The USA U20 team that is off to Harare, Zimbabwe is little changed from the one that defeated Canada in January to qualify, and Head Coach JD Stephenson is fine with that.

The Junior All Americans did, after all, beat the Canadians, and Canada finished 2nd in the tournament in 2015, and so the simple act of qualifying indicates that the USA team has a good shot at doing well.

“It’s tough to make considerable changes to a side that was successful, and, also unfair to those who put in six months of hard work to qualify for the Trophy,” Stephenson told Goff Rugby Report. “We have a good side on and off the field, and we want to ensure that the selections were consistent with the team culture and beliefs that are in place. That being said there is a few selections of new faces that our out of injury and availability.”

(Eight changes were made to this squad compared to the squad that faced Canada. Connor Cudeback, Deion Mikesell, Josh Warnock, Leki Fotu, Nick Kwasniewski, Sean Coleman, William Fifita, and Zachary Haley were all with the squad that faced Canada, but won't go to Zimbabwe. Most are unavailable due to school or their team's needs; Carter Hunchik, Chad Sneyk, Deven Marshall, Ruairi Van Raalte, Sam Benkowski, Travis Heer, and Victor Comptat join the team.)  

So the retention of players is partly about chemistry. These players have been through it together, and as such want to go through more together. Stephenson said he continued to follow players who were close to being selected, and let those players know they were still in with a chance. But, and just about everyone has noticed this, the World Trophy is in April, right in the middle of playoff time for college teams. Asking those teams to give up players in the middle of the playoffs when the program has been so up and down over the years is perhaps asking too much.

Stephenson said, players being unavailable in April is just “the nature of the beat.” However, he also added, that some consistency in the U20 program could help.

“Once the value in the program is seen through player development and the personal experience in representing one’s country, the development, consistency, and success of the Men’s Junior All American program can flourish,” he said.

So, on to the tournament, where the USA will face Namibia, Hong Kong, and Spain in pool play. Certainly those are three games the USA can win, but to be sure of that, the Americans have to work several aspects of play.

“We have a very physical encounter up front in our first match as expected out of any African rugby-playing nation, in Namibia,” said Stephenson. “I believe all sides in the Trophy will play to their inherit strengths and, our three pool play matches will show three distinct styles of rugby that we will have to counteract. As a playing and coaching staff we are looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead. We have completed our evaluation and self reflection from the qualifier and learned a considerable amount about ourselves as a side and as individuals playing at international age grade level. We have developed systems and processes to improve upon areas of deficiencies and have tightened up areas that made have been seen as a weakness.”