GRR: Columns
While the USA’s loss to Brazil is an almost devastating blow to the Eagles’ dreams of winning the ARC, and the worst rankings upset in World Rugby history, there are some mitigating factors that should give us all pause.
Rarely does the USA Men’s National 15s team go into a game where we expect them to win.
Even more rare is when we expect them to win when had the expected starters aren’t there. And even, even more rare to have that feeling when pretty much the entire team is either a new cap, or has one or two caps to his name.
The official line is, we have to build depth, and that’s true about the USA Men’s National 15s team, but it also could be heard as “we have to figure out if these guys can play.”
JD Stephenson did, by all accounts, a remarkable job in getting the USA U20 team ready to play Canada.
Never mind that the Junior All Americans won the game, just think on the fact that had Ben Cima’s final kick not made it over, it would still have been 18-16, and a very close contest.
The USA Men’s team that faces a relatively inexperienced Argentina XV Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium is pretty inexperienced, too.