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I have attempted to write this piece twice (three times now) since the start of the World Cup. First attempt was after the Samoa match, then again after Scotland. I had planned to use Talking Rugby as a running commentary on the USA’s World Cup performance. Those plans fell by the wayside, but not for the normal reasons such as work, family, and other rugby stuff. I stopped writing them, because it was painful and I was holding out hope to be able to put some sort of silver lining spin on the tournament as a whole.
Anyone who thought the USA would have one or even two wins this World Cup is either delusional, out of touch with rugby at the international level, or believe everything they read coming out of Boulder. The number of stories I read going into the World Cup that touted two wins for the USA was unbelievable. I love the Eagles and support them whole heartedly, but telling fans that the Eagles would win two games and maybe reach the quarterfinals just seems plain mean. Fans that have been around American rugby are smarter than that. However, the casual fans or those new to the sport that don’t know international rugby may walk away wondering why the Eagles aren’t playing in the quarterfinals this weekend.
I hoped that the USA would pull out one win at the RWC, but understood that coming home empty was also a very real possibility. That aside, I absolutely expected the Eagles to be competitive in three out of the four matches. Despite the relatively close scores against Samoa and Japan, the Eagles weren’t competitive in any of their matches. At no point in time did I feel like any of their opponents had anything to fear from the USA.
The very worst of all is that for yet another World Cup, we got bombarded with all of the pandering articles about the Sleeping Giant. You know them. We’ve seen the same ones every World Cup since forever.
Guess what?
Nothing has changed. Results are the same.
We were told that if the USA had more players in overseas pro environments, then we could be more competitive. We were told that if the team could get more time together, then they could challenge. The 2015 Eagle squad had more overseas professionals on their roster than at any time before in team history. The team also had a record buildup to the World Cup that included six test matches and one exhibition match against the Harlequins.
There is talent in the squad. I am absolutely convinced of it. You cannot look at the roster and not believe that there is a lot of talent in the team. There are good young players across the squad. Most of which should have at least one more World Cup cycle left in their playing careers.
If talent isn’t the problem, then what is it?
I’m not even going to get started on the USA Rugby administration. I have my own feelings about them and where they fit in all of this. Their biggest failure to the current squad is their choice in coaches. I like Mike Tolkin and championed his appointment after the 2011 World Cup. I figured, why not? We were losing with international coaches, give an American a chance. He’s not going to do any worse.
There is truth to that. He didn’t do any worse, but he didn’t do any better either. More importantly, he didn’t do any better with player talent that clearly had the ability to achieve higher. From the beginning of his tenure there have been questions about his selections, game plan, and ability to coach at the international level. Clearly punching above his weight, it was never more apparent than at the World Cup this year.
Over the Summer I warned of the dangers of his club rugby level offensive strategy. I was repeatedly rebuked saying that Tolkin was “keeping his aces in the hole” and “not showing everything”. It’s one thing when I hear that Eddie Jones is holding back strategy for the World Cup (which he clearly did), it’s another when I hear that Tolkin is doing it. I remained hopeful that he was holding back and what we saw all Summer was a decoy.
Sadly, I was right. The Eagle offense consisted of big people bashing into other big people. There was very little creativity in their attack and they asked very few questions of their opponent’s defenses. I try to coach youth players to run at spaces, not at faces and here was our national team doing the exact opposite. When unable to break opponent’s lines, the Eagles didn’t have any answers and turned to kicking away possession.
This falls on the coach.
The squad also seemed to lack the fire that we had seen at past World Cups. That “amateurs vs pros” chip that they used to carry on their shoulders was gone. Losing Scott LaValla before the World Cup was a big hit. He is a leader on the field. I dare say that the exclusion of Todd Clever from the roster could have had a negative impact. If he was released to send a message to the rest of the group, then the message didn’t get there. Although aging and someone that I thought should be relieved as Captain, Clever never lacked passion.
Again, this falls on the coach.
Along those same lines, there is no way that Al McFarland and Matt Trouville are better than Clever, even at this late stage of his career. There was something well beyond just missing a couple of practices behind Clever’s dismissal. To his credit, Clever never made a public stink about it while Tolkin stood behind a press release.
What we received in the end was a team that was not prepared. Samoa tried to hand them the match in their first pool game and they didn’t seem to want it. They played decently for half of their match against Scotland and then got run off the pitch in the second half. They were always going to lose to South Africa, so Tolkin sent out pretty much a B side for the slaughter. The Springboks obliged. With one last match left to save their World Cup, they played decently against Japan, but never appeared to be a threat to win the match.
The next Rugby World Cup cycle starts now. For the USA, it has been a cycle that has been repeated with the same results for decades. The time has come for a change. I know there are a lot of good people working hard to make these changes. People from the grassroots all the way to USA Rugby are working on it. I’d like to say that it is coming, but I said that in 2011 too.
I was going to leave you with a parting quote from Kevin Roberts, former USA Rugby Chairman. Something about the USA being quarterfinalists in 2011, but it was too depressing.
Instead, I’ll leave you with an article written by former Eagle Tony Ridnell. It is funny, thought-provoking, and poignant all at the same time. Give it a read.
