2018 Americas Rugby Championship: USA Rugby Men's Eagles v. Canada

ARC 2018: USA Rugby Men’s Eagles vs. Canada

The Men’s Eagles opened the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship with a 17-10 win against Argentina XV on Saturday, February 3 at the StubHub Center, Carson, California. They now face Canada on February 10 at 3 pm PT at Papa Murphy’s Park in Sacramento.

The Eagles are defending ARC champions and with the defeat of Argentina XV, the 2017 ARC runners-up and 2016 champion, they are off to a good start to defend their title. Rival Canada is next for the Eagles before facing Chile at 2 pm PT at Titan Stadium at Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 17. Then it is the South America portion of the tour, where a number of the European based players will not be available. There they will face Uruguay, which tops the round one standings with 5 points to the USA’s 4.

Tickets for the contest are on sale now and may be purchased by visiting USARugby.org/tickets. The match will also be broadcast LIVE on The Rugby Channel.

The Americas Rugby Championship consists of five national teams, with the exception of Argentina XV. The national teams are ranked by World Rugby as follows: USA 17, Uruguay 18, Canada 21, Brazil 25, and Chile 26. Team standings after round 1, have Uruguay topping the standings with 5 points, USA 4, Brazil 4, Chile 1, Argentina XV 1, and Canada 1.

Gary Gold indicated to USA Rugby that “the team is working incredibly hard to prepare for a tough matchup against Canada. With a lot of emotion in this next game, knowing we need to keep our momentum alive, our focus will be on the areas we know we need to master as a team.”

Captain Blain Scully added that “representing the United States is always a tremendous honor. But to be able to do it in Sacramento, my hometown, in front of family and friends, makes it a little extra special. Papa Murphy’s Park is a great venue and the support we receive from the community is always fantastic. We can’t wait for the match on Saturday.”

The USA has made only one change in their starting XV and in their reserves, as Dylan Audsley, who replaced Marcel Brache in the 5th minute of the match against Argentina XV, will start at outside center in place of Brache.As such, he will earn his first cap. Will Hooley and Josh Whippy will also have an opportunity to earn their first caps as reserves.

2018 Americas Rugby Championship: Canada

Canada began the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship on January 27 losing 38-29 against Uruguay in Vancouver. The match also served as the first Rugby World Cup Qualifier for the Americas 2 team for Japan in 2019. The following week, the team went to Montevideo, Uruguay, losing 32-31. As a result, Uruguay will be the Americas 2 team and Canada will be part of a four-team repechage tournament in November.

Canada Head Coach Kingsley Jones has made five changes and one positional change in the starting XV from the team’s loss last weekend in Uruguay. He also made six changes in the reserves. With an eye to the November repechage, Canada needs to develop its depth and the 2018 ARC fixtures now provide that vehicle.

Djustice Sears-Duru replaces Hubert Buydens in the front row. Josh Larsen returns to lock and will pair with Kyle Baillie. They replaced Brett Buekeboom and Evan Olmstead. The other forwards remain the same.

In the backs, Guiseppe du Toit is at outside center replacing Ben LeSage. Brock Staller moves from fullback to wing, replacing Taylor Paris, and Patrick Parfrey is at fullback.

New reserves include Martial Lagain, Anthony Luca, Connor Keys, Dustin Dobravsky, Robbie Povey, and Cole Davis.

USA Men’s Eagles – 2018 Americas Rugby Championship: 1 Titi Lamositele 2 Joe Taufete’e 3 Dino Waldren 4 Nate Brakeley 5 Nick Civetta 6 Hanco Germishuys 7 Tony Lamborn 8 Cam Dolan 9 Nate Augspurger 10 Will Magie 11 Ryan Matyas 12 Bryce Campbell 13 Dylan Audsley 14 Blaine Scully (C) 15 Mike Te’o 16 James Hilterbrand 17 Huluholo Moungaloa 18 Angus Maclellan 19 Ben Landry 20 Andrew Durutalo 21 Shaun Davies 22 Will Hooley 23 Josh Whippy

Canada: 1. Djustice Sears-Duru 2. Ray Barkwill 3. Jake Ilnicki 4. Josh Larsen 5.Kyle Baillie 6. Lucas Rumball 7. Matt Heaton 8. Tyler Ardron 9. Phil Mack – Captain 10. Shane O’Leary 11. DTH van der Merwe 12. Nick Blevins 13. Guiseppe du Toit 14. Brock Staller 15.Patrick Parfrey 16. Martial Lagain 17. Anthony Luca
18. Cole Keith 19. Conor Keys 20. Dustin Dobravsky 21. Gordon McRorie 22. Robbie Povey 23. Cole Davis

USA Men’s Eagles Staff – 2018 Americas Rugby Championship

Gary Gold: Head Coach
Greg McWilliams: Assistant Coach – Backs & Attack
Scott Lawrence: Assistant Coach – Defense
Shawn Pittman: Assistant Coach – Set Piece
Chris Hanson: Team Manager
Jimmy Harrison: Analyst
Kevin Ng: Head ATC
Brian Finn: Assistant ATC (Jan. 24 – Feb. 17)
Dr. Richard Kim: Team Doctor (Jan. 24 – Feb. 3)
Dr. Mark Sakr: Team Doctor (Feb. 4 – Feb. 10)
Dr. Deborah Light: Team Doctor (Feb. 11 – Feb. 17)
Dr. Jeff Mjaanes: Team Doctor (Feb. 18 – Mar. 4)
Dave Hodges: Men’s Eagles General Manager

The USA Men’s Eagles Americas Rugby Championship Expanded Squad

The USA Forwards: Titi Lamositele (Saracens, UK), Angus MacLellan (Utah Warriors), Huluholo Mo’ungaloa (Life West), Anthony Purpura San Diego Legion), Paddy Ryan (Austin Elite), Dino Waldren (London Scottish, UK), Chance Wenglewski (Lindenwood), Dylan Fawsitt (Old Blue), James Hilterbrand (Sydney Rays, AU), Peter Malcolm (Austin Elite), Joe Taufete’e (Worcester Warriors, UK), Nate Brakeley (NYAC), Nick Civetta (Newcastle Falcons, UK), Brendan Daly (SFGG), Matt Jensen (Utah Warriors), Ben Landry (Glendale Raptors), Malon Al-Jiboori (USA 7s), Cam Dolan (San Diego Legion), Hanco Germishuys (Austin Elite), Tony Lamborn (Hawke’s Bay, NZ), Aladdin Schirmer (Seattle Seawolves), Psalm Wooching (Seattle Saracens)

USA Backs: Nate Augspurger (San Diego Legion), Shaun Davies (Glendale Raptors), Ruben de Haas (Free State, SA), Devereaux Ferris (Life West), Ben Cima (San Diego Legion), Will Hooley (Bedford Blues, UK), Will Magie (Glendale Raptors), Dylan Audsley (San Diego Legion), Marcel Brache (Perth Spirit, AU), Bryce Campbell (Glendale Raptors), Paul Lasike (Utah Warriors), Alex Elkins (USA 7s), Ryan Matyas (San Diego Legion), Peni Tagive (USA 7s), Josh Whippy (Utah Warriors), Blaine Scully (Cardiff Blues, UK), Mike Te’o (San Diego Legion)