Todd Clever is one of the best rugby players the United States has ever produced.
He might be the one rugby player Americans even recognize.
But when the USA Eagles took the field at the Rugby World Cup last month, the San Jose star was nowhere to be found.
Clever, 32, had been left off the team in a decision that has continued to explode throughout the rugby world.
Clever now says the snub was the result of a personal beef with the U.S. coach, drawing parallels to the Landon Donovan-Jurgen Klinsmann controversy when America’s most famous soccer player was cut from the 2014 World Cup roster.
“I still can’t put my finger exactly on it,” said Clever, who is five appearances shy of being the most capped American in history. “It’s one of the frustrating things about it.”
Clever reluctantly addressed the situation in an hourlong interview from England because it’s not his nature to bring negative publicity to his beloved national team.
The Santa Teresa High alum had refused to say anything as former teammates competed in the Rugby World Cup in England in the past month. The Eagles, led by coach Mike Tolkin, were outscored 156-50 in losing all four pool matches to higher-ranked teams.
The Eagles might not have performed better with Clever, who has played professionally in Japan, New Zealand and South Africa and now England.
But how the face of U.S. rugby was summarily dismissed has led to questions in a small but passionate community.
“It’s a total injustice of how they went about it,” said Bruce Anderson, Clever’s former coach at the University of Nevada. “Todd has given endless years to the sport. Everything he has done was for USA Rugby.”
Clever’s tenure with the national team seemed to end in July after minor transgressions that USA Rugby called “multiple conduct violations” in a release on its website.
“Mike Tolkin and him obviously had some issues,” said Nigel Melville, USA Rugby’s chief executive. “It wasn’t working out. It is a difficult one, isn’t it?”
The conflict
Clever, the first American to play in the prestigious Super Rugby league in South Africa, planned to finish his national-team career at what would have been his fourth World Cup.
Instead, his status with the Eagles began unraveling when butting heads with Tolkin, a longtime New York high school coach and English teacher.
After a November 2014 tour in France, the captain with 63 international appearances met with Tolkin about the handling of the team’s seniors players.
“It kind of turned into a dictatorship,” Clever said. “And I was letting him know he’s dealing with professional athletes and not high school kids anymore.”
The night before the Americans were scheduled to play Fiji on Nov. 21, the coach had requested everyone rate their teammates from 1 to 26, best to worst. Clever said players came to his room expressing concerns about completing the form.
The captain declined to rank teammates, to which Clever said Tolkin later responded, “I tell you to do something, you (expletive) do it.”
About a month later, Tolkin relieved Clever of his captainship.
But the 6-foot-4, 220-pound player thought he had smoothed over the issues by including Tolkin in discussions about which club to join to help better prepare for the 2015 World Cup.
“Nothing was so severe,” Clever said. “I stuck up for the players.”
Tolkin, 47, declined to address what happened during the November tour, saying decisions on picking team captains are “between us.”
“We felt it was time for a change, and I articulated our reasons to Todd,” the coach said. “That’s our business.”
Clever didn’t anticipate more problems at a training camp in July ahead of the Pacific Nations Cup in San Jose.
Clever was featured prominently in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue just before the Bay Area camp opened. USA Rugby promoted the magazine spread in a news release before the Americans played Samoa at Avaya Stadium in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Clever was invited to the ESPYS that week as part of the magazine promotion. He asked Tolkin for permission to attend when learning the Eagles were off on the same day as the event in Los Angeles.
Tolkin gave the OK, as long as Clever returned for the 9:30 a.m. training session the next day, the player said. Clever invited teammate Scott LaValla to join him. Clever said he told Tolkin that he and LaValla would return by 7:30 a.m.
While they were attending the function, however, Tolkin added a 30-minute gym session starting at 6:30 the next morning.
Tolkin then used the missed workout as the reason to remove Clever from the roster, although he had 350 family members and friends planning to attend the game in his hometown. LaValla, on the other hand, was only benched because he supposedly had been scheduled to start the game.
Two days later, a frustrated Clever didn’t show up for a morning run with other teammates who didn’t make the roster. That’s when Tolkin kicked him off the team.
Tolkin said the punishment was standard for any professional club. The coach also disputed Clever’s version about discussing what time his flight returned.
“Maybe the ESPYS weren’t the best choice for a player trying to make the World Cup squad,” Tolkin said. “There were priorities as well to think of.”
Clever said he would never have jeopardized his standing with the team to attend an event. He bought dress clothes on the way to the airport after getting his coach’s approval to go.
The men also differ on the importance of the game-day workout for nonroster players. Clever described it as a morning jog.
“The whole idea that is a casual jog is a load of baloney,” Tolkin said, adding it’s a fitness workout meant to replicate an 80-minute game.
Despite the suspension, Clever hoped the situation would be resolved so he could join the team for the World Cup. Clever said he asked U.S. coaches to send him workouts in order to stay in shape.
But when LaValla got injured, Tolkin called up Matt Trouville, whose international debut had come the previous November.
Point, counterpoint
Tolkin said the World Cup roster decision had nothing to do with past conflicts between the men. He said the players in Clever’s position were selected on form.
“The body is great,” Clever said. “Mike Tolkin knows it. He didn’t pick me for personal reasons.”
Once it was clear Tolkin wasn’t including him, Clever played two exhibition games for an English all-star team called the Barbarians. Players are invited based on their ability and citizenship.
Clever started for the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership season opener last week to underscore his claim that talent had little to do with his status on the U.S. team. The English professional league is regarded as one of the world’s elite places to play, as in soccer.
“When it comes time for the games, no one raises their level of play to match the honor and responsibility of wearing the USA jersey like Todd,” said Washington lawyer James Gillenwater, a former U.S. star in sevens rugby.
USA Rugby board chairman Bob Latham said roster picks are between the coaching staff and the player. Latham praised Clever for the way he has promoted the sport in America but added U.S. coaches had only one agenda when selecting their roster: putting forth the best team.
“Everybody is a big enough boy to know that is the sole thing on their mind,” Latham said in an interview from London.
Latham added that Newcastle might have been looking for something different from the Eagles’ needs.
“You can’t automatically say he should have been on the squad,” Latham said.
John McKittrick, a New Zealander who has coached the U.S. sevens national program, disagrees.
“From a rugby purist, his presence was sorely was missed,” said McKittrick, who coached Clever in New Zealand. “Window dress it however you like.”
The future
In the coming weeks, USA Rugby officials expect to announce whether Tolkin will continue to run the program as his contract is up.
Latham declined to discuss the futures of Tolkin and Melville, saying only that USA Rugby needs to improve the 15s program by getting more Americans on professional teams and scheduling more games for the Eagles.
Melville added that Clever’s international career isn’t over.
“People tend to think that it is,” he said. “Unless he retires, he is eligible. He’s still playing at a high level.”
Tolkin, who took over the Eagles in 2012, is not ready to discuss future player assignments while analyzing the recently ended World Cup. But he hopes to lead the team to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Clever just wants the chance to leave on his terms.
“I would love to put on the Eagles jersey again,” he said. “I’m still fit, able and I still want it. I didn’t want to end like that.”
Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865.
