In tapping Valenese Malifa to lead its Falcons development squad to a pair of South American 7s tournaments, USARFU has underlined its pattern of looking past American coaches.
Separately, Australian Billy Millard last month left his post as the union's high performance manager after less than a year, returning to Wales' Cardiff Blues. In November, he had stepped away from his role as Eagle assistant, nominally to focus on the HP position as well as the USA under-20 team.
Since 2006, domestic mentors have usually lost out to Commonwealth men or recently retired players with little sideline experience: 3 of 4 15s coaches, 2 of 4 7s coaches, the past 2 Under 19 coaches, and others conform to this mold. Even the primary exception, Eagle head man Mike Tolkin, has been surrounded by foreign-born assistants.
Routinely defaulting to the overseas or the playing resume calls into question Boulder's basic technical faculties. Finding HP leaders is no less vital to a national governing body than scouting international athletes. Perhaps more so: coaches are on the front lines of player identification and development.
A decade on, to protest there aren't enough substantive domestic candidates is to shirk responsibility, particularly as World Rugby (the former International Rugby Board) has annually given the union monies for coaching development and high performance programs.
With Millard's exit apparently leaving HP responsibilities to the long-serving Luke Gross, Al Caravelli has been recalled as manager of the Falcons, America's next-best 7s team, two years after being fired as Eagle 7s coach. The energetic New Yorker had stayed active in the international game, working as coach of the Phillipines, which he took to the 2013 7s World Cup.
The 29-year-old Malifa, born of Auckland, New Zealand's famous Ponsonby club, made his mark as a Belmont Shore flyhalf through fluid athleticism and field vision, earning international honors in both 7s and 15s, including the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.
USA Falcons to Mar del Plata 7s and Viña del Mar 7s
Pat Blair (Seattle Saracens, Serevi), Colton Cariaga (Life), Will Holder (captain, Army), Ben Leatigaga (Army), Derek Lipscomb (Old Blue, Northeast), Zack Pangelinan (Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, Tiger), Pila Taufa (USOC OTC), Mike Te'o (Belmont Shore, USOC-OTC), Glen Thommes (Schuylkill River), Stephen Tomasin (San Diego State (USOC-OTC), Jack Tracy (Belmont Shore, Tiger), Chris Turori (Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, USOC-OTC)
Welcome back, KO
Posted by: Grant | 09 January 2015 at 10:47
He's back, welcome
Posted by: bruce mclane | 10 January 2015 at 17:49
Wow Kurt where ya been?
Posted by: Mike | 12 January 2015 at 12:05