GRR: National Teams
USA Rugby has hired former All Black Head Coach John Mitchell to coach the USA Men's 15s team.
The Men’s Junior All Americans first winter camp wrapped up, but the group - or at least two-thirds of them - will be back for another go in January.
Fifty-two players were at the Casa Grande Academy in Arizona, and in January 15, about 35, including a few who weren’t there this December, will be brought in for the second camp.
The USA Men’s 15s team doesn’t get much of a break between the Rugby World Cup and the new cycle.
That is why, in part, many are anxious to find out who the new Head Coach is. Word is that the coach will be named very, very soon, so that box will be checked off. Then, of course, there will be a new staff to assemble and plans to make.
When Mike Friday made Madison Hughes the captain of the USA 7s team last year, there were, naturally, some concerns.
Hughes was young - still in college - was relatively new to the program, and, you figured, still had a lot to learn. Yet he has blossomed.
The USA Under-20 camp is underway and the first day for what we call the AIG Men’s Junior All Americans was about getting the lay of the land.
The players were put through fitness and athletic testing and then after dinner their day wasn’t done, as they split up into various units to get some offensive basics down.