New USA Women’s 15s head coach Rob Cain still has a few hoops to jump through in order to take on the job fully—namely finalizing his work visa—but consider him clocked in.

Cain met with reporters in a virtual news conference last week and said he is ready to get started but also knows he has a lot to learn.

“I have to familiarize myself with lots of things happening in the background,” Cain said. “I am working closely with [Women's High Performance General Manager Emilie Bydwell] and looking at the program and the players as a whole. I am looking forward to seeing the wealth of talent in the States.”

Cain comes from a professional program, having been the head coach for the Premiership champion Saracens women’s team. It’s a job he took after coaching on the international sevens invitational circuit—going from coaching men to women. He said, in the end, coaching is coaching.

Been such a special week amazing to see everyone’s efforts get their reward @SaracensWomen @Premier15s champions 2017-2018 thank you to everyone that supported us this year @sarriessupport @RugbySaracens @Saracens #goodpeoplemakegoodthingshappen pic.twitter.com/xYdYojAg5x

— Rob Cain (@Rc1Beast) May 6, 2018

“The way you interact with players is different and the language might be different, but first and foremost [men or women] are rugby players,” Cain said.

Cain has to now learn more about the players available and also learn more about the pathway. But as the USA’s first full-time WNT coach, he will also have an opportunity to visit colleges and clubs and gather feedback from those programs.

More Time Together?

Cain has his own expectations as well. has a plan in place. even though he’s moving from a position in which he had his players available every day to a job in which he will spend long periods without those players under his observation.

“There’s not a magic number,” said Cain, referring to how many days he would like USA players to be in assembly. “It’s more important to get the quality. Alex [Magleby] and Emilie are working very hard to get [assembly opportunities]. For me, I am going to be on Alex’s and Emilie’s backs all the time to make sure players are accessible. But regardless, my job is to make the players be the best they can be. A lot of people have spoken to me about how athletic the [USA players] are, but those people don’t talk about the rugby first. So are they lacking on a bit of finer detail?”

The Eagles women’s team needs to get more games every year and needs a more standardized schedule. Magleby, who oversees High Performance for USA Rugby, is working on getting that schedule, and games against New Zealand and Ireland in the fall will be a big part of that.

Black Ferns Await

Cain’s first game is against the Black Ferns on November 3 as part of The Rugby Weekend triple-header at Soldier Field in Chigaco.

“I am massively excited for that opportunity,” Cain said. “We’re going to know a lot out of that test. I know the players will be absolutely buzzing and what a great way to start the cycle off and see how we measure up.”

But issues remain. The USA team hasn’t progressed in terms of getting a regular schedule and still struggles to match the teamwork and overall physicality of world leaders such as New Zealand and France. Too often the Eagles have experimented with players when test matches are so rare. 

Now, with an expected expansion of the A-side schedule, Cain might well be in a good position to test younger players and build through to the World Cup in 2020.