Fly like an Eagle: World Cup brings USA Sevens full circle
When the USA Eagles march on to the field at San Francisco’s AT&T Park in July, they will be representing more than the stars and stripes spread proudly across their chests.
They will represent the tremendous progress that the game of rugby has made in the world’s third most populous nation.
In just three months’ time, the United States will host the Rugby World Cup Sevens for the first time ever.
Former USA sevens representative and current HSBC Sevens World Series commentator Dallen Stanford believes that hosting a World Cup provides a tremendous opportunity to expose and grow the game even further in the United States.
“What’s so important about the US hosting is that the non-rugby person gets the chance to take part in terms of watching or going to the event,” said Stanford. “I think that’s where we are lacking here in the US, is the exposure for the rest of the country.”
“The Olympic Games touched on it, it didn’t quite get the reach and results.
“The results on the field for both the men and women weren’t on the podium where the American fan would see that and say okay, this is my new sport to watch, follow or play. I think now with the sevens and with our teams doing so well – the men and women – there is a chance to achieve one of the top three spots. I think that’s a massive opportunity.
“People like Naya Tapper or Alev Kelter, or Perry Baker and Carlin Isles and Danny Barrett, those players that got a chance to get into the game, there are hundreds and thousands more athletes like that who could pick up the ball after they see this game.”
Current USA Eagle Danny Barrett shares Stanford’s sentiments, and believes that San Francisco provides the perfect platform for rugby sevens to shine in the United States.
“I think they’ve picked the perfect place for it, first of all,” Barrett said.
“The Northern California Bay Area is one of the biggest hotbeds in the country and to be there and have this great sport, this great sporting event at a stadium where the San Francisco Giants are a pretty successful franchise as well – they’ve won quite a few World Series’ this decade – I think it’s important that they have an iconic venue holding an iconic tournament.
“Just from there, I think that if we play well that’s really what’s going to get people involved,” Barrett continued.
“San Francisco itself is just an awesome city for it. It’s going to be amazing, I can’t really put it into words.”
San Francisco bears special significance for Barrett and several of his teammates.
“Folau Niua is from East Palo Alto, Matai Leuta’s from Monterey. We’ve got a couple of boys from the Sacramento area, kind of all around that whole Bay Area,” Barrett recalls.
The 28-year-old grew up just ten minutes from the city and played his junior rugby all over the Bay Area.
“I grew up in Pacifica, which is more or less ten minutes south of San Francisco, I went to high school downtown. Played my high school rugby over at Golden Gate on Treasure Island and then from there I went to Cal with my brothers.
“Played there for five years and then a week after I graduated I got a contract to come down to join the sevens programme and I kind of jumped at that. And then here we are now.”
Now, Barrett is one of the world’s best.
Easily recognisable on the pitch thanks to his hulking 1.9-metre frame, barnstorming runs and signature beard, Barrett was named to the HSBC World Series 2017 Dream Team alongside teammate and reigning World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Perry Baker.
The Northern California influence hasn’t been lost on Barrett’s game.
“The Northern California aspect of it is huge. There’s a lot of Polynesian influence in the game, at Golden Gate, just kind of in the league in Northern California. For me it’s fantastic. I’m really homegrown in the sport, everything I learned was from someone from the Bay Area.”
Playing in front of a home crowd has also proven to have an enormous impact on the play of the USA men’s sevens team, and they are hoping that impact carries over for the World Cup.
“I think we kind of showed that over the last few years in Vegas. We’ve had three or four straight semi-finals and then to finally get over that hump and win it this year, I think the crowd definitely carried us quite a bit,” said Barrett.
“The big part to it is our travel is not that bad. It’s an hour flight, hour and a half flight to Vegas or San Francisco from San Diego [where the team are based]. I think that’s a big part for us.
“We can train at home, we can sleep in our own bed and it’s kind of a smash and grab job. Get in, get the job done and let’s go home.
