High-level Fixtures Pose Availability Concerns (Why It’s A Good Thing)

The positive news surrounding the Eagles just keeps on coming. Alex Goff revealed yesterday in an article that Mike Tolkin had lined up a non-test match between the U.S. and Canada in May. This is fantastic news. With a spot in the World Cup, IRB Rankings, and the continuation of momentum all on the line, the U.S. is arguably heading into one of its biggest summers in over a decade and will need all the preparation it can get in order to be successful, especially for domestic players.

One of the difficulties over the past several years for the Eagles has been getting the domestic players up to international speed. In the past these players were brought into a short domestic camp before the full national team assembled for its summer tests. Needless to say the bulk of the Eagles was made up of players training and playing professionally overseas. However, this year appears to be different as the top players now have the opportunity to gain high-level match experience through playing the Golden Lions on their tour of North America, playing in the Elite Cup, and playing a non-test match against Canada. So with the chance for players to get up to international speed prior to June settled, the question becomes who will be available?

Take the jump to read more.

Overseas players: It’s highly unlikely that any players currently based overseas would take part in either the match against the Golden Lions or the non-test match against Canada. They are already training everyday and facing tough opponents. Plus, it would be detrimental to their relationships with their clubs to pull them away for these matches. One of the few exceptions to this may be Todd Clever. The Top League season is relatively short and considering Clever’s history with the Lions and his status as U.S. captain, it would be unusual to see him play in both matches.

Eagles 7’s players: Mike Tolkin and Alex Magleby have a good relationship regarding the sharing of players. Taylor Mokate was able to travel to the Americas Rugby Championship, while Luke Hume and Peter Dahl were available for the Eagles fall tour. By and large sharing players hasn’t been a problem, but with more contracts extended, it could become more of an issues, particularly for Luke Hume. However, with the IRB Sevens Series taking a break for the entire month of April, it’s conceivable that Hume and a player like Colin Hawley may get called in for the Lions match. The non-test match against Canada is a different story, however. It would come between the England 7’s and the Sevens World Cup.

Club players: The matches against the Lions and Canada are really designed for the top domestic club players. If you look at the last Eagles squads, this is where most of the domestic players play their rugby. This year most (notable exceptions include Belmont Shore, Chicago clubs, etc) of the top domestic players will be playing in the Elite Cup. The finals of that competition are on May 25th and while it’s conceivable the Eagles could play Canada on that date it’s more likely to be on May 18th when the competition has a break.

The match against the Lions clashes with two Elite Cup matches. Denver will play Old Puget Sound Beach and Glendale will play San Francisco Golden Gate in the final week of western conference play. Things could be decided by that point but it seems unlikely given the talent and parity out west. This could mean that the U.S. misses out of players from these clubs. That means no Miles Craigwell, Mike Palefau, Chris Biller, etc. The DI playoffs are also set for late May meaning that even more players could be missing.

College players: Under Tolkin the Eagles have consistently brought in college players to camp in order to gain experience. This was especially true at the Americas Rugby Championship. Ideally college players are eased into the national team picture by playing for the U.S.A. Selects in non-test matches. The fact that they aren’t expected to make up the bulk of the Selects squad will make it less burdensome on teams as well. That’s good because the college playoffs will take place the weekend of April 13th (the day a U.S. Invitational team plays the Lions). The Varsity Cup will not be playing that weekend. A potential late-May match against Canada is looking good for college players to attend with only the DI-A final drawing players away (except for class work).

It’s obvious that there are a lot of factors going into player availability but in a way, that’s good. It’s means that our players are playing regular matches and training. The fact that these matches also overlap with what is expected to be better than average competitions this year is another plus. Rest assured, there are enough players in this country to fill out a strong roster for the Eagles Selects (U.S. Invitational). Many players will probably opt to play for the Eagles anyways. Even with conflicts, players like Chris Biller, Cam Dolan, and Shaun Davies are good bets to turn out for the team. If they don’t, it will be an opportunity lost for them but an opportunity gained to help develop another player. The purpose of these games is to get players in a high-level match experience and one way or another, they will be getting it.