It’s almost time for the regular season for Americans playing pro overseas, and most of the players have seen pre-season action.

In the Aviva Premiership, Both Samu Manoa and Cam Dolan started at No. 8 for the Northampton Saints. That’s an impossibility unless you’ve got split-squad games, which is the case. The saints beat Leinster with Manoa and Mosely with Dolan (who set up a try).

 

 

Up at Newcastle, Eric Fry got a start against Rotherham in a warmup 23-22 loss - this was also a split-squad game. It’s important for Fry to get the playing time as he moves up a level.

 

In France, Scott LaValla has not been used a lot for Stade Francais, while Taku Ngwenya has been reunited with his former USA coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, who now runs Biarritz.

 

Ngwenya is a major star for a team that needs one as they struggled mightily last season and were relegated to Pro D2. 

 

If you can follow the French, here’s a video interview with Ngwenya where he basically says, “we’ve got to keep going and play our best to get promoted.”

 

Todd Clever was rested for the NTT Shining Arcs in Japan.

 

In England’s Championship league, Tai Tuisamoa started at lock for London Scottish in a victory over Esher.  Also in the lower divisions, Ronnie McLean continues to start for Ealing, while former Ealing player Will Magie is now playing for Old Albanians.

 

Down in New Zealand, Mike Lawrenson got some preseason starts against North Harbour and Bay of Plenty (both wins), and was playing well and looks like he might be set for something with the Counties Manukau Steelers down the road. 

 

The player to watch this year may well be Nick Civetta. The former Notre Dame All American has shown up at Viadana in the Italian Eccellenza bigger and more powerful than before and wants to make an impact on a team that also plays in the European competitions.

 

Here’s a link to a short interview with Civetta, where he says, in part, “It's very exciting for me because I know that Viadana is a place where there is a lot of passion for this sport. The facilities are at the highest level where I can make my contribution to the team and try to improve my rugby.”

 

With these developments we’ve made a few adjustments to our Overseas Player Standings - this measures a player’s success and experience based on how strong the league is, how well the team is doing, and how much playing time the player in question is getting.