Internal Focus Marks Fallbrook Prep

Only three schools competed toward the SoCal Girls’ High School 15s title this year, and now only four teams are playing toward the region’s U18 (i.e., high school club) 15s title. Two of those teams – Fallbrook and South Bay – build toward the High School Club National Invitational Tournament (NIT) each year. The Spartans are the current NIT champions and the Warriors won five-straight titles earlier this decade. But it’s getting tougher to prepare for the competition that awaits outside of SoCal, especially as additional fixtures fall off of the calendar.

John Duncan was at the helm when Fallbrook won the SoCal High School 15s title in late February. He’s been integral in the development and continuation of Fallbrook’s youth program, which begins at the U8 level, and started assisting high school head coaches Craig and Marin Pinnell to bolster his coaching education. Duncan’s children pulled him into the game, and eldest daughter Taylor played at Central Washington University and sophomore Jordan is on the Warriors’ first side. Come 7s season, Duncan is the lead coach.

There is a divide in SoCal’s high school 15s league, and Fallbrook posted shutouts and mercy-rule victories en route to the final. So Fallbrook focuses energies inward to intensify the competition.

“We’ll run the U15s against the U18s, and the younger ones are going full-on during scrimmages,” Duncan said. “If the olders aren’t careful, the middle schoolers are on top of the breakdowns poaching the ball, and if they get their ball stolen, they’ll hear it.”

Upperclassmen Amanda Ware and Shelby Tippin captained the high school team, and players like Dartmouth College commit Abbey Savin set the tone for continued success.

“But we’re still very young,” Duncan said. “Last year, we had a lot of freshmen and we took them to nationals. Now they’re 10th graders and the strongest part of the team.”

Players like Jordan Duncan, Tiahna Padilla and Julia Tippin are among that sophomore class, and they rose through the Fallbrook youth program. They are products of that “play up” strategy and are in the Atlantis and Girls High School All-American systems, among other teammates.

“Our starting scrumhalf, Tiahna, has been playing almost as long as Jordan has,” Duncan said. “My first year coming over to the high school team as a full-on coach I brought them both up with me, even though they could have played U12 another year. They’re both good leaders and can mix it up.

“Julia Tippin is a starting flanker and all three of them are going places,” the coach continued. “Julia is tough. At LAI 7s she went to jackal the ball a little high and the South Davis girls cleaned her out. She had this ferocity in her eyes and hit the next ruck so hard that she hit the defender and the scrumhalf trying to dig the ball out back 5-6 yards, and we easily retrieved that ball and scored.”

As the team challenged itself internally, the coaching staff introduced new tactics to diversify the attack.

“We could pass it to our 12 or 13, and they could bust through and score pretty much at will, but we put different things into their game play,” Duncan said. “For example, when we’re taking a penalty, everyone lines up single file behind the kicker who’s doing the tap, and then they branch out to see what the defense does.

“We also wanted to work on our kicks, which is something we’ve been lacking,” the coach added. “When [USA 7s resident] Kayla Canett graduated that took the kicking game out. This year we made four dropgoals – but attempted a bunch – from a couple of different kickers.”

For the SoCal high school 15s final, Fallbrook lined up against Rancho Bernardo for the third time that season. Duncan indicated that the team did spend more time strategizing around the breakdown, as Rancho Bernardo had improved its efficacy in this crucial part of the game, and there were questions as to how the referee would call the rucks.

“We try to impress upon them that every game we go into, we play our game and it’s on the other team to stop us,” Duncan said of mentality. “Otherwise, they play in their heads and start knocking the ball on and you’ve got to calm them down.

“The ref got in their heads a bit,” the coach continued. “We had two yellow cards, so for five minutes we were playing 13 against 15. We got numerous calls against us and we tried to get them to refocus. ‘If you’re getting called for offsides, then take an extra step back. You have to adjust to the ref.’ At one point we had three knock-ons in our own 10 and had to play some good defense – so that was really good. Rancho Bernardo marched it in and we held it up twice, but they scored on the third attempt. That was our first points-against all season.”

Overall, though, the adjustments sorted themselves and Fallbrook won 80-5. Padilla scored five tries, junior Analiese Dalton scored two, and Duncan, Julia Tippin, Neveah Rivera, Liberty Benitez and Emily Weber scored one apiece. Seniors Savin and Shelby Tippin kicked the extras. The 9th graders also showed well in their first high school 15s championship.

“The freshmen are quite strong but the rugby IQ isn’t quite there yet. The athletic ability is there, though, and they’re learning,” Duncan said. “It makes me optimistic about the next couple of years.

“Our starting eightman was a freshman this year and in the last game of season she unknowingly cracked a bone in lower left leg, so she was out for final,” the coach continued. “We had to adjust a bit and took a sophomore, Brianna Beath, and moved her to eightman. That gave her confidence. She’s a big girl, stout and strong, and she would run the ball hard but then when she’d get to the defender it’s like she’d tackle herself and go to ground. We told her: You’ve got to go through them, because you have support now.”

The growth process continues this Saturday, as the U18 club 15s season begins. Fallbrook opens up against … the Rancho Bernardo Mustangs! Through April 25, the Warriors will also play South Bay and Coastal Dragons home and away. The U15s contest a 7s series.

“It’s the same cluster of girls’ teams so it kind of does let us down a bit, especially when we go to [the NITs] in Utah and we’re not quite as challenged as we should be,” Duncan said. “The five years that we won nationals in a row, SoCal and NorCal were flourishing. We had a fight every year and you learn so much from those close victories or close losses.”

That’s why Fallbrook would supplement its spring with the Fullerton tournament and the NorCal Invitational, but both of those events are not happening in 2020. In the past, Canadian teams would tour SoCal and mix up the competition, but that’s not a guaranteed fixture. Jeff Pack is currently trying to build a SoCal Invitational for April 17-19 (click here to register) in an attempt to bridge that gap.

In the meantime, Fallbrook will do what it always does: Focus on itself, use each opportunity to play to try new things and build depth, and then test itself at the High School Club NITs. Assuming the tournament occurs, the event will take place in Salt Lake City, Friday-Saturday, May 22-23.

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