USA Showcases Class in Close Loss to England
The USA produced a torrid second-half performance to push a young England side at Twickenham Saturday, turning a 36-3 halftime deficit into a 43-29 loss that had many thinking that the Eagles are pretty good.
It was a good, high-level test match, and as such the England players acknowledged that with some succinct and direct comments. America, they said, "are a good side."
Simple enough. What USA fans saw on Independence Day was a team whose flag was still there at the end. They took some hits, made mistakes, and had to battle against a team much, much more familiar with itself, and came away with a very competitive scoreline.
Some Tough Picks Made for USA Men's Olympic Rugby Team
Picking the Men's Olympic 7s team wasn't an easy job and, as he said in a RuggaMatrix interview last month, Head Coach Mike Friday's toughest job has been to tell some very deserving athletes that they aren't on the team.
The toughest conversation may well have been with Brett Thompson. The former Tempe U19 player and University of Arizona football and rugby player, who has been capped at both 15s and 7s, is the traveling alternate. This means he travels with the team, trains with the team, but doesn't play unless there's an injury.
USA Names Men's 7s Olympic Squad
CHULA VISTA, Calif — USA Men's 7s Head Coach Mike Friday has announced his full 15-man roster for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, pending approval from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Led Madison Hughes at Captain, the team features 12 starters, one alternate and two traveling reserves.
Seven of the 12 starters competed at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 where the United States men fell shy of the medal rounds by a points differential of one.
The Tokyo-bound squad features a wealth of experience with athletes who racked up many accolades over the years. Four players have made more than 50 appearances in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series including Captain Hughes, Danny Barrett, Carlin Isles and Folau Niua.
Ainu'u Knows Where He Comes From, and Where He's Going
Still only 21 years old, David Ainu'u comes into the USA team a veteran.
The product of the Liberty Patriots program in Washington state, Ainu'u was a champion when he was 14 years old, leading the Washington Loggers select side to a Youth win at the Great Northwest Challenge (see photo of him with Salty Thompson). His rise since then has been meteoric. In the last seven years he has gone from a quiet, soft-spoken, relatively short 14-year-old prop into a confident, still-soft-spoken professional.
Gold, Campbell Look at Lessons Learned Against Top-Ranked Opponents
USA Men's 15s Head Coach Gary Gold and new captain Bryce Campbell sat down with reporters in a virtual press conference Thursday and gave some thoughts to the challenge they face on Sunday against England.
The Eagles haven't played in over 18 months, but England was one of their most recent opponents. GRR asked both Gold and Campbell about what they learned from that meeting with England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. And, yes, we know this is a far less experienced England team in this British & Irish Lions Tour year, but that's just the way of the rugby world, and Gold addresses this anyway.
Gold said it wasn't really that recently that the Eagles have played anyone, and England has played about a dozen test matches since then.
Which Campbell Had the Better June?
Which Campbell had the better June?
Bryce Campbell was named USA Men's 15s captain, but his brother, Jacob, helped coach Thunder Rugby to a Boys HS Club National Championship. Both played their HS rugby at Royal Irish (one of the teams Thunder beat on the way to the title), and we decided to ask the two who had the better month.
Bryce started laughing at the question.
"I thought this one might come," he said. "It’s amazing what my brother Jacob has done with that group. I’d give this one to him. His team struggled to get recognition and had a tough time getting into the National tournament. Then they won the whole thing. It’s an inspiration. The impact that he’s making on those kids lives and in the rugby community is really special and I’m so lucky to have a brother that is such a good role model."
What would Jacob think?
USA Names Lineup to Face England 4th of July
LONDON, UK – USA Men's 15s Head Coach Gary Gold has named his match-day 23 to face World No. 3 England on Sunday at Twickenham.
Kickoff is 9 AM ET and will be live-streamed on florugby.com. The fixture marks the first time the Eagles have assembled since Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, which was also the last time they met the Eddie Jones-coached side in the opening match of group play.
USA Women Assembly to Wrap Up with Stars vs Stripes Clash
GLENDALE, Colo. (USA Rugby Release) – The USA Women’s 15s National Team is halfway through its second daily training environment (DTE) assembly of 2021 at the RugbyTown National Training Center in Glendale, Colo., and will close out with a Stars vs Stripes game presented by sponsor DAC.
The matchup is closed to fan attendance but will be streamed live fon the USA Rugby Facebook page. A closed-door scrimmage between the sides will also take place earlier in the week. With the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand just over a year away and a test match series expected this fall, Stars vs Stripes offers another opportunity for pool players to spotlight their game through a competitive 80 minutes.
