GRR: 7s
USA Rugby confirmed in an announcement Friday morning that the new USA Men's 7s Head Coach will be former England and former Kenya Head Coach Mike Friday.
Despite losing one player to the HS All Americans and three more to the Stars & Stripes assembly, the Union Rugby Club HS team out of Tulsa, Okla., won the Parrothead 7s this past weekend. Union played well, said coach Jason Todd, but actually played better earlier in the Tornado Alley 7s, when their split their squad and finished 1st and 2nd.
After a brief camp in California, the USA women’s team for the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China will reassemble in August to prepare for the event.
Regulation 9 is the rule within World Rugby that forces clubs to release players for international action during specific times of the year, and for specific special events.
Normally, the Regulation 9 windows are March (Six Nations), June (pretty much everybody), and November (everybody). In addition, 15s and 7s world cups, and world cup qualifiers fall under the regulation, too.
The US Olympic Committee had a hand in the removal of Matt Hawkins as USA 7s team Head Coach.
The move came after an exhaustive post-season examination of both the men’s and women’s teams. Both were put under the microscope by USA Rugby representatives (including CEO Nigel Melville) and the USOC.