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
Did footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to comments