USA Men’s Eagles Squad Selected for Ireland

June 8, 2017

USA Men’s Eagles Squad Selected for Ireland

Doug Coil

USA Men’s Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell has selected the 23-man squad for Saturday’s Emirates Airline Summer Series opener against No. 4 Ireland at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The kickoff will be at 5pm ET  and televised on the NBC Sports Network.

Following this test, the team will conclude the Summer Series against Georgia on June 17. The team then will face Canada in Toronto June 24 and again on July 1 in San Diego in the Rugby World Cup 2019 Qualifiers to determine the Americas 1 team. The Eagles last played Ireland in Houston in 2013, losing 15-12.

Nate Augspurger will captain the side and start at scrumhalf. The Eagles starters have 115 caps, while the reserves have 49 caps and one potential debutant in Paddy Ryan at prop.

Many Eagles players selected by John Mitchell last played at the Americas Rugby Championship in February and March, where they won their first championship since the 1920s.

Mitchell described the team in a USA Rugby article indicating that “We’re focused on our purpose and we’re getting back into the processes of our working week – which the players are now familiar with coming in to camp. Camp does stress the athlete in terms of learning and work load, as well. The athletes have had a high work ethic with a healthy desire for competition.

“It’s also a case of managing the athletes. We have the immediate short-term of dealing with and trying to out-fox Ireland, but we also have an eye on preparing for the end of the month and are holding back some athletes in order to manage their training load.”

With Mitchell indicating that managing their training load was a consideration, several extended squad members were not selected for Ireland and should play valuable roles in the remaining tests.

Todd Clever was injured in the ARC and helped the Austin Huns win the USA Club Rugby National Championship. Ben Landry, after playing professional NFL football, rejoined the Glendale Raptors and is a force at lock. Cam Dolan recently concluded his PRO 12 Rugby season with the Cardiff Blues and can play lock and backrow. Props Anthony Purpura and Dino Waldren played well during the ARC, as well as for Old Blue of NY and Trinity College, respectively. Both Madison Hughes and Matai Leuta ended their World Rugby Sevens Series season two weeks ago, just prior to joining the Eagles XV camp.

The starting backs have Augspurger at scrumhalf, where he will pair with AJ MacGinty, at flyhalf. Augspurger also played wing during the last three ARC matches, while MacGinty played inside center against Uruguay in his only ARC appearance before returning to the Sale Sharks.

In the centers will be Western Force’s Marcel Brache and Ryan Matyas with Eagles  Sevens players Martin Iosefo and Mike Te’o as wings. Ben Cima will round out the backs at fullback and his foot could be critical to the team’s success from any Irish infractions.