Second and Back Rows - 2025 Position Previews

By Alistair Kirsch-Poole
Feb 6, 2025 - 5:05pm

The forward pack was a strength of Old Glory last season, and this season basically all of the players from last year returning with a few new young guys coming in. In many ways, it's the most predictable of the position groups, but should also be one of the most exciting to watch.

For this guide, I've divided the players are divided into four categories:

• Starters - proven top-level talent who will be expected to be in rotation of players starting most matches
• Challengers - players who have experience but will have take a step forward to break into the starting rotation
• Projects - players who are inexperienced at a professional level and whose playing time this season will be limited unless they take a big step forward
• Cover - other players who can play the position if needed

Lock

The trio of experienced starters are all back at lock, with Rob Harley expected to lead the group. He played an astonishing number of minutes last season, necessitated by other players' injuries, but we should expect that to be toned down this season as the coaches try to rotate players. He's joined in the starting rotation by Uruguayan international Ignacio Dotti, who brings a particular skill in disrupting lineouts, and Tevita Naqali, one of the longest tenured Old Glory players on the team. Naqali in particular should see a lot of time this season, as he now qualifies for the USA based on residency and therefore won't take up a valuable foreign player slot.

The primary challenger to the group is young American Bill Whiteside, who began last season on a trial contract and ended with 13 caps and 350+ minutes played. This season he will be hoping to push his way into the starting lineup, which his domestic status will definitely help with.

Charlie Overton also has a chance to become a serious challenger this season. The 6'6" American played just a few minutes in his rookie season, but will be hoping to increase that playing time in 2025.

This is a position with plenty of cover options, although with five dedicated players it's unlikely that OGDC will have to dip this far into the reserves. Logan Weidner is the most obvious option to cover, having played lock in college and at Anthem last season. Lautaro Bavaro has also covered lock for Old Glory in the past and Collin Grosse played lock in college, so both could be options if required.

Flanker

Flanker is one of the most deeply American positions on the roster, with all of the starting players US qualified. The hard-charging Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz is can be penciled for the 6 jersey, while the league-leading tackler from last season Cory Daniel will be the favorite to start at 7. Both are capped Eagles and were the first choice players at their positions with the national team last year. Collin Grosse the most likely third man in the rotation, having put in two solid season since being drafted in 2022.

The prime challenger to that group is Brady Daniel, the younger brother of Cory Daniel, who is entering his fourth season with the team. A live wire off the bench, he's impressed in the time he's had but will have a tough task in trying to surpass the players ahead of him. Logan Weidner is also an option here. After being drafted by OGDC in 2023, he was loaned to Anthem for 2024 where he played at lock. He is now transitioning into a back row role, although it's not clear whether he'll focus on playing flanker or number 8.

I've put both back rowers from the 2024 draft in the project category. Ray Santiago played at lock in college, but will switch to back row for Old Glory. He will join the team properly when he graduates in May, meaning he will only be available to play for the last few matches of the season at most. Aaron Juma is the other draftee, an atheletic Zimbabwean who has transfered from Wheeling University to the University of Mary Washington in order to be closer to the team. It's unclear when or if he will be available to play this season.

One or the other of Santiago and Juma could end up as a number 8 rather than a flanker, but young back rowers are often given a run out at flanker first as the position requires less experience to get right. If either player plays this season, it's more likely to happen at flanker than at 8.

The flanker position is very well covered, with Lautaro Bavaro the most likely to be called over to the position given that he played there until he was moved to 8 last season. Both Rob Harley and Tevita Naqali have also played at flanker in their careers, so in the event of serious need they could be called upon.

The only departure from the flankers is Dacoda Worth, one of the last holdouts of the 2019 exhibition season. While he was a serviceable player, he only played 13 minutes last season and at 34 years old he was likely near the end of his professional rugby career regardless.

Number 8

The biggest talking point of the back row last season was the position switch between Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz and Lautaro Bavaro. Until last season, the former was the go-to eightman for the entirety of OGDC's time in MLR while the latter had a very successful season at flanker. This was continued on the international stage, with Fa'anana-Schultz the current first choice at 8 for the USA Eagles. However, head coach Simon Cross decided to flip their two roles, putting Bavaro at the 8 and moving Fa'anana-Scultz to flanker. This decision perplexed many fans, who would prefer to see Fa'anana-Schultz carrying hard off the back of scrums.

When asked about it, Cross laid out a compelling case that putting Fa'anana-Schultz at flanker gives him opportunities in the second phase off the scrum, a phase that's generally characterized by disorganization in the defense as the opposing forwards leave the scrum. His strong carrying makes him particularly dangerous in this second phase attack.

Bavaro is not as powerful a ball carrier as Fa'anana-Schultz, but he brings experience and a deep understanding of the game. Scrums are very dynamic situations, with complex decision-making required by the eightman around when to keep the ball in the scrum, when to run with it, and so forth. Cross makes the case that Bavaro's knowledge of the game makes him ideally suited to making those decisions.

Regardless of whether the fans like the decision or find the reasoning compelling, Cross has confirmed that he intends to continue using Bavaro at 8 and Fa'anana-Schultz at flanker this coming season.

Given Bavaro's crazy amount of playing time last season, it's difficult to say for sure how the position will play out beyond him. But with the quirks of the schedule this season, rotating players is going to be essential. It's practically certain that Bavaro will not play 94% of available minutes like he did this past season, so someone will need to fill in the remaining time.

There aren't any obvious challengers at eight, though. Logan Weidner definitely has the scale necessary to play at 8, as large-bodied converted lock, but given the decision-making pressure Cross puts on the position it seems unlikely that he'll entrust any significant time to an inexperienced player.

More likely, if Bavaro is unavailable, we will see one of the cover players used. Fa'anana-Schultz, as mentioned above, is perfectly capable of playing at 8 and does so for the national team. There's also Rob Harley, whose experience puts him closer to Bavaro in style and who has played across the back row in his career. A third option is Tevita Naqali, as one of the younger and more mobile locks who still has significant experience. He has covered the 8 position in past seasons for OGDC.

The only departure from this position is more of a technicality than anything. Niko Jones was signed midway through 2023 as injury cover for Fa'anana-Schultz and impressed everyone pretty quickly. He was re-signed for the 2024, which is why I'm listing him as a departure, but he didn't actually play for the team last season as he was loaned to Moana Pacifica in Super Rugby as an injury replacement. He is still with Moana Pacifica now.