7s Player of the Year
7s Player of the Year
(Photos Ian Muir (click on smaller images below to enlarge)
ZACK TEST
The difficulties the Eagles 7s team encountered in Dubai, and the success they enjoyed in Port Elizabeth, showcased the value of Zack Test.
Out injured in Dubai, he wasn’t there to help the team limp through Sunday, and limp they did. Healthy and in the lineup in Port Elizabeth, Test helped the Eagles win the Plate. While Test has the most tries of any USA player by a huge margin - his 107 tries in World Series play is more than twice the #2 guy, Nick Edwards - it’s not about the tries.
How many tries a player scores is an important measurement of his success - and certainly Test’s numbers point to his ability to be in the right place, his athleticism, and his endurance - but it’s not the only measure. Sometimes, it’s just whether the team wins or not. What has happened with Test is that he has remained a fixture with the USA team through the last four coaches. He has managed to stay away from the player upheavals and the politics, at least publicly, and continued to play.
Back when I worked for Rugby Magazine, I chose Test as the 7s Player of the Year in part because he had overcome a weakness - his counter-rucking was so ill-timed that he was ordered to stop doing it, but after being chastened he began to get better at it. Now, he’s an outstanding poacher of the ball, if not a key counter-rucker - he’s better as defending in the open field. A few years later we chose Test for the award partly by default - he was the only consistent guy on a team having a touch year. Then, the fact that Test didn’t pass a great deal didn’t seem to be the USA’s problem; they had other issues to worry about.
Now, the bar is higher. There are some good players on this USA team. Test remains the most experienced; the one others lean on. But he still has something to learn. The latest thing is passing. He has so often been someone to put his ears back and go for the line. That attitude has scored tries for the Eagles (sometimes a rare thing) and got him on all-tournament and all-series teams. And in Test’s defense, nobody else on the USA team was passing much, either. But it started to become a problem as new Head Coach Mike Friday solidified his team and brought in more players who could break open a game. Ship it wide. Ship it wide quickly. Use your support. That’s what Friday wanted, and he needed to spell that out to his top scorer.
The result? Test’s tries are way down, but that’s a good thing. Why? Passing. In 2013-14 the USA passes 10% below average. Their frequency of tries requiring seven or more passes were about 27% below average. The USA finished 13th.
With Test asked to use his support more, the scoring rate, at least in Port Elizabeth, increased. The 2013-14 try-scoring rate was 2.4 per game, while in Port Elizabeth it was 3.2. What does that mean? It means that Zack Test was the best player on the USA team when he was asked to win restarts and score breakaway tries. He was the best player when he was asked to play defense and get go-forward. And he is the best when he’s asked to use his running ability to break open defenses and set up his teammates.
We're not sure that he has put everything together yet ... and you wonder what can happen when he does.
See video of Test's 100th World Series try below: