With 50 HSBC Sevens World Series tournaments under his belt, USA star Zack Test is certainly not short on experience. But the 25-year-old try centurion says that when it comes to sevens know-how no-one can hold a light to Eagles’ head coach Mike Friday.
Friday has coached England, Kenya and now USA on the series, his arrival State-side coinciding with a major upturn in American fortunes.
“He’s called Yoda, he’s teaching us the Jedi way,” said Test jokingly. “He is the master of sevens and we’re just learning from him and continuing to improve as a team. He’s a hard coach. If you’re not giving 110 per cent, you’re gone, and that’s the way it’s got to be.”
Currently seventh in the series standings after a Cup semi-final appearance on home soil in Las Vegas last month, USA are well on course to beat their 13th-place finish in 2013-14.
However, with just four tournaments in this season’s series to go, two in Asia and two in Europe, claiming a top four spot and automatically qualifying for the Olympics in 2016 may be a big ask for the Eagles.
“The thought of being a potential Olympian is just monumental, because in America you view an Olympian almost like a Roman god, he’s the almighty athlete,” Test said.
“So to be training at the Olympic training centre day in day out and to be training towards that goal of being an Olympian and being an Olympic medallist is just everything you dream about is as a boy.
“To be considered in that realm is mind blowing. If that doesn’t excite you, I don’t know if you’ve got a heartbeat.”
Hong Kong, the next stop on the series, is where Test’s international career started back in 2009. Since then he has become a mainstay of the USA squad and their all-time record try-scorer.
“I thought football arenas were loud but when I ran out for the first time in Hong Kong the 60,000-odd people in the stadium took it to another level,” the University of Oregon sports technology graduate recalled.
“I debuted in 2009, after getting onto the field four minutes into the first game against Scotland. The kick-off went deep and, as a forward, I tried to loop around the scrum-half, Shalom Suniula. He passed the ball to me but, for about five seconds, because of all those people screaming, I forgot how to play rugby. I said, ‘I don’t want it’, and passed the ball back to him. It wasn’t the greatest start to my sevens career!”
TEST CENTURY IN AUSTRALIA
From those humble beginnings Test hasn’t looked back, becoming the first USA player to reach three figures for tries scored in the opening tournament of the series back in October.
“It’s been a monumental year for me personally with lots of milestones. To get my 100th career try in Australia was pretty exciting especially as I got it with a hat-trick against Canada when we beat them with no time left on the clock.
“Recently in Vegas I made my 50th tournament appearance. To get to 50 is amazing in itself but to do it in front of my home crowd and my family and friends is what I’d always hoped for and dreamed of.”
