USA Rugby has unveiled a new plan for its High School and Collegiate All-American programs—both men and women—to formalize what has been a developing relationship with Rugby Canada but also reduce touring and the associated costs.

Dubbed the American Rugby Model, the four-year plan is as follows:

• Use the Regional Cup tournaments (HS All-Star events) to scout 10th- and 11th-grade talent for the HS All-Americans.
• Select two HSAA squads for boys, and two HSAA squads for girls (there's no word on how those teams will be divided, but they could be split on geographic lines) that will participate in a camp in the following December.
• Have those HSAA teams play two Canadian U18 teams (likely split along geographic lines) at a warm-weather location in the USA in a North American 4 competition.
• Select one Collegiate All-American squad for men and one for women. Those teams will then play corresponding Canadian university teams on the same date and at the same location as USA or Canadian men's national team games. (Basically, if USA plays Canada in Canada, then that's the location for one of those games and the other plays in the USA. If USA vs. Canada is in the USA, then the other collegiate game is played in Canada in partnership with a Canada test match.)
• Install a Stars and Stripes competition in December of each year for college freshmen and U20 club players, bridging the gap between high school and older age-grades.

"Having a more secure four-year All-American schedule allows our coaches at the local and regional level to better plan athlete development and periodization," said Alex Magleby, USA Rugby's General Manager for High Performance. "Our aim remains in locally nurturing the game as much as possible—reducing financial constraints—while increasing access to quality coaching, competition, and talent identification near home."

Magleby added that this partnership between USA Rugby and Rugby Canada has been in the works for some time. He also said that there's the possibility that another collegiate team could come in and play in an expanded series. 

Magleby told FloRugby that tours are not precluded from this plan. It's more about making sure there's something going on, no matter what. 

"In some years a forward-thinking staff might be able to add an additional tour, but let's have a guaranteed basis of competition for player ID and development," Magleby said.

Through sophomore and junior years, the refreshed model will ensure that university coaches are available to evaluate talent at each competition. Once athletes have made the jump to a collegiate program, a series of Junior All-American and Collegiate All-American competitions at the U20 and U23 levels (respectively) can translate into selections for developmental USA Rugby tournaments and ultimately the senior national teams.

"Part and parcel to this is increasing the number of opportunities student-athletes have to interface with national team coaches and potential future collegiate coaches," said Magleby, further describing the goals of the updated model. "The latter is served through a re-emphasis on college scouting at the RCTs while the former includes an increase in repetitions with the girls and boys High School All-Americans doubling in size."

WOMEN'S UPCOMING EVENTS | NEW AMERICAN RUGBY MODEL

UNDER 18s
North America Four Tournament
USA High School All American Red & Blue
December 2018 | Location TBD

UNDER 20s
Junior All-Americans vs Canada & England U20s
August 2018 | Canada

Stars & Stripes Competition
December 2018 | Location TBD

UNDER 23s
USA Collegiate All-Americans
June 9 | Denver, CO 

MEN'S UPCOMING EVENTS | NEW AMERICAN RUGBY MODEL

UNDER 18s
North America Four Tournament
Canada Red & White + USA High School All-American Red & Blue
December 2018 | Location TBD

UNDER 20s
USA Junior All-Americans vs Canada U20s
June 2018 | Location TBD

North America Four Tournament
Canada Red & White + USA Stars & Stripes
December 2018 | Location TBD

UNDER 23s
USA Collegiate All-Americans vs Canada Universities
June 2018 | Canada