June 16, 2016
USA Rugby Men’s Eagles Meet Italy June 18
Doug Coil
USA Rugby Men’s Eagles Meet Italy in the first of their Summer Test Series June 18 at Ayaya Stadium, San Jose, California at 6pm PT. Tickets are available at http://usarug.by/USAvITATix . The match will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network on delay Sunday and streamed live on The Rugby Channel.
John Mitchell’s Eagles did not have a test match last weekend , but had players at camp the last two weeks. They assembled at the OTC in Chula Vista, California to prepare the team to perform under the pressure and fatigue that they will face this Saturday against Italy and next week against Russia.
John Mitchell said that “we’ve taken a look at Italy in the 6 Nations and the match against Argentina. O’Shea’s in a very similar circumstance to ourselves; he’s already been saying that he believes he can create an exceptional Italian side if he can get them fit. He will be trying to grow and develop the group through similar challenges. They have good talent and stayed in the contest at the weekend for a long time, and fought their way back into it at the end.”
“This week has been primarily focused on the preparation for Italy. Our sessions are very specific and timings this week have been pretty well on the money. You can’t have overloads in terms of time on feet. We have a couple sessions Thursday and a captain’s run, so we’re getting into the final stages of our preparation before we need to bring performance.”
When Nate Augspurger steps on the pitch, he will earn his first Eagles XV cap. Other potential debutantes for the Eagles are Harry Higgins, Tony Lamborn, Angus MacLellan, and Stephen Tomasin.
Italy enters this match after a loss to Argentina 30-24 last weekend in Santa Fé, Argentina. This was the first match for new Head Coach Conor O’Shea for the Azzurri. It was a competitive match, as there were lead changes and changes in momentum during the match.
Italy has made one change in their starting XV from that match. Robert Barbieri, who was a reserve, starts at Flanker in place of Abraham Steyn. Maxime Mbanda will be a reserve.
USA Men’s Eagles: 1 Titi Lamositele 2 James Hilterbrand 3 Chris Baumann 4 Nate Brakeley 5 Greg Peterson 6 Andrew Durutalo 7 Todd Clever (C) 8 Cam Dolan 9 Nate Augspurger 10 AJ MacGinty 11 Taku Ngwenya 12 Shalom Suniula 13 Thretton Palamo 14 Blaine Scully 15 Will Holder 16 Joe Taufete’e 17 Ben Tarr 18 Angus MacLellan 19 Stephen Tomasin 20 Harry Higgins 21 Tony Lamborn 22 Chad London 23 Mikey Te’o Head Coach: John Mitchell Defense: Phil Greening Attack: Mike Friday Backs: Rob Hoadley Forwards: Marty Veale Strength & Conditioning: Chris Brown & Alex Ross Physiotherapists: Brian Finn & Rob Wassilak Mental Skill: Simon Hurry Manager: Sean Lindersmith
Italy: 1 Andrea Lovotti 2 Ornel Gega 3 Lorenzo Cittadini 4 Quintin Geldenhuys 5 Marco Fuser 6 Robert Barbieri 7 Simone Favaro 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk 9 Edoardo Gori (C) 10 Carlo Canna 11 David Odiete 12 Tommaso Castello 13 Michele Campagnaro 14 Leonardo Sarto 15 Luke McLean 16 Oliviero Fabiani 17 Sami Panico 18 Pietro Ceccarelli 19 Valerio Bernabo 20 Maxime Mbanda 21 Guglielmo Palazzani 22 Tommaso Allan 23 Giovanbattista Venditti Head Coach: Conor O’Shea
Men’s Eagles Summer Series 2016
v. Italy – Saturday, June 18 @ Avaya Stadium
v. Russia – Saturday, June 25 @ Bonney Field
