I agree with this op-ed however we need to get more of our guys playing professionally over in Europe, since we don't have a pro league of our own yet. http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/eagles/Eagle_depth_looks_good_in_09.shtml Eagle depth looks good in '09 Another busy year looms large for the Eagles, but it’s more than just a busy one, it’s also a crucial one with a berth in the 2011 Rugby World Cup up for grabs. The US is due to square off with old rivals Canada later in the summer in the opening rounds of the Americas zone qualifying series. The Eagles will look to turn the tables on our friends to the north, and oh by the way, the Canucks have a commanding 31-11-1 record in head-to-heads against the US. We all remember that fateful day in August 2006 in St John’s, Newfoundland, when the Eagles were sent packing after suffering their biggest ever drubbing by the Canadians. That loss forced the US into a two-game series with Uruguay that the Eagles swept en route to the Americas #2 seed for RWC 2007, but it also put them into a pretty tough pool. There is some debate now as to which pool would be best suited to the USA making a run at the quarterfinals in 2011. If the Eagles were to earn the Americas #1 seed and slot into Pool A, they would go up against New Zealand and France, two games that even the most ardent American fan would concede they have no shot in, but they would also play Tonga and Asia #1, presumably Japan. If recent history is any gauge then those two games might be tough to win as well. If they lose to Canada and eventually end up as Americas #2 they would go into Pool C and again the Americans wouldn’t catch a break as they’d line up against Australia, Ireland, Italy, and Europe #2, which could possibly be Romania, Georgia, or Russia. And as those three European sides are currently ranked above the US, life could be tough going that route too. Irrespective of which school of thought one subscribes to, the bottom line is that Scott Johnson’s charges naturally will be aiming to knock off the Canadians, if for no other reason than to snap their losing streak in the CanAm series. The first game of the home-and-home series is set for Glendale, CO, on July 4th with the return match a week later in Edmonton, Alberta. There is the chance that we could see another USA - Canada clash in the Barclays Churchill Cup prior to that series, and if that’s the case, the Eagles of course would strive to win that one for obvious psychological reasons. So with all of that in mind, Coach Johnson and his staff will be thinking about who’s going to be in the squad, and for the first time in a long time they have options because the US is fairly deep in some key positions, in particular the back-row and halves. The back-row brims with talent with the likes of Todd Clever, Pat Quinn, Hayden Smith, John Van der Giessen, Louis Stanfill, Rikus Pretorius, Ben Wiedemer, Kevin Sheahan and Scott Lavalla, who are all just flat out good. Chad Erskine, Mike Petri, and Robbie Shaw are excellent scrumhalves, while at flyhalf, Mike Hercus and Nese Malifa are clever playmakers with Hanno Dirksen a young up and comer. Throw into the mix experienced campaigners such as Mike MacDonald and Mark Crick in the front row, as well as Chris Wyles, Paul Emerick, and Albert Tuipulotu in the backs, plus the likes of Joe Welch at hooker or flanker, and the US has the makings of a very competitive team. It’s early days of course, and injuries and player unavailability may play a role in Eagle lineups in 2009, but we can feel confident in the knowledge that the US should be able to put its best foot forward in a year when it really matters.
Well I hope the Eagles win. I always hope the Eagles win, but..... IMHO only Takudzwa Ngwenya Todd Clever Mike Hercus and maybe Mike Macdonald could even make the Canadian team. The Canucks have a flat out good rugby team, compared to us. Hercus is getting old as well in rugby terms. Great player but the year in the US Super League really effected his play in a negative way (IMO). Clever is truly the best player we have domestically produced since Dan Lyle, even then he might eclipse Dan.
