United States coach Al Caravelli has chosen a 22-man squad for an eight-day selection camp ahead of the Wellington and San Diego legs of the International Rugby Board ( IRB ) Sevens World Series.


Caravelli will select a final squad of 12 over the course of the camp, which kicks off on 19 January. The selection will be based on fitness, defensive ability and form assessments.


The camp will provide Caravelli with a chance to work with a number of new players - Corey Blair (Huntington Beach Unicorns), Troy Hunt (White Plains), Mike Hicks (San Diego State) and Nicholas Hawkins (OMBAC) - who showed potential in the US's Rugby National Guard Men's All-Star Championships in December.


However, the cream of Caravelli's new crop is Austin Sage, of Red Mountain, who performed well at the last Under-19 Camp.

"Even though he is only 18 and has only been playing rugby for a few months, he is athletic, quick-footed, strong and has the pace we need in Sevens," Caravelli said.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing him perform during the week. If he works hard and puts in the individual time that our current squad puts in, I can see him making one of the traveling squads this year."

Follow up:

The other 18 players on the camp all attended the last assembly of the US Sevens squad ahead of the IRB Sevens World Series tournaments in Dubai and George, with two exceptions - Owen Lentz (Maryland Exiles), and Jason Pye (Park City Haggis), who are injured.


The rest of the squad includes Todd Clever (OMBAC), Thretton Palamo (Biarritz), Mark Bokhoven (Denver Barbos), Riaan Hamilton (OMBAC), Nic Johnson (Denver Barbos), Matt Hawkins (OMBAC), James Gillenwater (Santa Rosa, Argentina), Clint Whittler (Arkansas State), Dallen Stanford (Belmont), Nese Malifa (Belmont), Chris Wyles (OMBAC), PJ Komongnan, Justin Boyd (Texas A&M) and Mike Palefau (Petrarca).


Noticeably missing from the pool are Jone Naqica (San Francisco Golden Gate), Tui Osborne (OMBAC) and Vili Matanibukaca (Old Puget Sound) - who are recovering from injuries.


Caravelli expects them all back for the squad's assembly ahead of the Hong Kong tournament in March.

"This is a very young squad but has a good mix of experience in the likes of Clever, Hamilton, Wyles, Palefau, Gillenwater and Stanford," Caravelli said.
"Those guys are our most active capped Sevens players. They have a tremendous amount of leadership qualities and an ever growing tenacity to win.
"I know all the boys have been putting in the individual hard work that we now expect from every one of our athletes and our staff," Caravelli added.
"Everyone has logged a lot of hours preparing for this assembly. We haven't won a game on day one of Wellington in the last five years and we want to build on our performances from George.
"We aren't working on anything special or any secret formula, just the basics, tightening up our defence, being able to finish our breaks and controlling the ball at the point of contact. Those are our goals for Wellington."

Caravelli will be holding "tryout" Sevens matches on January 24 and 25, which will pit the top players against one another.


Outcomes from these matches will directly affect who will make the next squads.


Source: Planet Rugby