Test Looks Ahead to 7s Team Asembly

The USA 7s team will assemble Sunday to get back to work after the winter break, and there is much work to do.
Players don’t have to read the websites or look at the videos to know things haven’t gone well. They were on the field, after all.

It’s likely that when the team comes together there will be some changes – in personnel, in approach, and in some of the leadership. There needs to be changes, says team leader Zack Test, in execution, as well.

“We know what we’re supposed to do and we have the players who are capable and who have worked really, really hard,” Test told RUGBYMag.com. “Now we just have to execute.”

Test said it does take time for new players to get up to speed and in tune with the team – this USA team has lost Luke Hume, Blaine Scully, Matt Hawkins (now Head Coach), and Colin Hawley. Hawkins has also chosen not to use longtime player Shalom Suniula. All of those changes have affected team unity, and Hawkins recently called out his team leaders – Test, Brett Thompson, Nick Hawkins, and Folau Niua – for not doing enough.

“Definitely it’s a new role for a lot of us,” said Test, who backed up Hawkins’s assessment. “But we all need to take what we’ve been doing on the training pitch and do it on the field. We all need to look at each play one at a time – try to do what’s in front of you to the best of your ability and then go on to the next one. For me, I am still working on the field, still going to the gym, still doing everything I can to be better.”

The new leaders, and the new players, have had time to adjust, said Test. Now, with the USA 7s in Las Vegas up next, the Eagles need to show better.

“We still need to pass and catch and make tackles,” said Test. “I love playing in Las Vegas. It’s great to be playing on US soil in front of our fans. It’s really big for us, and I think right now it’s even bigger because it’s an opportunity to start the year off on the right foot, and continue to work toward those big goals – wins and points in the World Series, Pan-Am Games, and the Olympics.”

It all starts, then, next week.