IMO this is one of the deeper teams that we have had in a while. However the Canucks and other similar teams around the world (Japan) have progressed much faster than us. In my mind the key for Canada was getting the funding from their government to contract 25 players. IMHO this is the first thing Robert's and gang should have done, have Johnson and Melville sit down and pick 22 players and pay them 25 to 30k a year to play rugby. The 2nd thing would be to play as many tests as possible so our players can obtain work visas and go play in Europe professionally. 3rd would be to try and start a professional rugby league in America. The Shelts I agree about Hercus, why Roberts ever convinced him to leave Wales and come back to states I will never know. Unfortunately the Super League is just not good enough to develop national players yet.
Petri would make the Canadian team. He's a talented halfback Hercus got let go from Llanelli. It wasn't a situation where he upped and left. Our back row is legitimately talented - not surprising as this has always been a USA strength. I'm not too impressed with anywhere else. Canada's stipend for its players is only around 12-15K a year. They aren't pros. It's a nice top up for time lost, and maybe they have an advantage over us in that they don't have guys saying no because they've got a family to support or can't leave their job, but they aren't running out a pro team up there. We could do that too if we actually got sponsorship (!!!).
Its true that nobody is getting rich on the rugby Canada stipend....but its my understanding that the F/T pro's in Europe (I think 15-16) get the wage and housing, plus the Rugby stipend from the national team. The Canadian based guys who are on the 7's team are pulling down about 3x that with no expenses. The Canadians who are playing club rugby and in the National team pool are either students in university or guys who have jobs. I had heard the Hercus left Wales and was told "come to the US, we'll build the team around you, pay a good wage, get you a coaching gig and we'll sell the Super League around you". Basically he could make 100 UK in Wales or 90 US in California. He decided the California gig would be less stressful and prolong his career 2-3 years. I don't know the man, thats just what I heard at Hartford. You are right Petri is an excellent player. He could make Canada handily.
Hercus got the boot from Llanelli - he stank. He probably could have gone to Italy or second division rugby in the UK or France, but if he was making 90K from USA Rugby that'd have been a pay cut. That's a stupid amount of money for a domestic rugby player, by the way.. The stipend for the foreign pros is just a nice top up, what it really comes in handy for is the domestic guys. If you're at a job making 60K and you have to miss a lot of time to rugby, you might not be seen very favorably. But if you're otherwise valuable to the company, you can come back to them and say I'll take 50K and use the stipend to top up your earnings. Then you get your cake and can eat it too.
IMO getting a core group of both domestic and foreign players contracted should be Melville's number 1 priority. Forget Major League Rugby and go out and contract 30 players making them available for the Eagles yearly program. I know times are tough at USA Rugby, but if they could just cough up $1 million per year this would be enough to at least supplement some players incomes. In a few years when grassroots rugby has grown a bit more then we can think about starting a professional league. By the way isn't it great that Petri was asked to play for the Barbarians in Wales against Scarlets.
Pro rugby isn't coming anytime soon, nor is professionalising the Eagles. There's neither the time nor the money nor the interest. Professionalising the Eagles would be a terrible idea anyway, since they can't play 30 Tests a year like USA soccer did before World Cup 94 and contracting 30 players means you better not only be bang on with your talent evaluaton (difficult considering the three spheres where talent resides - college, club, and overseas) but you better hope guys are sitting in office jobs doing nothing...god forbid our best lock or whoever has a thriving business and sees no reason why he should wind it up to make $30K to live in a dorm.
Who knows when professional rugby is coming to America, but in the mean time I believe we need to make our amateur clubs run as professionally as possible. There maybe some clubs that are miles ahead of others, but we need to encourage the SL and 1st division to run their clubs like businesses. In the past the clubs have been purely for the players, but in the future they need to be run with the thought of attracting local fans to come to the matches. With fans will come sponsorship and so on and so on. IMHO professionalising the Eagles is a must. They may not be able to pay 30k, but they need to set some sort of structure up so players can devote enough time to train and make themselves available for international call up. This could be a long term strategy for the youger guys just coming up through high school and college. They could then move on to a professional club overseas after a few years, but contracted to the Eagles. If our best lock is making 50k and not able to commit to a contract then move on to the next guy who is willing to take the contract. This doesn't mean that you forget about the 50k lock.