USA Rugby has today announced new naming standards for its men’s and women’s age-grade programs, with the All Americans monikers not used anymore for teams competing on the field.

High School and Collegiate All-American terms will now only be used for honors lists.

Naming schemes are as follows and will be consistent across men’s and women’s programs:

Under-18s - players who are 18 years or under by December 31

Under-20s - players who are 20 years or under by December 31

Under-23s - players who are 23 years or under by December 31

While All-Americans are no longer specifically associated with a competition team, USA Rugby High Performance will name its own honors list for High School and College, in conjunction with scholastic programs across the country, to preserve the decades-long recognition associated with the All-American badge.

New naming conventions are designed to alleviate any confusion across the domestic landscape and to create greater parity with national team programs. The distinction between each individual program and All-American honors lists creates a greater understanding for players as they enter in and move through the pathway.

Alongside the changes to age-grade titles, development sides for all senior national teams across 7s and XVs will be known as Falcons.

All That Is Old Is New Again

USA Rugby for years used age designations for its age-grade national teams (but not the Collegiate All Americans, which were named and toured under that name). But that was all changed by USA Rugby to somehow align rugby with the broader American sporting landscape with High School All Americans and Junior All Americans. 

The American sporting public, you see, didn't understand U16 or U17 or U18 or U19. Apparently they do now. As it turned out, the American sporting public always understood these age designations, and anyone following soccer or hockey or myriad other sports would have understood. - AG.