Japan 35, USA 17

[thunderchicken9]

OK folks, I'm a little discouraged, I'll admit. The Eagles fell to a clearly superior Japan side, 32-17. Detail seekers, visit www.usarugby.org -- Losing your best players to professional leagues definitely hinders a national side, given the vacuum of pro sides in our Hemisphere, can the USA hope for any success in 2011?

[Thequeerone]

What do you mean by professional league - if it is other countries they can come back and play if it's other codes - more difficult

[thunderchicken9]

What do you mean by professional league - if it is other countries they can come back and play if it's other codes - more difficult

It's very difficult to build a core of players when the rest of the world snipes your talent pool, limiting practice time, i know, pity the
USA, but our guys need a continuation, some structure, otherwise, let's account for the USA's uneven performance, even amongst the Pacific Union - (this is not a protest, talent always follows money- fer God's Sake, a Profession is a Profession)

[Thequeerone]

Better times ahead then - a bit of practice overseas back home with some new ideas and wham bamm thank you mam !

[thunderchicken9]

TQ1, just because of you, I will not lose hope.. We will listen, and we will learn; my main concern is making he most of what we now have.. our talent is not too deep; there's only one Mike McDonald, Z, Emerick Hercus, et al, yes, please bring back the knowledge, also; can you build us a team? Canada and the US face the same dilema; we're a bit too big fer our international britches, somewhere between Argentina and oh, Panama we have players to send, but our teams lack.. ...

[AndyS]

As TQ1 says, it can be a help up to a point. Ultimately however, a professional domestic and international set-up is the only way to retain them. Even if you have that, look at the losses from the SH...

[thunderchicken9]

Agreed Andy.. You've nailed our problem... The best go away, get better, and come back.... trying to build a cohesieve structure amongst a mish-mash of good (mostly not great) players.. Witness Canada v. Wales or Scotland this fall, or US v. Japan; the Canadians built some great phases offensively and made some admirable defensive stands, much like the USA diplay v. Japan or the 2007 RWC; however; in an 80 minute game, we can't compete... Really, a catch-22-; can't deny our talent; but where do they play good competition whilst retaining their nationalism?

[AndyS]

Start a Super comp with, say, three teams each from Canada, US, Argentina and Japan, leading into a 6 nations with a couple of top 'A' teams. Would give an internation flavour as a selling point.