Well the US go to Turin to play Italia. The US would probably like to come away from this match with a little respect. The Ireland match was horrible they need to at least keep the score respectable.
*crash* Sorry about that, I fell out of my chair laughing. USA is young and they have been beaten worse. Keeping a respectable score line should not be on their minds. Improving their young talent is what should be on their minds.
These comments from a 2003 Rugby World Cup guide in Australia. Written by a Rugby Journalist discussing The USA`s teams prospects "Todays problem is is the USA attracts few players at under-age levels. Many are not attracted to the game until they leave high school, when gridiron is no longer an option" Is he right?
USA isnt that bad they beat Japan in the World Cup they keep a respectable scoreline against Canada they arent that bad. They lost to Fiji 19-18 and had 6 points from last years WC.I mean the US isnt exactly a Rugby powerhouse but, they arent exactly the worst team in the world.
I would not be suprised because I knwo some people who learned rugby in college. However there are some high schools that offer rugby, but as a whole, it is hard to find unless you know where to look. USA is closer to the bottom of the pack than being midtable. Beating Canada is not what I would call setting the world on fire. The Fiji game was a bit of a fluke because Fiji played so bad. Beating Japan is like beating Canada. 6 points, Figure in 3 for a win and 1 pt for a try(or somehting liek that) and it is overrated. USA is about 20-30 yrs away before become a decent(think Argentina) team.
Italy 43 USA 25 For a difference this a view from the US side. We usually get International reviews. http://www.usarugby.org/cgi-bin/02/press/display.pl?releaseId=1012 Does the result reflect the reality.
At least the scoreline was respectable. It was 30-3 at Half but, US scored 22 in the 2nd half which is a good sign considering they usually fall during the 2nd half.
25 points isn't all that bad, but realistically i think they did have a chance of an upset (and hoped it). whats next for the eagles, is their tour over?
Found these notes on the USA Rugby site about the Eagles. Someone posted here I think that they were all Amateurs. Well apparently according to this they not have been. I wonder how many professionals were in the current team. MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM - The USA team, nicknamed the Eagles, is made up of the very best American Rugby players. The national squad is selected from the American athletes who play professional Rugby overseas and the best amateur club players from within the United States.
The Eagles need more matches like this. Ones against teams like Canada,Argentina,Scotland,Wales etc. Against good teams to build the Eagles into a decent team by 2007.
I would not put Canada in the same class as Argentina, Scotland, or Wales. Last tiem Scotland played USa they killed them...literally. USa is at least 20 yrs away from developing into a better rugby nation. While yes there are some good amuaters, most of them are 27 and up if you look at the various rugby clubs. If USA is going to develope then they need to get into the high school systems.
Actually, the Eagles are composed of players of varied ages. In their front row, Mike MacDonald is 24 and just graduated from Cal, Mark Wyatt is 25, Jacob Waasdorp is 25; in the 2nd row, Alec Parker is 30, Gerherd Klerck is 29; in the back row, Tony Petruzzella is 22 and is in college at Cal Poly, Brian Surgerner is 26, Kort Schubert is 25; in the backs, Mose Timoteo is 28, Mike Hercus is 25, Paul Emerick is 24, Salesi Sika is 24 and in college at BYU, Al Lakomskis is 28, David Fee is 28, Francois Viljoen is 23. These players are not mostly over 27. Many of the current players learned their rugby in high school and have been part of the U.S. under-19 program. That program defeated Canada in the U-19 World Cup qualifier last year and will represent our region in the U-19 World Cup. USA Rugby is stepping up in a big way with their high school initiatives that they are putting into place. The high school national championships have shown excellent abilities and the last two finals in 2003 and 2004 between Highland and Jesuit have been outstanding rugby. For those to say that the U.S.-Fiji game at the 2003 World Cup was a "bit of fluke" is odd, all you have to do is look at their past games to see that their matchups are close and certainly not blowouts: 2003 19-18 Fiji 2000 37-21 Fiji 1999 25-14 USA 1998 18-9 FIji I was at Landowne Road a few weeks back for the U.S-Ireland match, if you recall the first half ended and the score was 13-6.
It was really good. There were a number of U.S. flags and we were treated really well by the Irish. The stadium was pretty full (approx. 28K) for a minor international. Unfortunately, the rain and wind made sitting in the stands a bit cold. It was definitely a good time.
Good original post by Euskadi. Answered a few questions I raised. The High School push is good news. Looks like the Rugby Journo in Australia pinpointed the right area and US Rugby was doing something about it already. Another area is usually coaching. To get to higher standards you need higher standard coaches. No doubt there will be International coaches involved in US Rugby.
Justed noticed USA has changed there logo. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/mediastore/graphics/logos/usa_eagle.jpg Not bad either.
High school rugby union has been growing at approx. 25% every year for the last 5-6 years. It is absolutely exploding in US rugby, and has overtaken college rugby as the largest pool of players in USA rugby. Which is a very good sign. That being said, the High School Championships and the USA U-19 team are a complete farce. Neither are representative in the slightest. The HS championships are held before the end of the school year, and exclude high school club sides. I played for an outstanding high school club team in California that went to Canada and beat a Fraser Valley representative team and drew a Vancouver representative team (with some absolutely ludicrous calls by a Canadian referee in favour of Vancouver. I am NOT being sour grapes here, they truly were horrible!). So in short, we would have given Highland or Jesuit a good game. Yet we were excluded from the HS championships. Fortunately, USA Rugby IS rectifying this. They've been meeting over the last few weeks to plot a more organized, inclusive HS championship. Which is good for US rugby. The U-19 team is pay for play - think that explains it all. A lot of kids who I think I could have been considered better than got capped by the USA u-19 side because they came from wealthier backgrounds than me. Shame.
Sorry that your team didn't make it PsychCeltic, but the US H.S. national championships do include high school club teams. If you look at last year's finalists, among the teams there were Grand Rapids, Elsie Allen, KC Jr. Blues, LA Cougars, Crusaders, Dallas Quins Colts, etc. As far as the U-19 team is concerned, the coaching staff led by their head coach, Salty Thompson, made an extensive search for players throughout the country and held a number of trials in different cities. If it was a pay for play scenario, we would not have seen the results in the qualifiers that we did.
This was two years ago. We had a weird circumstance in which we played some championship game (for god knows what) after the US championships were completed!! Perhaps this year there has been a better framework, as the HS club side for my club (I've moved up the ranks..graduated) lost to Elsie Allen, who is a finalist. They're a HS though. Extensive search my arse though. The team is not representative of the USA, and their frequent poor results show it.