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U.S.A. vs. Canada. RWCQ 1st leg, 17/08/13

canadafan said:
Man, that list is looking much better. Pretty sure there are a few others on the list too. Of the up and comers:

Pierce (lock) (Pro D2)
McCann 1st5/FB Clermont Academy
O'Leary 1st5 Grenoble (Pro D2)
DSD loosehead prop (Northampton Academy) (I think)
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Pierce - Pau (Pro D2)
McCann - Clermont Academy (Top 14)
O'Leary - Grenoble Academy (Pro D2)
DSD - Leicester Academy (Aviva Premiership)
Sean Michael Stephen - Plymouth Albion (RFU Championship)
 
Josh Jackson was still lurking round Periguex last season in the Federale 1 as well, though won't feature for the national team again, Mark Kohler is with Coventry(sadly a step down from Bedford where he was last season)...plus some of the amateur guys are essentially semi-pro through the 7's program.
 
It is still a much better looking squad than before, brings hope for the future.
 
canadafan said:
It is still a much better looking squad than before, brings hope for the future.
Click to expand...

It is indeed, add Buydens in for Tieddemann and I like our starting XV quite a bit, need to sort out #10, there are exciting prospects but we are just kind of wiating for them to emerge. Hirayama is one of the world's best in 7's but can't replicate that form in XV's, Braid is average, Evans is out of position there, and everyone else is a little on the young side. It's a shame Monro couldn't stick around for most of this cycle. The CRC #10's are either a little older e.g. Blanks or don't have the quality eg. Daypuck....Piatek from the Blues looked like a decent prospect but he converted to League this year(and has helped the Wolverines immensly)
 
Isn't Underwood with the Blues squad this year, after he finishes with the NSMT of course. I think O'Leary heading to France is a great thing for us and he needs to be capped this November.
 
Little Guy said:
Josh Jackson was still lurking round Periguex last season in the Federale 1 as well, though won't feature for the national team again, Mark Kohler is with Coventry(sadly a step down from Bedford where he was last season)...plus some of the amateur guys are essentially semi-pro through the 7's program.
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Josh Jackson playing in Federale 2 now for St Medard en Jalles, his career is most def winding down, wouldn't be surprised if this is his last season. I completely forgot about Kohler, unfortunately, considering the quality we have in the backs atm I don't see any room for him in the national team setup.

It is funny, for a lot of our guys e.g. Kleeberger, O'toole, etc... I have a feeling they are going to have a lot of trouble cracking the lineup with all the depth we now have. IMO I think O'toole is done with the national team and with rugby in general.
 
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Canadian_Rugger said:
Josh Jackson playing in Federale 2 now for St Medard en Jalles, his career is most def winding down, wouldn't be surprised if this is his last season. I completely forgot about Kohler, unfortunately, considering the quality we have in the backs atm I don't see any room for him in the national team setup.

It is funny, for a lot of our guys e.g. Kleeberger, O'toole, etc... I have a feeling they are going to have a lot of trouble cracking the lineup with all the depth we now have. IMO I think O'toole is done with the national team and with rugby in general.
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I agree with you about O'Toole, talk about a massive fall from grace. One day he's dubbed "the best amateur player in the world" and gets snatched up by Ospreys and the next he's not even playing for the Rock. In my opinion his lack of confidence is his greatest enemy.

And I doubt Kleeberger will be squeezed out. When he's on form, we don't have a better fetcher- he's a turnover machine.
 
Canadian_Rugger said:
Josh Jackson playing in Federale 2 now for St Medard en Jalles, his career is most def winding down, wouldn't be surprised if this is his last season. I completely forgot about Kohler, unfortunately, considering the quality we have in the backs atm I don't see any room for him in the national team setup.

It is funny, for a lot of our guys e.g. Kleeberger, O'toole, etc... I have a feeling they are going to have a lot of trouble cracking the lineup with all the depth we now have. IMO I think O'toole is done with the national team and with rugby in general.
Click to expand...

I'm not even sure if Federale 2 is even semi-pro I beleive it's amateur, maybe he's working now in France and just playing rugby on the side. I think Kleebs will be back but agreed his path will not be one of floating into the side. Agreed on O'Toole, unless the 7's side wants him I think he's done, what a come down from his 2010-11 form.
 
CDN_Rugby said:
I agree with you about O'Toole, talk about a massive fall from grace. One day he's dubbed "the best amateur player in the world" and gets snatched up by Ospreys and the next he's not even playing for the Rock. In my opinion his lack of confidence is his greatest enemy.

