USA Rugby Men's Under-19 team heads Down Under Friday for an 18-day tour that kicks off the program's bid to return to the age-grade world championship.

Thirty-six players have been chosen to represent the United States in a demanding five-match itinerary. The tour also includes a training camp at the highly regarded Australian Institute of Sport.

The trip starts with a five-day visit to the AIS in Canberra, where Australian Olympic coaches will conduct sessions on training recovery, nutrition, and performance psychology and members of the Super 12's ACT Brumbies will assist with team practices. The squad also is slated to attend a Wallaby training session as Australia prepares to face South Africa in a Tri Series match.

The tour will then move into New South Wales. The match schedule is:

July 18 v. Tuggeranong U19 and U17
July 21 v. Australia Defense Force Academy U19 and U18
July 24 v. St Stanislaus College
July 27 v. Lloyd McDermott Aboriginal Development Team and Sydney U17
July 30 v. New South Wales Development U19 and U17

Carrying more than enough athletes to form two sides, the US will play two matches at each fixture to meet both competitive and developmental goals. Proven on previous U19 tours, the strategy allows the squad to look to the future of the age-grade program as well as field the best possible team.

More than a dozen players rejoin the team from its previous assembly, ..... Repeat selection Kevin Boyer, a University of Colorado number eight, has been named captain. Players were selected from four U19 regional development camps, the national high school championships, and the national collegiate championships.

"This tour is instrumental to the development of our squad," stated U19 head coach Mark Bullock. "This is the first step in our bid to attain one of our major goals: securing a birth in the qualifying round of the 2001 U19 World Cup."