USA Men's Rugby Squad Named for Match 1 Against Chile

The USA Men’s National Team held off the French Barbarians’ comeback bid in Houston on July 1 for a 26-21 win. The team now faces a Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification two-game series against Chile which begins this Saturday, July 9 at 6:00 PM EDT in Santiago. The total or points aggregate will determine who officially qualifies for next fall’s Rugby World Cup in France. The second fixture will be at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO before a sold-out home crowd. Both matches will be streamed live on FloRugby.

While the USA has won five of their six previous meetings with Chile, the South American side has improved after competing in the Americas Pacific Challenge and Superliga Americana de Rugby. Los Condores defeated Canada in the fall Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers, eliminating the Canadians from qualification for the first time. South American nations will be rooting for Chile to defeat the USA, so the Eagles will not underestimate them.

The Eagles, who played well defensively in Houston, will look to continue that pressure in Santiago with Chile playing in front of their home fans. USA Head Coach Gary Gold has made three changes from last week’s match against the French Barbarians. Joe Taufete’e will start at hooker with Kapeli Pifeleti moving to the reserves. Taufete’e was a reserve at tighthead prop last week. Ben Bonasso is the blindside flanker with Hanco Germishuys switching to openside flanker, with Moni Tonga’uhia left out of the matchday 23. Martin Iosefo also will start on the left wing with Mitch Wilson also not on the squad this week, Nick Civetta and Greg Peterson will swap lock positions.

There are three changes in the reserves with Angus MacLellan at tighthead prop, and Tavite Tamileau and Jason Damm, who could make his USA debut, in the back row.

Kisi Unufe, who played with the Houston SaberCats this season has also joined the 30-man traveling squad in place of Paul Lasike, who broke his hand against the French Barbarians.

Head Coach Gary Gold noted on the away qualifier:

“I am incredibly proud of the performance we put out in Houston. It was a short assembly period with the full squad, so I’m pleased with our early defensive effort and expect to see the same this Saturday. We allowed the French Barbarians back in the game as time went on last week – with a few corrections needed at our set piece – but I’m confident we can play our game as we need to on the road.

South America is always a challenging arena to play in on the road, so setting the pace early as we did last week, will be important against this hungry Chilean side.”

USA MEN’S EAGLES ROSTER | USA vs CHILE | RUGBY WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
July 9, 2022 6:00 PM ET | Estadio Santa Laura Universidad | Watch LIVE on FloRugby

Position	Name	Club
1	David Ainu’u	Toulouse (FRA)
2	Joe Taufete’e	LA Giltinis
3	Paul Mullen	Utah Warriors
4	Greg Peterson	Newcastle Falcons (ENG)
5	Nick Civetta	Rugby New York
6	Ben Bonasso	Rugby New York
7	Hanco Germishuys	LA Giltinis
8	Cam Dolan	NOLA Gold
9	Ruben de Haas	Saracens (ENG)
10	AJ MacGinty (C)	Sale Sharks (ENG)
11	Martin Iosefo	Seattle Seawolves
12	Bryce Campbell	Austin Gilgronis
13	Tavite Lopeti	Seattle Seawolves
14	Christian Dyer	Houston SaberCats
15	Marcel Brache	Austin Gilgronis
16	Kapeli Pifeleti	Saracens (ENG)
17	Chance Wenglewski	Rugby New York
18	Angus MacLellan	Utah Warriors
19	Siaosi Mahoni	Houston SaberCats
20	Jason Damm	Rugby ATL
21	Tevita Tameilau	San Diego Legion
22	Nate Augspurger	San Diego Legion
23	Luke Carty	LA Giltinis