Bankruptcy, COVID and a World Cup qualifying loss to Uruguay does not conspire to cultivate a healthy launchpad for one of the toughest challenges in world rugby.
The All Blacks’ arrival in Washington D.C. this week, ahead of their money-spinning Test at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Football Team in Maryland, turns the spotlight on the game in the United States as they bid to host the 2027 or 2031 World Cups. The USA is also bidding for the women’s World Cup in 2029.
Gary Gold, as Springboks assistant coach, helped preside over five victories against the All Blacks between 2008-2011. Yet after coaching USA for the past four years, almost five, he’s fully aware of the daunting reality coming this weekend.
Gold’s USA team lost 34-15 to Uruguay on Oct. 10 after narrowly winning the first leg to miss securing World Cup qualification 50-34 on aggregate. That defeat dropped the USA to 17th in the world.
“It was massively disappointing,” Gold says. “From our point of view it was a setback, particularly after being in such a strong position following the home leg when we had a 19-point lead and we fluffed it.”
Since that match six leading USA players have returned to their European clubs, with the Test against the world No. 2 All Blacks falling outside the designated international window.
“It’s an unbelievably tremendous challenge,” Gold says. “It’s basically going to be all our MLR [Major League Rugby] based players so it’s going to be a big opportunity for us to see how far we’ve come as a group. These are the types of challenges we have to face, but it’s going to be a mammoth task, there’s no question.”
Some 18 months on the national team resumed training this June, but they have only played six matches, against England, Ireland, Canada and Uruguay, since losing all four pool games at the 2019 World Cup. Of those, USA won home fixtures against Canada and Uruguay but not by enough to attain entry to the 2023 World Cup.
“It probably took a year to go through the whole bankruptcy process. We’ve had a setback over the last couple of years, as so many people have, because of COVID,” Gold says.
“Bankruptcy hurt our union so we’ve had to try and get out of that and get more game time. It’s pretty tough at the moment but we’re doing a lot of work around our academies and the clubs are doing a good job with the MLR and trying to develop the game there, but we’ve got quite a long way to go.
“From a national point of view we need to be playing a lot more Test matches and staying together as a group as we try to improve and fire a shot at World Cups.
“It’s definitely been challenging times but now we’re more or less resuming to normality we’re hoping to get ourselves a lot more fixtures.”
Major League Rugby forms the backbone of the hope for future improvement. Entering its fifth season next year and now featuring 13 teams, increasing from seven in its inaugural 2018 year, with 12 sides from the United States and one Canadian team, MLR is the base from which USA Rugby must build.
Exposure is expanding with matches televised on CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports 1 and 2, among other national and local market platforms.
Matt Giteau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tendai Mtawarira, Mathieu Bastareaud, Andy Ellis and Ma’a Nonu are among a scattering of foreign talent that have featured in the league in recent years. In time, Gold hopes more will follow suit to pass on their skills.
“It allows our players to be playing and training in professional environments. Some good coaches have come over so some of the MLR clubs are starting to grow. It’s tracking slowly. It’s reasonably competitive. There’s a handful of foreign guys here which adds value for the local lads. I’m delighted they’re getting to play some regular footy. It will probably be a few years before we start to see the fruits of that.”
The immediate future for USA Rugby involves Gold predicting in excess of 50,000 fans flocking to FedEx Field this weekend to witness a likely one-sided showcase.
Next year is a critical juncture, with World Cup qualification again on the line in home and away fixtures against Chile.
Longer term, hosting the 2031 World Cup seems more feasible with Australia pushing its case for the 2027 event.
Staging one of the world’s largest sporting events for the first time would, surely, expose a new generation of fans and, potentially, spark an influx of participants.
The USA has long been dubbed rugby’s ‘sleeping giant’. At this point, though, after emerging from a trying time, it remains firmly in snooze mode.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Jordan Staal broke the record for games played as a Carolina Hurricane and then missed a long stretch of Thursday night’s game after a rare fight.
It turned out to be a rewarding evening as the Hurricanes beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3.
The Carolina captain played in his 910th game in a Hurricanes jersey, pulling ahead of brother Eric Staal.
“I appreciate the boys battling it out for me there,” Staal said. “Getting a good memory out of milestone game and getting the two points. It has been a fun ride. It has been a lot of fun with these guys here and all the other teammates I’ve played with it has been just a joy and blessing and I’m just happy to keep going.”