“I think that’s something that as a group, as a squad, we like. Don’t get me wrong, we like being on tour and everything but there’s nothing like being around your loved ones and sleeping in your own bed. I think it’ll be pretty good for us.”
Stanford’s recollection of his playing days – where the main objective was to become a core team on the World Series circuit – gives perspective on just how far the team have come in such a short time.
“The US had unfortunately had a poor run of results in the seven-a-side game pre-2007. In fact I remember going as a fan to the USA Sevens tournament held in Los Angeles” Stanford recalls.
“I watched as a fan in 2005 and the US lost to Mexico and everybody else, whoever they played in that tournament. It was kind of interesting to see that.
“In 2006 I was in the reserve player pool for that tournament, the US didn’t fare much better and then Al Caravelli took over the duties as the head coach and he really turned things around for the US in the sevens game.
“What he brought to the game which we’d never had was accountability and a determination, with limited resources, to get the best results he could on the playing field.”
Under Caravelli’s reign, the Eagles went from playing bit parts in just four tournaments a season to becoming a core team on the circuit from 2009.
“I think the interesting thing from that point of view was a lot of people didn’t realise that in all those three seasons [prior to becoming a core team], our American team had other jobs,” Stanford continues.
“Every single player had to have an income outside of rugby, even somebody like Todd Clever who captained the fifteens side and was a fixture on the Sevens Series.
“That was kind of weird when your day job was something else then in the evenings after work you’d have to train and go against full-time athletes from New Zealand, South Africa and the rest of the countries. So that was kind of a big difference.”
Stanford’s era included plenty of firsts for the USA sevens team as they gradually evolved into the team they are today.
“I think when we made our first semi-finals during our [my] era, 2006-2009, and were just short of the final and then eventually made the final in Australia for the first time, I remember speaking to some players from the New Zealand team and they were like ‘you guys have the potential to do this week in and week out’, it’s now a matter of having the mindset that you’re able to beat the best teams in the world.”
Now, under former England sevens head coach Mike Friday, the USA team have arrived and are taking centre stage, week in and week out.
“Him [Friday] and Brownie [Chris Brown] and Phyllis [Phil Greening] have been immense for us. In my first season there was a couple of times where we went into tournaments and we lost five games. Five in a row and that was the end of it,” said Barrett.
“To have Mike and Brownie and Phil show up in July 2014, you’ll never forget those first three months because they were probably the hardest three months of anyone’s life that’s down here or been down here.
“They still make it pretty tough on us, but I think the support that Mike’s given us, not just on the field but off the field. Fighting for us to become a bigger nation, to get what we deserve as athletes.
“We’re going to put in that work for each other, and that’s what Mike has cultivated for us.
For Barrett, an important thing that Friday has done is put trust in his side.
“He’s trusted us on a lot of stuff. Not many times have people come in and told us that it’s our decision to do things.
“A lot of the time, the American sporting landscape is ‘here’s what you do, do as it says’, whereas Mike’s has been ‘you know what, you’re going to make your decisions, right or wrong, it’s up to the other guys to back you up.
“Make good decisions and bad decisions, just don’t make no decision. I think he’s really put it into our hands, but at the same time has moulded us into what we’ve become.”
The team have three stops left on the series circuit to fine tune their game and improve their standing before the World Cup in July.
“After Paris, that’s when we’ll really get into our World Cup prep. Take a little bit of time off, get the body right and then really dial in World Cup stuff,” Barrett said.
“Every little thing is building towards that whether we believe it or not, so that win in Vegas and to follow that up with a fourth-place finish in Vancouver, a little heart down in Hong Kong just this past weekend, but every little thing is going to push us in the right direction.”
In case you missed it:
“FIRE IN THE BELLY, ICE IN THE MIND”: WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES TITLE PARTNER HSBC EXPLORES THE MIND OF A SEVENS PLAYER
Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, gold medal winning coach Ben Ryan & ex-Wallabies captain George Gregan spoke with RugbyPass ahead of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments