Friday Notes: Ireland Match Confirmed as Full Test,Rugby in Youth Olympics

www.guardian.com Don't we all miss John van der Giessen?

The most high-profile match for the Eagles this summer will be Ireland on June 8th in Houston (tickets are currently on sale). The match is part of the IRB's attempt to give Tier II nations more high-level matches by sending out Tier I teams on tour to places like North America and Japan every year. Last year Italy visited both the U.S. and Canada. Like last year's match against Italy, the match against Ireland is scheduled to be a full test match. Some have questioned whether Ireland was attempting to have the match downgraded, just as they did against Fiji earlier this year. The loss of some Irish stars to the British & Irish Lions will mean that Ireland will not have some of their top players.

Those fears can be put to rest. TIAR has confirmed with U.S.A. Rugby CEO Nigel Melville that the match is indeed a full test match. That should come as welcome news to U.S. fans who don't want to be cheated out of a top international match this summer. When looking back to Ireland's match against Fiji it's important to note that for sponsorship reasons, anytime the Irish play at home but not in the Aviva Stadium they cannot count that match as a full international. In regards to this summer's match there would be little reason to count it as anything other than a full international. Ireland may be missing players to the British and Irish Lions, but in the past matches involving Home Nations teams missing players to the Lions have counted as fell internationals.

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In case you missed it this morning in Opening Kick, we wanted to draw special attention to the announcement that rugby sevens will be included in the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. Exactly what impact that will have on the High School All-Americans is yet unclear, but the prospect of having our youth players involved in an international competition such as the Youth Olympics can only bode well for future development. Additionally, it will be another tournament essentially free to U.S.A. Rugby (the IOC would cover the costs).

The 2014 games will only be the second time the Youth Olympics have been held. The first were four years ago in Singapore. Most of the teams participating in the Olympics were invited and no qualification was held for sports such as soccer or volleyball. It's unclear if that will be the case ahead of 2014, but either way, U.S.A. Rugby and the USOC need to be pushing for the inclusion of both the boy's and girl's High School All-American teams in the competition.