And I doubt Kleeberger will be squeezed out. When he's on form, we don't have a better fetcher- he's a turnover machine.
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O'Toole is still listed for the Rock, will see if he plays this year. He hasn't even played any club rugby for Belleisle I don't think. I honestly think his year at the Ospreys is what did him in. He went over there with everyone placing super high expectations on him and when he didn't have such a good go it was a major shot to his confidence. I still think he can play some really good ball it's just getting him back to that mental state of wanting to play it. He is also 27 years old and doesn't have anything really to fall back on like education or some sort of job so maybe he has realized if he can't make any sort of coin playing rugby then it is time to hang up the cleats and get on with life.

As for Kleeberger, the reason I am saying it is going to be harder for him to crack the lineup is that you have a few guys who have emerged in the side since he has been out. You now have Ardon who is playing professionally for the Ospreys and you have Sinclair who is going to be a permanent back-row fixture for a long time. What I can see happening is maybe moving Carpenter to Hooker, sliding Sinclair into the Number 8 and bringing Kleeberger on but right now he is getting squeezed out in the numbers game. You also have Dala and John Moonlight, both of whom I rate very highly. Dala is awesome when he comes off the bench and is a real impact player, he is also a tackling machine. Moonlight is also a great tackler and is also a solid ball-carrier. I still see a place for Kleeberger in the lineup it's just their is far more competition now then their was before, which is why I think Kleeberger, after being off a year and having a bunch of new guys emerge, is on the outside looking-in and a guy like O'Toole is basically out of the team.

If anything I think the amount of competition we have going for spots on the team is a real benefit to the team and shows the massive improvements going on in Canadian rugby.

Btw guys, I have been checking out the Ospreys fan forum and from what I have read Jeff Hassler and Tyler Ardon have both really impressed in Pre-Season. Their was some concern that Ardon was going to be another O'Toole but I guess he and Hassler have looked really good.
 
The Eagles have named their extended side.....

Forwards: Chris Biller, Trevor Cassidy, Todd Clever, Peter Dahl, Cam Dolan, Brian Doyle, Zach Fenoglio, Eric Fry, Robert Garvis, Graham Harriman, Scott LaValla, ***i Lamositele, Samu Manoa, Shawn Pittman, Lou Stanfill, Phil Thiel, Nick Wallace, Travis Whitlock

Backs: Chris Chapman, Shaun Davies, Luke Hume, Seamus Kelly, Toby L'Estrange, Taku Ngwenya, Folau Niua, Mike Petri, Blaine Scully, Robbie Shaw, Roland Suniula, Andrew Suiniula, Chris Wyles
 
USA Rugby hasn't officially announced that yet so hopefully when they do they'll say which players are unavailable. I find it hard to believe Siddall couldn't find a place in the squad if healthy.

Also interesting to see Lamositele there again. Kid is only 18, which is young for an international any position but especially prop. I wonder if he's actually in the mix for the match day 23 or if he's there for the experience.
 
norcalbuff said:
USA Rugby hasn't officially announced that yet so hopefully when they do they'll say which players are unavailable. I find it hard to believe Siddall couldn't find a place in the squad if healthy.

Also interesting to see Lamositele there again. Kid is only 18, which is young for an international any position but especially prop. I wonder if he's actually in the mix for the match day 23 or if he's there for the experience.
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Is Siddall the guy trying to nail down a contract in the Aviva Premiership?

Lamositele better be there just for the experience, if not he will get done at scrum time.
 
canadafan said:
Is Siddall the guy trying to nail down a contract in the Aviva Premiership?

Lamositele better be there just for the experience, if not he will get done at scrum time.
Click to expand...

Tolkin said various players are just called up to test them out in training as opposed to actually be a contender to play which explains why there are quite a few rookies in their squad.
 
canadafan said:
Is Siddall the guy trying to nail down a contract in the Aviva Premiership?

Lamositele better be there just for the experience, if not he will get done at scrum time.
Click to expand...

Scully is the guy and he's impressing. Yet Tolkin doesn't have a whole lot positive to say about him and instead has a man-crush on Kelly who simply isn't ready yet.

Lamositele might just be there for experience again and 18 is damn young for any international, let alone a prop, but the kid is very talented. He's probably more in in-season mode after the HSAA tour of Argentina than the rest of the guys in the USA camp, too. He will hopefully feature in the ARC in the fall.
 

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