To help us tackle this question we reached out to Vaughan Holdt. Vaughan is from New Zealand (Auckland) but spent two season playing fly-half in NorCal (2009 and 2010). So he has seen both play in the USA and New Zealand. When we posed the questions to Vaughan he said this “The wingers in the USA are definitely under utilized. From my recollection to a few years back there weren’t many teams using their wings at all. Most of the time I remember opposition wingers getting the ball when we kicked to them. I didn’t see the ball go through the hands to the wings ever”.



Vaught (who began as a wing in New Zealand) believed that wingers in general are under utilized, even in New Zealand. He feels they should be and can be used more in the modern game. “Using the blind side wingers is an easy way to start getting them more involved without changing too much. It's also an easy way to get an overlap straight away. There are some very simple moves which are really effective in using the blind side wingers on the open side” noted Vaught.



Vaughn deduced the issue in American rugby to the fact that wingers aren’t used enough is because of their experience and limited knowledge of the game. Most wingers he feels are not experienced or have the knowledge of the game to see how they can get involved. “I think a lot of teams are guilty of putting their less experienced players on the wing where the players think they have to stay throughout the game. That also happens here in New Zealand”. Vaughn believes increasing the understanding of the game for everyone would help in knowing when and how to use wingers more effectively. “In the past 5 years you’ve see that they are becoming more involved in the game. They should be given licenses to roam of their wing to put themselves into a better position to be an option” says Vaught. He does note that before giving that licensed you need to make sure you’ve trained and educated that winger to the game first.

Frik Fourie who coaches Fresno RFC, is on the NorCal Pelican’s (select side) coaching staff and who is a former winger with experience at a high level in South Africa has a bit of a different theory. Fourie who only got to coach Chris Nelson a few games (when he was still a hooker) and then six as wing agreed that Chris was under utilized. He also takes the position of Vaught in that if you have a knowledgeable winger, you give them permission to get off the wing and go find opportunities when appropriate. However, he notes that is not enough. He sees a few issues with the wings under utilization. One is the lack of depth on the attack from the back line, which makes it difficult to get the ball out fast or runners to have room to operate. He also attributes it a bit to the football mentality. Too many players are hesitant to make a pass he says and instead think about just picking up the territory. This he says “it [the mentality] keeps the ball from moving wide to wings. Guys get the ball and instead of moving it, instinctively want to plow ahead and then get tackled and the ball movement slows or dies”. “Guys” he says “still think in in terms of ‘yardage’ versus the concept of open play and that’s true even with a most of the American born Islanders playing as backs”. Frik notes that Chris had developed skills and a style of play in New Zealand that some of his peers were not accustomed to, nor for that matter most teams. His observations has been that lot of wings are athletic but are reduced to standing and waiting for someone to get them the ball like a wide receive in football. Frik was of the opinion that the wings are a every now and then opportunity weapon often in American rugby mind, and not viewed as a part of every attack as you may see in southern hemisphere type of play.

Jason Raven is the former captain for the USA Eagles 7s side, who also played two international matches in 15s as a wing and continues to coach and develop players weighed in. When asked the questions with regard to wings, Raven responded without hesitation saying “Absolutely wings are under utilized”! He said that the main reason is that there just isn’t enough work done on the skills required to get the ball out to the wings (in a position that they can be effective with the ball). “Most guys skills limit them from the ability to move the ball quickly, to make clean passes and to make long passes. The skills have to be developed” says Raven. He also attributes it to coaching at times too. Coaches may not be calling plays or developing a game plan to use their wings and/or the coaches may not have the skills necessary to use all their backline players.