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The Junior All-Americans recently completed their Thanksgiving selection camp in Florida where nearly 50 players sought to put themselves in the window for the team that will take on Canada in the Junior World Rugby Trophy qualifier next spring. We sat down and talked with head coach and 15s High Performance Director Billy Millard about the camp, the players he sees as Eagles prospects, as well the College All-Americans program.
On the camp overall: We left very confident. It was an enjoyable camp with great kids. They worked so hard and every night it was a two hour discussion trying to get it down to a squad of 30. I think the fishing that Michael Engelbrecht did and the work we put in leading up to the camp we got a really strong group of 30-40 players that showed potential.
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On player's availability: We had a reasonable group and a hard group to select from. There are a lot of clashes will all sorts of stuff like colleges but we go about it the right way sending out e-mails to the colleges. We pick from what we're offered. I think it was a better group than last year. Some players you approach say they can't come because of college commitments. They're all justified because there are a lot of exams and study around the camp, the qualifiers, and the World Cup. It's a tough program to pick from when there are so many clashes.
On the positives: The positives were there were about 10 guys coming back from last year. They know the standard that is required. They all stood out. Guys like (Val) Lee-Lo, Ben Cima, Christian Wiessing, Hanco (Germishuys), Scottie Dean, they were all very good. From the new players there are probably eight to 15 guys that really stood out.
When we picked this team we obviously looked to get short term wins and qualify for the World Cup. Also, you have to pick with a view of projecting to the Eagles. That's what this program is about. Last year Ben Pinkelman didn't show too much at camp but in the World Cup in Hong Kong he was outstanding. He went on to the Eagles. We think there is a group of guys that with a bit of exposure to the next level that they'll go on to push for an Eagles selection in the next few years.
On which players could make an impact for the Eagles in the long run: I think from this group Louis Mulholland, who is at Bath University, is a very composed halfback. He stood out. Val Lee-Lo, Ben Cima, and Hanco were probably the other three in the group that would project in the next couple of years. Others two would be Scottie Dean and Fitou Fisiiahi from Central Washington. It was a good group. Another player is Victor Camptat who is a seven foot second rower who is with the Toulon academy. He's got a lot of work to go but he's got the natural height and is in an amazing system. Koroi Maciu was a pretty damaging runner. There were quite a few to be honest. Hopefully they can keep developing and can make it to the World Cup.
On what they needed to work on: Core skills and conditioning is a no brainer. You can't get enough of that at this level. Some guys were obviously better than others but even the good ones had a lot of work to do in both departments. At that age any where in the world core skills and conditioning are non-negotiables that need a lot of work.
On coaches at the camp: We had a really good group of coaches. Scott Lawrence came down. Peter Borlase, who is with the Denver Barbarians, was a prop with the Canterbury Crusaders and Munster. He was able to come down. We had Marc Stcherbina who is coaching Santa Monica. He was one of the greats in Australia when I was growing up and then had success in Europe. Both of those guys were fantastic with the boys. They have a lot of experience and knowledge to pass on. Then with Scottie Lawrence, Luke Gross, and Mike Engelbrecht there was a nice mix of coaches. The development and the coaching standards those guys put in place was outstanding. Dave Williams was also there. He flew straight in from the Eagles tour.
On goals for players once camp was over: We had one on ones with every player. We spent ten minutes with each player going over things they need to work on from a conditions point of view and a tactic point of view. It was time well spent. We also spent time as a group talking about what they need to go back and work hard on. Once we pick the squad of 26 or 30 that will be ramped up even more.
On contingency plans in case the World Cup doesn't happen: It would depend on budgeting but if we don't qualify we would like to get this group together for an extended assembly where hopefully Tolks (Mike Tolkin) has time to come in and push these guys over three or four days. At the end of the day it's about getting these guys exposure to the Eagles. Going to the World Cup in Portugal is a huge stepping stone for these guys and if we can't do that we can at least put them in front of the Eagles coaches and give them three or four more days in a high intensity environment.
On the state of the College All-Americans: The College All-American program is tough because who do you play? The beauty of the U-20s is that there is a genuine IRB World Cup every year that the players can go to. That's a really good development tool but you can always be doing more with full time academies and part time academies. I think colleges themselves are getting stronger programs which is helping but there are a couple of layers that need to be put in place and enhanced to make that transition easier. The big thing is competitive games. If you look at Australia or England U-20s a lot of them are playing Premiership or Super Rugby. It's obvious what we're missing--the professional and semi-professional competition that these boys could expedite their development but it's easier said than done.
On the College All-Americans in 2015: The budgeting is being done now. The program is to identify which players can go into the Eagles and to do some high end development where the intensity is higher because they are training with better players around them and they have solid coaching. Have we got the money to do long tours next year? I'm not sure. We've got the World Cup and 7s Olympic qualification so it's going to be tough next year to boost what we're doing at the pathway level.