Head Coach Gary Gold named his match-day roster after a four-week camp in Colorado. Saturday’s full lineup features 330 cumulative test caps with Houston SaberCats Jamason Faanana-Schultz, who could make his national team debut from the reserves.
The starting XV will have seven players who play on Major League Rugby teams with an additional four players in the reserves. The team also includes USA Sevens Players martin Iosefo on the wing with Madison Hughes in the reserves.
The reserves will also see Paddy Ryan return for the first time since November of 2017 when the USA faced Georgia.
Saturday’s matchup will be the first of two games the USA will play against Canada before Rugby World Cup. The United States are currently ranked No. 15 while Canada is ranked No. 21 in the World Rugby Rankings. Both teams have met 61 times in history with the Canadians owning a 38-21 advantage on the overall record and three matches ending in a draw.
Following Canada, the United States will face Samoa and Japan in Fiji.
Eagles Head Coach Gary Gold said “We’ve had a very productive month from a training perspective and we know that we will see a really well-coached and prepared Canadian side on Saturday. We know that what we saw in Seattle was only a taste of what this Canada side can do and with Rugby World Cup in the forefront of everyone’s minds this match in Glendale will be no different.
“It is absolutely critical that we remain disciplined through this game and continue to make the right decisions in tight situations. We are in every way focused on preparation for Rugby World Cup but, before that, we have four very important test matches and a responsibility to deliver a competitive performance in every one of them.”
Preceding the match between the USA and Canada, the Men’s Collegiate All-American XVs will face an All-Canadian University XVs at 3 PM MT. The game will mark the first time the United States and Canada have met at the collegiate level. Following the matchdes, First, Second and Third team All-Americans will be announced. Both games, the collegiates and senior national teams will be broadcast LIVE on NBC Sports Gold.
2019 Pacific Nations Cup
The Pacific Nations Cup is an annual tournament hosted by World Rugby that features an expanded number of teams in Rugby World Cup years, when the United States competes. Featuring six teams for 2019, nations are split into two pools where each team faces the opposing sides in the opposite group to accumulate points after each matchup. The team who finishes with the most points at the end of its three games will win the title.
Pool A features the United States, Fiji and Tonga while Pool B features Canada, Samoa and Japan. The USA will face Canada first at home in Glendale, CO, followed by Samoa and Japan in Suva, Fiji to conclude its campaign.
POINTS STRUCTURE
- Win – 4 points
- Draw – 2 points
- Loss – 0 points
- Bonus
Scoring 4 tries – 1 point
Losing by less than 7 – 1 point
Tickets for Saturday Matches
Tickets start at only $30 for general admission including access to the Men’s Collegiate All-Americans curtain raiser against All-Canadian University XVs at 3 PM MT. One ticket is valid for both games with VIP packages also available at usarug.by/pnc2019.
USA & Canada Squads
USA: 1. Chance Wenglewski (Rugby ATL, 3) 2. Dylan Fawsitt (Rugby United New York, 8) 3. Paul Mullen (Houston SaberCats, 10) 4. Ben Landry (Ealing Trailfinders, ENG,18) 5. Nick Civetta (Doncaster Knights, ENG, 22) 6. Malon Al-Jiboori (Glendale Raptors, 2) 7. John Quill (Rugby United New York, 33) 8. Cam Dolan (NOLA Gold, 44) 9. Shaun Davies (Glendale Raptors, 22) 10. AJ MacGinty (Sale Sharks, ENG, 21) 11. Martin Iosefo (USA Sevens, 3) 12. Bryce Campbell (London Irish, ENG, 25) 13. Marcel Brache (Western Force, AUS,16) 14. Blaine Scully (Unattached, 46) 15. Will Hooley (Bedford Blues, ENG, 8) 16. Kapeli Pifeleti (San Diego Legion, 2) 17. David Ainuu (Toulouse Rugby, 5) 18. Paddy Ryan (Rugby United New York, 4) 19. Greg Peterson (Newcastle Falcons, ENG, 22) 20. Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz * (Houston SaberCats, 0) 21. Ruben de Haas (Free State Cheetahs, 11) 22. Gannon Moore (Utah Warriors, 3) 23. Madison Hughes (USA Sevens, 3)
USA Men’s National Team XVs Staff
General Manager Dave Hodges
Head Coach Gary Gold
Assistant Coach, Attack Greg McWilliams
Assistant Coach, Set Piece Shawn Pittman
Assistant Coach, Defense Jaque Fourie
Strength & Conditioning Coach Huw Bevan
Performance Analyst Jimmy Harrison
Assistant S&C and Analyst Tom Kindley
Team Doctor Mark Sakr
Team Doctor Sam Akhavan
Head Athletic Trainer Kevin Ng
Athletic Trainer Kristen Douhan
Massage Therapist Daliah Hurwitz
Team Manager Chris Hanson
Assistant Team Manager Mark Drown
Canada: 1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Benoît Pifféro, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Evan Olmstead, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Tyler Ardron (capt.), 9 Phil Mack, 10 Peter Nelson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Conor Trainor, 15 Patrick Parfrey 16 Andrew Quattrin, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Justin Blanchet, 20 Luke Campbell, 21 Gordon McRorie, 22 Shane O’Leary, 23 Nick Blevins
2019 Pacific Nations Cup Matches
Fri, Jul 26 – 19:00 PT / 22:00 ET – Samoa vs Tonga (Apia)
Fri, Jul 26 – 22:50 PT / 01:50 ET – Japan vs Fiji (Kamaishi)
Sat, Jul 27 – 17:00 PT / 20:00 ET – USA vs Canada (Glendale)
Fri, Aug 2 – 19:30 PT / 22:30 ET – USA vs Samoa (Suva)
Fri, Aug 2 – 22:15 PT / 01:15 ET – Fiji vs Canada (Suva)
Sat, Aug 3 – 03:10 PT / 06:10 ET – Japan vs Tonga (Osaka)
Thu, Aug 8 – 20:00 PT / 23:00 ET – Tonga vs Canada (Lautoka)
Fri, Aug 9 – 21:35 OT / 00:35 ET – USA vs Japan (Suva)
Sat, Aug 10 – 00:15 PT / 03:15 ET – Fiji vs Samoa (Suva)
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