We should not be lauding only the selection of Dan Payne as USAR CEO (an excellent choice regardless of job description). We should be exploring David Sternberg’s selection as RIM’s CEO last month, as this appears to be a significantly more valuable position. More…
To accommodate our growth of rugby in America, we must field competitive and winning national teams. This holds true for men, women, age-grade, everything. Our young players want and deserve to be proud of our national teams. We need to provide American heroes/stars to the youth coming up playing More…
This article is not about the Eagles, nor is it really about professional rugby. It is about the thousands of young boys and girls that have been exposed to our game and its values who will want to play at the highest level possible, and have a glimmer in the back of their mind of one day playing in a Red, White, and Blue Jersey More…
Elite Competition is Essential. Whatever the ‘tiers’ that appear in our rugby – we must have an elite competition from which our Eagles are selected. More…
Dan Lyle. America’s most valuable rugby asset. This picture is Dan representing USA Rugby at the Opening Ceremonies of RWC 2015. Why do we only get to see him, and not hear from him? Gettiing him back into the fold in an official capacity should not even warrant discussion. More…
I don’t know Grant Cole. We are ‘friends’ on Facebook, whatever that means. l love his passion, think he has some whacky ideas (you’re friends confirm this Grant!), and I check out his stuff when he posts it. I picture him as one of those diehard, meathead props, … the kind that buy 4 beers after the game and hangs out with his prop teammate, and the day’s opposing props altogether by themselves at the end of a long wooden bar, purportedly to talk “Prop Stuff”.
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I don’t know Grant Cole. We are ‘friends’ on Facebook, whatever that means. l love his passion, think he has some whacky ideas (you’re friends confirm this Grant!), and I check out his stuff when he posts it. I picture him as one of those diehard, meathead props, … the kind that buy 4 beers after the game and hangs out with his prop teammate, and the day’s opposing props altogether by themselves at the end of a long wooden bar, purportedly to talk “Prop Stuff”.
This is the perfect time for the USA Rugby Board and Congress to step back and re-evaluate the future of American Rugby. It is time for us to move out of the ‘amateur professional era’, and into the ‘professional professional era’. More…
‘Let’s just make it to the 2nd season’ , is a fine mantra in my opinion. More…
I am fearful of the “opportunity loss” about to hit us in USA Rugby. It’s been 8-9 weeks since our disappointment at RWC. Currently, we await further ProLeague news, and the 7’s boys are doing magical things.
But from my seat, it is now RWC2019 Cycle! It’s already started. European Club players are putting their best forward in the various Cup and League fixtures as they prepare for the Six Nations. Southern Hemisphere teams will jockey for position in the Super 18 early next year as players compete for the opportunity to represent their countries.
Looking forward, our next test match is a mere 7 weeks away. This is not a Tier 2 test either. The USA Eagles are playing Argentina (yes, the RWC2015 Semi Finalist!!) on February 6.
What have we done in the past 8 weeks?
How’s our preparation for the Argentina Test? We have yet to name a coach. With the holidays coming, this new coach and presumably staff will have approximately 4 weeks to prepare for USA Rugby’s next round of Test matches. These are five games from which we can build a base, target ‘projected players’ (i.e. those not ready now, but project to be in 2019), evaluate player leadership, etc.. and start to create some legacy. We have test matches in 7 weeks, and we have no coach.
At the US National Men’s team level, we have 40-50 opportunities (i.e., tests) in the course of the next four years to create something special at the Rugby World Cup in 2109. We are six weeks removed from our last ‘performance’ (you remember our pack getting pushed around by Japan) and from what I can tell (and with numerous conversations with people ‘inside’) all we have done as a ‘Team’ or ‘Union’ or whatever we call ourselves, is fire a coach and put out a search on the web advising we are looking for one. Personally, I found this ad extremely embarrassing – but that is another story for another time.
Every game should be a cherished opportunity for (as the AB’s say) ‘to leave the jersey in a better place’. We must treat the opportunity that every test match affords to build towards a better, sustainable team and with increasing expectations with each outing. Can we do that by giving any coach a mere 4-5 weeks to work?
I wish USA Rugby could step back and literally come up with a four year plan (not just for national team, but for age grade, college, and club) that is part of a larger 10-15 year picture. But how to get there? I’ll be focusing on how to get there, and more later on that. We’ve already lost the opportunity to be proactive for 2016.
At this time, the vision needs to be developed at theUSA Rugby Executive and Board level. Planning requires leadership, and I fear that once again with our laissez-faire attitude towards the rapidly approaching the Americas Rugby Championship, we are losing a huge opportunity to build momentum for what will be a long journey to RWC2019.
There is so much more to do… See you in San Francisco at the USA Rugby National Development Summit.
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