By Ted Hardy
After finishing the first leg of the IRB/HSBC World Series with a combined 6-10 record in three tournaments, Team USA heads into a portion of the World Series in which they have had some success in recent years. Wellington and Las Vegas have been favorable stops for the USA and the team is in need of a strong tournament to get their season kicked into gear.
With the New Zealand 7’s less than a month away and the USA 7’s the following weekend, the squad is in camp at the Olympic Training Center in preparation.
In New Zealand, Team USA will be challenged, once again, with a tough Day 1 schedule. They are pooled with 3rd place South Africa, 4th place England, and the Cook Islands.
Teams USA currently sits in 11th place in the World Series standings and have accumulated 17 points thus far. They trail 10th place Scotland by 6 points and are ahead of 12th place Canada by 5 points. Fiji and New Zealand are tied atop the standings with 51 points apiece.
Both Scotland (23 points) and Argentina (28 points) are within striking distance of the USA in the standings. A trip to the Cup round in either Wellington or Las Vegas could go a long way towards helping the USA challenge for a Top 10 spot in the standings.
Looming over the proceedings is the fact that Team USA has already or are about to contract 15 players to train full-time in San Diego at the Olympic Training Center. With full-time players, improvement will be expected, but it won’t be easy and it may take a bit more time to see the benefit from what should be a very young team of contracted players.
The USA’s best finish on the first leg of the World Series was in Dubai where they lost to Scotland in the Bowl Final. While the results of the first three tournaments were below expectations, Team USA was able to reach at least the Bowl Semifinal in all three tournaments which is an improvement over how the squad finished last season with a series of trips to the cellar dwelling Shield bracket.
Twelve players are already in camp with a few more to follow in the coming weeks. Maka Unufe, Roland Suniula, Folau Niua, Andrew Durutalo, Tai Enosa, Zack Test, Colin Hawley, Garrett Bender, Blaine Scully, Peter Tiberio, Rocco Mauer, and Miles Craigwell are already training in San Diego. On the 20th they will be joined by Matt Hawkins, Nese Malifa, Mark Bokhoven, Mike Palefau, and Greg Ambrogi. Most of Head Coach, Al Caravelli’s camps have around 20 players competing for spots, so there could still be a few names added to the list.
Then again, if you take a look at the above lineup, it is very young and with the contracts in mind, Caravelli may have opted for a smaller group in camp. Rumors suggest that the contracts were given out with the 2016 Olympics in mind and not the HSBC World Series. Building a well honed Olympic rugby team will inevitably lead to improved performance on the HSBC World Series, so the two go hand in hand for the most part. If that is true, then of the players in camps, only Mark Bokhoven, Matt Hawkins, and Mike Palefau are likely to have “aged” out of the lineup by 2016.
Secrecy has surrounded the naming of the contracted players as well as the details regarding the contracts. Until USA Rugby makes a formal release regarding the players, take a look at the players that are already in San Diego or going to be in camp. Now subtract the three elder statesmen on the roster. The remaining 14 players will all be under 30 years of age by 2016 and all of which are Olympic eligible for the United States.
With that, I give you what is very likely to be the first contracted 7’s players for Team USA Rugby or at the very least the core of the contracted team. There are always exceptions to be expected with new players coming onto the scene and an increasing number of collegiate programs producing 7′s players. There are also some very grey areas in the details around these contracts and there will probably be a few surprises in store for the future. However, it would be very hard to believe that a contracted player wouldn’t be on the above list of players in camp.
Players already in camp
- Maka Unufe (Utah Warriors)
- Roland Suniula (Boston)
- Folau Niua (San Francisco Golden Gate)
- Andrew Durutalo (Hakuoh University Rugby Club)
- Tai Enosa (Belmont Shore)
- Zack Test (Unattached)
- Colin Hawley (Olympic Club)
- Garrett Bender (Eastside Banshees)
- Blaine Scully (Unattached)
- Peter Tiberio (Chicago Lions)
- Rocco Mauer (Chicago Lions)
- Miles Craigwell (Old Puget Sound Beach)
Players joining the squad on the 20th
- Matt Hawkins (Belmont Shore)
- Nese Malifa (Glendale Raptors)
- Mark Bokhoven (Denver Barbarians)
- Mike Palefau (Utah Warriors)
- Greg Ambrogi (Schuylkill River)
Clayton
January 11, 2012
Interesting that I dont see Nate Ebner on this list. I think he’s a senior and he will most definatly NOT be going to the NFL. Any word on if he got an invite to camp and declined?
RugbyAmerica
January 11, 2012
I have heard that Nate is planning on pursuing the NFL via the free agent route. He is an excellent athlete that can play multiple positions, great on special teams and might be able to get his foot in the door somewhere.
If it falls through, then I will be shocked if he doesn’t compete for a 7′s contract. He would be an excellent addition to the squad.
Clayton
January 12, 2012
I’m not trying to bag on the kid, as I know he is a fantastic athlete, but from my understanding he was only a special teams player at Ohio State and didn’t get much if any playing time at any specific position. (I believe he was listed as a safety) Most NFL teams fill their special teams positions with All-American and All-Conference players who can play a position on either defense or offensive first. They don’t sign too many special teams gurus just to play special teams. They only have 55 spots open, not the typical 85 that colleges have. Good luck to him, but I’m guessing we’ll see him playing for USA Sevens very soon.
Suiram
January 12, 2012
At least for the patriots, they often use their 6th or 7th round picks on ace special teams guys who never see the field otherwise. Although to be fair, those guys often at least get on the field on defense/offense in college.
NFL teams bring 90 (or 80?) players to camp and only cut down to 46 + 8 at the start of the season. Most of those extra guys are “camp fodder” so that they can run a scout side and not over use their star players.
My guess is that Nate could get picked up as an undrafted free agent. However, if he was quoted talking about how he plans to play rugby, teams wouldnt even give him a chance since they want people that are dedicated. We’ll probably have to wait til after the draft since my guess is that if he has an agent he is telling him to not talk about rugby at all.