South 6th, But Achieves Goals
By Alex Goff (The South 7s All-Stars youngsters learned a lot this past weekend. Ed Hagerty photo)
So what’s a winner?
Certainly the Pacific Coast 7s All-Star team was a winner, taking all six of their games. Certainly the Southern California team were losers simply because they weren’t there – finances preventing the players from being able to show what they could do.
But what about the teams that finished in the middle? Mid-Atlantic, 4-2 and being defeated only by Pacific Coast (twice), can count their tournament successful. Northeast, which finished up 3-3 might be disappointed, but actually performed better than we expected them to.
And then there’s the South, who ended up 1-5 and last. Hardly winners right? Right?
Well it depends how you measure it.
“We had an average age of about 22,” said head coach Julie McCoy, who was the USA women’s 7s head coach from 2006 to 2009. “Take Ben Jones out of it and the average age is about 20.”
In the five games the South lost, they were within a try in three of them, lost by nine in another, and in their biggest loss, 21-5 to eventual champs Pacific Coast, the game was 7-5 with about four minutes to go.
Everyone coming out of the tournament had to agree, 1-5 and last place seemed harsh for a team that was in every game. And McCoy did it with kids – the only way, it turned out, she was going to do it.
“As a territorial coach I wanted to be the type of coach I wanted when I coached the USA team,” explained the Arkansas-based surgeon. “I wanted to bring a young team of players who had potential and ability and develop them so they could be part of the national team’s future. Winning is one goal, but the main goal was to develop players.”
In fact, it was the overriding goal. McCoy stated outright that is what she wanted to do as coach of the South men’s 7s team, and the South concurred. It was the South that had previously cut the 7s all-star budget to $1,000, but upped it once the idea of developing young players like Adam Ducoing and Joey Luttrell, Sam Anderson and Benji Goff was the plan.
“If the goal had not been to develop young players, the team wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be the coach,” McCoy said.
They did have former England international Ben Jones is as experience and an assistant coach, and he was invaluable. McCoy said that is the best use of a foreign or very experienced player.
“Those types of players need to be a mentor,” McCoy said. “But if I am filling my team with 28-30-year-olds, then I’m not doing my job.”
McCoy said the young players embraced her approach and were eager to learn, and while the wins didn’t come, the performances were there, and the experience will be invaluable.
“We got a bunch of young kids out there playing high-level stuff and that was great,” she said.
Overall, the South scored 75 points (average of 12.5) and allowed 104 (average of 16.3). Not exactly a case of being outclassed. And maybe those young players got more out of it than the scoreline.
“It is tough to see them lose,” said McCoy. “I love these guys and to see them lose is like watching a son or daughter lose. But we got a bunch of terrific guys, and two terrific coaches in Ben Jones and Greg Schor, and I am having a blast.”
