Shackles are off for Gold’s Scots slayers
JON NEWCOMBE talks to Gary Gold about the challenge of building on last week’s historic win
US EAGLES head coach Gary Gold says one of his biggest battles is keeping a lid on expectations after his side’s stunning 30-29 win over Scotland in hot and humid Houston last Saturday.
The Eagles’ first victory against a Tier One nation for 92 years extended the Eagles’ record winning run in Tests to six matches and they are now on the brink of matching their alltime best world ranking of 14th, last held more than a decade ago.
Gold credits the launch of Major League Rugby as a factor in the upsurge but, with the inaugural season finishing in a few weeks’ time, the South African is worried they may “take two steps forward and one step back”.
“I think a whole combination of things that worked in our favour, but there’s no question the start of Major League Rugby has made a big difference,” he told The Rugby Paper during a break in training in Houston.
“The guys have been in a professional training environment for six to seven months and are better prepared physically and their skills have got better because of the work they’ve done at their clubs.
“When I inherited the group in January nearly 50 per cent of the squad hadn’t run onto a rugby field since the November internationals, and that could be the case this November because the guys based in the States haven’t got that much rugby between now and then.
“We’re strongly in danger of taking two steps forward and one step back. Obviously, our goal is to try and get as much rugby for them as we can, but it is going to be a challenge for us.”
Gold is hoping Eagles players will be in hot demand following the Scotland result and be ‘game-ready’ for fixtures against the New Zealand Maori in Chicago and Ireland in Dublin. Samoa are in line to complete the November schedule if they beat Germany and avoid the RWC 2019 global repechage tournament.
Already the likes of Ben Landry (Ealing) and Bryce Campbell (London Irish) have secured deals in the UK, with plenty of others – not least US Football convert, barnstorming centre Paul Lasike – catching the eye.
“He could definitely play at any level, no question about it; he is outstanding. If I was working in the Premiership, I would do anything to get my hands on him.”
Gold continued: “Quite a bit of interest has been expressed from clubs in Europe for a handful of guys. Hopefully some French clubs will come in with offers, even if it’s as a medical joker, just so the guys can get some decent rugby. They are pretty good rugby players and they’re not used to earning silly amounts of money so there could be some really good opportunities for clubs to pick them up.
“Doncaster have shown an interest in (fly-half) Will Magee, and there’s been quite a lot of interest, from Premiership clubs, around (back rower) Tony Lamborn, who’s not on tour with us at the moment because he had a visa issue. He’s a Kiwi-born player who has played in a handful of games for the Eagles and is very good.”
A few weeks after taking up office as Eagles head coach, Gold led the side to the Americas Rugby Championship ‘Grand Slam’. The previous year, under John Mitchell, they won their first ARC title and qualified directly for the World Cup. Confidence is high.
“Once you break the shackles and beat a Tier One team, there’s a belief that you can do it again. I don’t think it is a flash in the pan, but I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves either. I’ve been around long enough to know that you need to keep your feet on the ground.
“As we stand today. America is not a top 10 team. All this means is that Tier One teams are not going to take us lightly, and it is going to get harder and harder.
“You only have to look at what England are going through now to see that all teams go through peaks and troughs, and it will happen to this team at some stage. But at this moment in time confidence is high and they are doing certain things well.”
The acid test will come next year at the World Cup where the USA have been drawn in the proverbial ‘Pool of Death’. Finishing third and therefore qualifying directly for RWC 2023 is not “beyond the realms of possibility”, according to Gold, but with games against England, France, Argentina and Tonga, he is realistic about their chances.
“It is going to be extremely hard with this Pool, not just because of the opposition – and we are talking fullstrength teams at a World Cup – but with the way the draw is too.
“After England, we’ve got five days until France, then five days to Argentina and then three days until Tonga. So the one game we can really have a proper go at is the game where we will probably be at the end of our tether after three incredibly tough games.
“If we are able to pick up a scalp against one of the other teams, then the permutations could work in our favour. We’ve seen Tonga beat France before, at the 2011 World Cup, so it’s not impossible but, as we stand right now, we are way off in my opinion.”
“It’s not a flash in the pan... once you beat a Tier One nation there’s belief you can do it again”