe (Kutztown), Seth Halliman (Central Washington), Tau Laei (BYU), Peter Malcolm (Wheeling Jesuit), Ben Pinkelman (Colorado State), and Joey Sok (Davenport). Veterans Will Holder and Andrew Durutalo provide leadership, and Colton Cariaga is sort of in the middle - a former All American who is poised to jump into the mix. There are a couple of experiments - Alex Elkins, who played rugby in high school but left it to pursue a football career, and ConRoy Smith, a former sprinter who played the summer with the NOVA club, and Kevin Swiryn, the former USA 7s team captain who retired from high-level rugby due to injury, only to recover and mount a comeback.

“Kevin Swiryn who has been in constant communication and wanting to be considered to compete,” said Friday. “That wasn’t possible for him to do last season but now is and we are impressed with his energy commitment and humility to compete. We are very much looking forward to seeing how he goes this week. That coupled with all the exceptional younger players that have earned their opportunity through the showings in the summer at the CRC’s , Nationals, or the Elite 7s, and we are looking forward to seeing how they grow as a team.”

Friday said all of the players have potential.

“ConRoy Smith is another racehorse thoroughbred in the making,” he said. “Ben Pinkleman and his athletic ability, Joey Sok and his maverick attacking flair, Tui Leai and his dancing feet … Pete Malcolm is just a combative individual with a huge work ethic. Seth Halliman who is a smooth, abrasive footballer. Alex Faison-Donahoe is a strong, rangy, elusive runner. Colton Cariaga is an industrious playmaker.”

So there’s a lot to see. Obviously Friday likes his long striders, but he is also looking for depth at halfback, and he knows he needs grit up front. He is trying to develop a team that wins regularly on the World Series circuit, but also a second group that can step in without any drop-off. That is the job of this weekend.