NEWS

Douglas and Fa’anana-Schultz on Old Glory DC’s 2021 Season

Written by Joe Harvey | Photo by Paris Malone

Placing fifth in the Eastern Conference in the 2021 Major League Rugby season, Old Glory DC’s will be looking to turn their fortunes around in 2022. 

Playing Rugby ATL in the game that will officially begin the new league season, MLR Correspondent Joe Harvey spoke to the team’s head coach, Andrew Douglas, and USA Eagle, Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, about the season that has just passed and looks ahead to 2022.

A DISAPPOINTING 2021

In 2020, when the MLR season was cut short as a result of the global pandemic, Old Glory DC sat second in the Eastern Conference. Beating the Seattle Seawolves, Houston SaberCats, Austin Gilgronis and Rugby ATL, it was clear that one of the league’s newest sides were there to compete in their debut season.

A season later, the team was still competitive, but results failed to go the team’s way, with Andrew Douglas saying that his team were often unlucky when pushing teams closely across 80 minutes.

“I think we were always good enough,” Douglas said. “We showed that against most teams. We beat Atlanta, who made the final, we only just went down to New York (34-38) in the fourth round, and they made a semi-final. I thought we had done enough against Utah (33-34), who had also made a semi-final when we played them away and I thought we were unlucky.

“We were good enough to play with the playoff teams, we just weren’t consistent enough at crucial times. When you are going well, those little things go your way. Those games you lose by two, three or four points, they go your way, and we weren’t playing well enough, so they didn’t fall our way.”

This is not to say that there weren’t success stories either. Mike Dabulas starred for Old Glory, the versatile back earning himself a USA Eagles callup from Gary Gold, making his debut against Canada in the Rugby World Cup qualifiers that took place in September.

Several players’ talents have even identified by clubs overseas, with Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz saying that if it weren’t for playing on a good team, those players would not have had looks abroad.

“As a team we didn’t shine, but there were some great moments there,” Fa’anana-Schultz said. “Individually for the boys, there was some amazing stuff.

Photo by Paris Malone

“We’ve had six players that got signed overseas, we had Jason (Robertson) and Mikey (Sosene-Feagai) go over to France, it goes to show people are watching this league and they have got contracts in France, so that is an amazing achievement. 

“We believe in the coaching staff, and they are helping us as players and people, and it is great to see that we are getting looks overseas now. It sucks to lose and to lose players, but it is about improving as an organization and as a team.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

One of the key differences that Douglas has identified between 2020 and 2021 was the time to establish a team culture ahead of a new season.

As discussed by Seattle Seawolves head coach, Allen Clarke, last week, a team’s culture is an important part of a team’s bonding and development before stepping out onto the field.

With this in mind, Douglas is quick to take the blame for this lack of development, saying it is something that will not be overlooked heading into a new season.

“I think we probably tried to hot cook things rather than do what we had done the season before, which was a slow process in getting understanding around our game plan, understanding our culture, who we played for and because we hot cooked it, we probably overlooked the important things, which we had spent so much time doing in 2019,” Douglas said. 

Photo by Paris Malone

“That comes back to me, that is my fault there, in thinking that the culture we had created in 2020 would overlap into 2021, which it didn’t, and we have got the important things about understanding what we play for and who we are. 

“We had some new players who probably needed that work and that understanding of who we were and what our identity was.”

Part of building this new culture for next season will involve bringing back some of the players who embodied the values that Douglas was looking for most in the season that concluded earlier this year.

Up to now, Fa’anana-Schultz, Dabulas, Thretton Palamo, Api Naikatini, Jack Iscaro, Doug Fraser and Stan South have been announced as returnees, while Jake Ilnicki, Rohan Saifoloi and Junior Sa’u have been announced as coming from elsewhere to make a run at the playoffs.

“We have guys who understand what we are trying to achieve here and have a work ethic that is about sacrifice for other people, and we had some players who probably didn’t understand that aspect of the game as much as we would have liked,” Douglas said. 

“There is Fraser, South, Palamo, Iscaro, Dabulas, Fa’anana-Schultz; those guys are key to that, and they take things personally when Old Glory is not going right. They are not mercenaries, they are playing for the right reasons here, so it is important to have that embedded in the club long-term.”

BUILDING

2022 will definitely be a big year for Old Glory. Having failed to live up to the expectation they created for themselves in 2020, the new season offers a chance at redemption.

With several players not returning and new names to be integrated to the action, Fa’anana-Schultz says that much of the good work that DC are hoping to build off the field as well as on it, with a strong youth program developing below the first team.

“The boys are improving every year and it is tough when we talk about a winning culture, but a winning culture isn’t always about the wins,” Fa’anana-Schultz said. 

“It is about improving, building up the community as well, which is a big aspect of what Old Glory is doing in MLR. 

Photo by Paris Malone

“We have one of the fastest growing youth programs in America, which is amazing for rugby in America, and we have a strong women’s youth team, with women’s rugby being one of the fastest growing sports in North America. We are building something here.”

The 25-year-old is also more than aware of how competitive MLR is becoming as the years go by. An expansion team in 2020, the Australia-born flanker is confident that Old Glory and MLR will keep moving forwards next season.

“At this stage, it is just a learning process for a new team like us,” Fa’anana-Schultz said. “It is good for the owners, the players, the staff, just to realize that all the teams are getting better every year and it is good for the league, but at the same time that means that every team has to get better in the same division. 

“Every team is getting better players, the local boys from the US are getting better and the players that are coming from overseas are even adding to that as well, so it just shows that MLR is up there as one of the top leagues in the world.”