USA Eagles draft in Test coach heavyweights as they face the unthinkable
Gary Gold, the USA Eagles head coach, has drafted in experienced coaches Mario Ledesma and John Plumtree in a bid to grab the final place at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France by winning the qualifying tournament in Dubai against Portugal, Hong Kong and Kenya.
The tournament takes place in the Dubai heat over three weekends starting on Sunday with the USA Eagles taking on Kenya and Gold knows he is at the last chance saloon having seen his men fail to qualify for France by falling to shock defeat by Chile in a doubleheader in July. In response to that serious body blow, Gold has turned to Ledesma and Plumtree who have been working with the Eagles in Colorado and most recently on a three week camp in South Africa where they played friendly matches.
Ledesma, the former Argentina head coach, was the Wallabies forwards coach at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and is currently the consultant for the Dallas Jackals in the MLR. Plumtree was until July this year the All Blacks forwards coach before being axed having also held assistant coaching roles with Ireland and Japan during a long career in the sport
The ‘reward’ for the winners in Dubai is a place in Pool C, one of the toughest groups, alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia at the World Cup. Gold said: “Mario and John will be staying with us until the end of the qualifying matches and it was one of the areas we identified after falling short against Chile.
“I was very keen to improve our defence and details around the forwards because at crucial times in the games with Chile we let ourselves down. I spoke to both of them and our paths have crossed many time and we have worked together. John came in a spent time with us when I was with the Springboks and Mario has a wonderful track record.
“I gave them both a call and luckily for us they were very keen and we don’t have that much money and they are doing it for basically the love of the game. Mario, I understand, is more of a consultant with Dallas in the MLR helping them put structures in place they felt weren’t there. That will take front and centre for him once he has finished with us.
“The pressure is on us coaches and it is huge to qualify for the Rugby World Cup and we have to make sure we do not heap pressure onto the players. If we are successful, it could be a great binding exercise going into the World Cup in France because, ironically, if we weren’t in this position the coaches and players would not have been able to work together for six weeks. Except for the 2019 World Cup we have never had the players for more than six days training.
“The European players didn’t join us until this week and the time in South Africa has been a great experience and brilliant for the American guys many of whom have not been out of the country let alone playing in places like Bloemfontein against the Cheetahs. For us to get training time together has been incredible.”
With America having been awarded the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s tournament in 2033 it is vital for the profile of the sport in that country the Eagles are part of the 2023 Cup in France. Gold’s team will be favourites to qualify although he is wary of the back line threats posed by Portugal with a number of their players at France clubs. Gold will rely on the controlling influence of captain AJ McGinty who is now at Bristol along with Newcastle lock Greg Peterson, Toulouse prop David Ainu’u, Saracens pair of hooker Kapeli Pifeleti and scrum half Ruben de Haas and Agen’s Mikey Sosene-Feagai.
The conditions in Dubai will be a factor and Gold is hoping the time spent in Bloemfontein playing and training will pay dividends. He explained: ”The qualifying matches are over three weekends and it is going to be extraordinarily hot and that was the method in our madness for coming to Bloemfontein as we wanted to replicate the climate conditions – very dry and hot – and we played a couple of warm up games. Dubai is going to be hotter and around 35C . Some of the games are in the afternoon and we have worked very hard in hot conditions to prepare for Dubai and lets hope it works in our favour.
“The overriding lesson from the Chile games is that we made critical errors in game like being 19-0 up with an attacking line out just before half time but we gave away three successive penalties that lead to a yellow card and then they score two tries in four minutes and its 19-14. Silly discipline errors.
“The game has become incredibly tough in terms of refereeing interpretations at key moments with different outcomes. You have to adapt your game around being smart in the tackle to try and take the referee out of the game as much as possible but it is complicated trying to triple guess the interpretation.
“It is going to be a tough three weeks in Dubai but we have to be particularly hard on ourselves and not make silly errors. If you get a red at the start of the first game not only are you down to 14 men for the rest of the match that player is gone for the rest of the tournament. It has catastrophic consequences and a difficult minefield to negotiate.
“We have been able to get information on the three teams we play and we cannot take any team lightly and Portugal are very impressive. They have got practically an entire back line that plays in France and on paper they are a better attacking team than Chile. We don’t know how much time the other teams have had together and they have had World Rugby support and we cannot afford to slip up in any of these games.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Gee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
72 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
19 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
4 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
2 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
15 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
19 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
19 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments1. True, if that “free” ticket means access to all but the prized exhibit - EVIP only. SA cannot host semis, even if they’ve earned it (see Sharks vs ASM Clermont Auvergne at… Twickenham Stoop). 2. Why no selective outrage over Lyon doing the exact same thing a week earlier? Out of all the countries France send the most “B teams”, why nobody talking about “disrespect” and “prioritising domestic leagues” and “kicking them out”? 3. Why no mention of the Sharks fielding all of their Springboks for the second rate Challenge cup QF? No commitment? 4. Why no mention of all the SA teams qualifying for respective euro knock out comps in the two seasons they’ve been in it? How many euro teams have qualified for KO’s in their history? Can’t compete? 5. Why no mention of SA teams beating French and English giants La Rochelle and Saracens? How many euro teams have done that in their history? Add no quality? The fact is that SA teams are only in their second season in europe, with no status and a fraction of the resources. Since joining the URC, SA has seen a repatriation of a number of players, and this will only grow once SA start sharing in the profits of competing in these comps, meaning bigger squads with greater depth and quality, meaning they don’t have to prioritise comps as they have to now - they don’t have imports from Pacifica and South America and everywhere else in between like “European” teams have - also less “Saffas” in Prem and T14, that’s what we want right? 'If the South Africans are in, they need to be all in' True, and we have to ensure we give them the same status and resources as we give everyone else to do just that. A small compromise on scheduling will go a long way in avoiding these situations, but guess what, France and England wont compromise on scheduling because they ironically… prioritise their domestic comps, go figure!
19 Go to commentsthe success of the premiership can be summarized by : only 10 teams. It makes a huge difference with the overcrowded top 14 (let us not talk about Leinster and URC…)
2 Go to commentsGood for him. The ABs were fooling around again with converted fullbacks that had a penetration of a marshmallow. Laumape or as Aki has shown for Ireland, go forward is important in the centres. If it had been DMac - Aki- Aumua - Ioane- Telea- Jordan in France the final result would have been different.
4 Go to commentsDan Carter a apporté son professionnalisme, des méthodes de travail, un esprit qui manquaient à l’USAP. Son influence, même une fois blessé a été énorme. Et pour citer une anecdote, certains soirs il venait de lui-même à l’entraînement des jeunes pour dispenser ses conseils. On ne peut pas compter ce qu’il a apporté au club en heures de jeu sur le terrain. Est-ce que le club en a eu pour son argent ? Avec la publicité sur son nom et le titre, je suppose que oui.
1 Go to commentsThe SA sides are suffering from a bum rap here. There isn’t a side anywhere in the world that would do things differently in their shoes. They’ve been set up to fail in the EPCR comps by vested interests, with last minute intercontinental travel requirements that costs an arm and a leg to book in advance just on the possibility they might be required. And the total nonsense that denies any chance of home venues is entirely biased and absolutely unsporting. Either EPCR, the Top14 & the Gallagher Premiership get it sorted on a fair and equitable sporting basis for ALL participants or expect the ridicule to continue. Right now, these comps are a joke!
19 Go to commentsSA sides should do the right thing and leave the champions cup, they are lowering the standard with completely one sided games, not up to the right level. The greatest club tournament in the world is being banjaxed by the weak SA sides.
19 Go to comments