Big Task Ahead for Maccabiah Games USA Rugby Teams
Big Task Ahead for Maccabiah Games USA Rugby Teams
The Maccabi USA Rugby teams are in Israel preparing for the Maccabiah 2021 rugby tournaments.
For the women, this is a first-ever outing as the rugby tournament at the Maccabiah Games in the past have all been for men. But now this group is learning to play together and train together. They have a week to nail down their patterns, and in what is a small women's tournament, they have an excellent shot to win.
USA Women's Team Set for Maccabiah Games
The mood in the women's camp is very positive. They are pioneers and are proud of that, and are looking to come together and play well.
For the men, they have been hard at work hoping to bring back gold, perhaps in both 7s and 15s. But having two tournaments, one after another, makes it more challenging.
The training camp was a short preseason and then the 7s tournament kicks off July 12. The 7s tournament is like a warmup tournament for the 15s tournament, but at the same time is in and of itself very important, said Maccabi USA Rugby Chair Dave Rudzinsky. The USA plays two games July 12, one against South Africa and the other against Israel. On the 13th they play Great Britain and then the top two play the final on the night of the 13th, with the other two playing for bronze.
And right after that they turn around to play 15s. The first 15s game for the men is July 17 against Great Britain, followed by July 19 vs Australia. Israel plays South Africa on July 15 and Australia July 17, with Great Britain facing South Africa on July 19. There are five teams in the competition, so one team will be left out of the knockout stages. The semis will be July 21 and the medal games on July 24.
So from July 12 through July 24 the men's team will have played four 7s matches and four 15s matches. Fitness and recovery will be huge.
The Maccabiah Games are the Jewish Olympics and are held in Israel every four years. This latest tournament was delayed a year because of COVID. Many famous American athletes have cut their international sporting teeth at the Maccabiah Games, including Olympic gold-medal-winning swimmers Mark Spitz and Lenny Krayzelburg, Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnasts Mitch Gaylord, Aly Raisman, and Kerri Strug, soccer player Dan Shapiro (later US Ambassador to Israel), and Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Gerry Ashworth.
Maccabiah Gold A Special Journey
Three Eagles have helped the USA rugby effort, with Shawn Lipman leading the USA to gold in 1997 as captain and in 2017 as coach. Zack Test, about to be inducted into the US Rugby Hall of Fame (where Lipman is already enshrined), helped coach and lead the 2017 winning effort, and former USA 7s team captain Kevin Swiryn was part of gold-medal-winning rugby teams in 2013 and 2017.
USA Historical Performance at the Maccabiah Games (tournament was only 15s until 2013)
1985 - Bronze
1989 - Bronze
1993 - Silver
1997 - Gold (beat South Africa, which was South Africa's first-ever loss)
2001 - Silver
2005 - Silver
2009 - Bronze
2013 - Gold (7s) Bronze (15s)
2017 - Gold (15s)