Guerra, Other Eagle Newbies Ready to Make Their Mark
Maybe in a sense everyone in assembly with the USA National Team is a newbie, seeing as the 15s Eagles haven’t come together since thy played their final game of the Rugby World Cup in Mid-October 2019.
Now here we are, more than 20 months later, back talking about international test matches. For some players, such as Andrew Guerra, though, this is a new experience. One of 11 uncapped players in England preparing to meet the RWC runners-up on July 4, Guerra and his newbie cohorts are getting a crash course in the life of an international player.
Injuries Force Eagle Changes; Campbell Gets Captaincy
USA Men's 15s Head Coach Gary Gold has confirmed changes for USA's against England on July 4 and Ireland on July 10.
Both matches will be streamed LIVE on florugby.com in the USA.
With AJ MacGinty out injured, Bryce Campbell has been named captain. Campbell made his debut for the USA in 2016 against Romania and has since made 32 test appearances for the United States. Most recently, the 2017 Rudy Scholz Award-winner from Indiana University played in Rugby World Cup 2019, scoring the Eagles lone try against England in the opening match. Campbell played his high school rugby for Royal Irish in Indiana.
Eagle Women Shine Brightly in Quest for Gold
A primed and confident USA women's team swept through the competition at the Quest for Gold to take the cup.
The Eagles beat Great Britain three times and Jamaica once (they ended up not playing Mexico), and then finished off with a 12-12 tie with Great Britain in the final.
The USA team played solid defense, holding their opposition to eight tries, and showed some serious ability to create team tries. Naya Tapper logged three tries in a 24-14 defeat of Great Britain early on Saturday, Cheta Emba and Ilona Maher started to take control of the physical contest, and the team's restarts were very strong.
Kristi Kirshe remains an attacking threat, and other players started to play strong team rugby.
As a result, the USA team looked cohesive, resilient, and, potentially, medal materials.
Eagle Men Up and Down at Quest for Gold
It was an up-and-down day for the USA men in the Quest for Gold.
The Eagles once again moved around their lineup and at times looked like all kinds of trouble against Argentina and Great Britain, but consistency was, no surprise, not quite there.
The USA team lost to Argentina 31-19 and Great Britain 29-10, before beating Korea 24-7 to finish the weekend 3-3.
"It's something that we need right now," said USA player Stephen Tomasin about moving around the lineup. "It's not like we've had a regular season where we get to play 60 games with one or two or three different lineups."
Even regulars over the last few years haven't had a lot of game time.
"This is the first time some of those guys have played since Vancouver last year so it's important for us to try different combinations."
USA Men Still Work To Do in Quest for Gold
It was a relatively good day and certainly an educational day for the USA men's 7s team in the Quest for Gold.
They emerged winners against Korea 42-7 but even there the players will have identified areas where they could improve performance.
In their second game, against Great Britain, the USA team looked pretty unstoppable for the first part of the game, playing good defense and seeing Folau Niua set up Perry Baker for a long run.
Madison Hughes set up Niua for a try also and Danny Barrett finally for running.
But with an injury to Hughes and a change in lineup the USA started to falter, and Great Britain took a 21-19 lead with time winding down.
USA Women Show Well in Q4G Opening Day
The USA women have looked impressive in their opening two games of the Quest for Gold tournament.
Heavily favored against Jamaica, the Eagles did what can be very difficult to do, and lived up to those expectations. With the restarts working nicely and Abby Gustaitis winning ball, the Eagles moved the ball nicely from side to side and a storming run from Naya Tapper set her up to offload to Kristi Kirshe for the opening try.
Kirshe blazed through for her second moments later, and she was on hand to cap off a simple pass down the line for her third.
Ilona Maher then took over the charge through for two, and the Eagles rolled from there, with Tapper getting three in the second half, and Ariana getting her first. Nicole Heavirland and Kris Thomas also went over in a 71-0 rout in which Jamaica got nary a sniff.
USA Men Start Quest for Gold: Everything's Into It
The USA men started their Quest For Gold tournament with a 42-7 defeat of Korea where they weren't perfect, but got the job done.
Head Coach Mike Friday ran out a relatively inexperienced group, along with some players coming back from injury. They scored early, but then a turnover gifted Korea a try. The experienced Patrick Blair then took matters into his own hands to use Perry Baker as a decoy and gallop in from long range. After that, tries from Perry Baker on a nifty chip-and-chase, Gavan D'Amore-Morrison, and Brett Thompson paced the USA to a big win.
For Blair, though, there was more to assess than the win.