Jordan Staal, 37, is third in franchise history in games played when the team’s time as the Hartford Whalers is included behind Ron Francis (1,186) and Glen Wesley (913).
“He comes to the rink every day and puts the team first,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “In today’s day and age, it’s not unique, but it’s getting harder and harder to find.”
Staal was involved in his first fight since February 2017, when he rushed Minnesota’s Tyler Pitlick in the first period after Pitlick’s blow to the head of Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield.
“He’s our leader,” Brind’Amour said. “We talk a lot about him and we can’t say enough great things. That’s just another one of those things he does for our group and is willing to do.”
That scuffle drew Staal a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute instigator penalty, even though Pitlick was done for the night with a match penalty.
After returning to the ice, Staal’s influence remained high. He won his final 10 faceoffs.
Chatfield’s injury marked another blow to the Hurricanes’ defensive corps.
“It’s just the way this year has gone,” Brind’Amour said. “We can’t get healthy and keep losing key pieces, that’s rough. I don’t know how long (Chatfield) is going to be out.”
Carolina has already been without Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere because of injuries, though the Hurricanes got K’Andre Miller back Thursday after a six-game absence with a lower-body injury. Miller played more than 23 minutes.
The Hurricanes have back-to-back games this weekend, facing Buffalo at home Saturday and visiting Toronto on Sunday.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Blues forward Jordan Kyrou was a healthy scratch for Thursday night’s game at Buffalo as St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery tries to spark improvement from his struggling team.
The Blues are 1-6-2 in their past nine games and entered Thursday in 15th place in the Western Conference with a 4-9-2 record. St. Louis followed a 3-2 win at home against Edmonton with a 6-1 road loss at Washington on Wednesday night.
Montgomery held a mandatory morning skate before playing in the second game of a back-to-back Thursday in Buffalo.
“If you have competitive fire in your belly, struggles like this provide opportunities to grow stronger together when you face these again,” Montgomery said after the practice.
Kyrou is tied for second on the Blues with eight points in 14 games and has led the team in goals in each of the past three seasons. Kyrou has not recorded a point in his past five games. This is the first time in five seasons that the 27-year-old winger has been a healthy scratch. He has 154 goals and 340 points in 430 NHL games.
Alexandre Texier replaced Kyrou at right wing on the Blues’ top line.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Former LSU coach Brian Kelly shared a statement on social media to fans Thursday, a little more than a week after he was fired in the fourth season of his 10-year, $100 million contract.
“The journey began with great expectations with my own vision of how to get there,” Kelly said. “Sometimes the journey does not end the way we hope.
“But when I think of our time together, I will remember and appreciate what we did accomplish. … The roar of Death Valley when we beat Alabama. The losses will always hurt, but I will remember all the wins.”
Kelly was 34-14 with the Tigers over three-plus seasons, helping them reach the 2022 Southeastern Conference title game. They didn’t qualify for the College Football Playoff in his first three seasons and were virtually eliminated from contention with his last loss.
LSU has won three national titles this century — in 2003, 2007 and 2019. The most recent came under Kelly’s predecessor, Ed Orgeron.
Kelly called it a privilege to coach exceptional student-athletes, among them 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels and 39 SEC Academic Honor Roll players in 2024.
Associate head coach Frank Wilson is the team’s interim coach for the rest of the season.
The Tigers (5-3, 2-3 SEC) host No. 7 Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) on Saturday in their first game since Kelly was fired.
“As everyone heads on their way to see the Tigers play, I wish Coach Wilson, the coaches and our players the best this weekend,” Kelly said.
LSU ousted Kelly and athletic director Scott Woodward amid criticism from Gov. Jeff Landry.
The day of Kelly’s firing, Landry said he hosted a meeting in the governor’s mansion on the evening of Oct. 26 “to discuss the legalities of the contract.” Landry had said he was concerned his state would be on the hook to pay for Kelly’s buyout, which is about $54 million.
Days after Kelly’s firing, Landry told reporters that Woodward would not select the next coach. The next day, LSU cut ties with Woodward.
The 64-year-old Kelly has gone 200-76 in Division I since being hired by Central Michigan in 2004. He was 113-40 at Notre Dame and had 34-6 mark at Cincinnati. Kelly was 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, winning two Division II national titles during a run of three straight trips to the championship game.
