Recent High School All-American Ruben de Haas has started his 2018 off with a bang, as he will be in camp with the full test USA team soon.

But before then, de Haas, who played for the Little Rock Junior Stormers in Arkansas, will first get another honor by playing for the Cheetahs Academy in the Varsity Cup in South Africa on January 29.

De Haas, who graduated from high school this past spring, has been in the Cheetahs Academy in Bloemfontein, South Africa, since July and picking up how to speak Afrikaans again (de Haas grew up speaking Afrikaans; his father, Pieter, was a professional rugby player in South Africa before moving to Arkansas).

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Right now the Cheetahs Academy is in preseason training, and while that team kicks off its season later on this year, many of the players get to strap on the boots in the Varsity Cup starting later this month. 

The Varsity Cup is a league of top collegiate teams in South Africa. It's popular among the country's fans, and its games are televised every Monday night. Academy players can be loaned out to the college teams, and de Haas has started for Central University of Technology (CUT) at scrumhalf in the first warmup game.

“I will get plenty of high quality game time and experience which is fantastic for me at this stage,” said de Haas. “I’m very excited. It’s been a lot of traveling over the last seven months — being with different coaches and different systems in different countries. It has definitely broadened my knowledge, vision, and options on the field. I think I’m thinking more, on the field, and thinking more tactically. Hope fully I can use that going forward into the Eagles camp.”

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De Haas has been on the USA national teams' radars since early last year, and despite his youth he was put on the Americas Pacific Challenge roster back in October.

Next up? The Eagles, where he will be in camp with fellow scrumhalves Nate Augspurger, Shaun Davies, and Devereaux Ferris in preparation for the Americas Rugby Championship, which gets underway Jan. 27 and runs through March.