USA Men to Host Romania, Scotland in July USA Rugby had confirmed that two test matches will be held in July as part of the 2024 American Series. The Eagle men will host Romania in Chicago on Friday, July 5 and Scotland in Washington DC on Friday, July 12. Produced in partnership with AEG Rugby as event delivery partner, the two events join a pair of USA vs Canada fixtures with the Women (April 28th) and Men (August 31st) in Los Angeles at Dignity Health Sports Park, all rounding out the 2024 American Series. Tickets for the Romania and Scotland match will be available for presale to the USA Rugby Membership on Thursday, March 21 with tickets then open to the general public on Friday, March 22. Presale details will be delivered to USA Rugby Members via email and general public tickets available at usa.rugby/tickets.
USA U20 Women Candidates in Winter Camp
The USA Women’s U20s program will come together at the end of the year for a winter camp as the USA High Performance Pathways prepares for its 2024 tournaments and continues player development.
Women’s U20s head coach Joel Bonnaud will lead the group of 34 in Marietta, Georgia, focusing on skill development for these players. The group is a combination of prospects transitioning from the U18s pathway and players identified through scouting this past fall.
Focusing on training athletes to prepare for tournament-style work periods, the camp will prepare the team to start 2024 with a pool of players on the same page.
USA U18 Boys Take 6th at Global Youth Sevens
The USA U18 Boys finished 6th at the Global Youth 7s in Auckland, New Zealand, dropping two games on the final day of competition.
Pool play started poorly as the team seemed a bit disjointed and committed some silly penalties in a 38-19 loss to Asian Dragons. But that was a bit of the wakeup call for the Americans. They turned around the pretty much dominate Iron Armour Academy and Pakuranga. Leading the way were James Rose (Green Bay Rugby), who showed a nice combination of power and rugby IQ, and San Diego Mustang Spencer Huntley, who worked very hard on defense and as a result found himself with scoring chances.
Monarch Rugby’s Marco Lapierre showed a nice turn of pace and a sidestep to add to the USA arsenal.
USA U18 Girls 5th at Global Youth Sevens
The USA U18 girls took 5th in the Global Youth 7s in Auckland, New Zealand, finsihing the final day with their first loss and then an impressive win.
Pool play went nicely for the USA team. They moved the ball well, showcasing some serious pace on the outside and running the attack through flyhalf and Knightmare Rugby (Rugby PA) standout Bella Voegal. Long Island University speedster Koris Fields was excellent in space, while the likes of Chloe de Leon (Carmel Rugby, Indiana) and Dartmouth’s Paula Almeida were giving defenses fits in the middle.
The USA ran through pool play with two major blowout victories and a closer struggle with the Australia Cavaliers, which they won 22-12.
In the Round of 16 the USA faced fellow American team Belmont Shore which had done very well to make it into the top knockout bracket.
Big US Presence in Global Youth Sevens
The Global Youth Sevens Auckland, NZ event is set to kick off tonight USA time.
Three North American boys teams and three North American girls teams are slated for the U18 event.
USA Rugby has a boys and a girls team in action.
Scouting, Funding, and the USA U18 Boys 7s Team
USA U18 Girls Picked to Play in World School 7s
The Barhaven Scottish team from Canada (Barhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ont.) have sent a boys team and Belmont Shore from Long Beach, Calif. have also sent a boys team as well as a girls team. Along with Belmont Shore and USA girls, Pasefika, a touring side from Hawai'i, joins the girls competition.
USA Men Finally Find a Victory at Cape Town
It was a difficult time in Cape Town for the USA Men's 7s team, as they ended up winning exactly one game all weekend, getting that in the final match to take 9th out of 12.
Day Two Games: USA vs Great Britain
The men looked to right the wrongs from Day 1, coming up against a bewildered GB team. The restart's receive woes continued for team USA as GB kicked over their pods and contested extremely well.
Eagle Women 4th in Cape Town
The USA women's 7s team finished 4th at the Cape Town 7s, winning their first game on Day Two but running into a wall against the top Southern Hemisphere teams.
USA vs Great Britain Cup Quarterfinal
USA opened the competition with the first match of the day facing up against a spirited GB side. The USA were called to action defensively as they had to weather the GB offensive storm for multiple phases. The Eagles did well to communicate defensively and even held GB up over the line after multiple phases.
Winless Day in Cape Town for USA Men
The USA men went 0-3 on Day One in Cape Town.
USA vs Ireland (Hamiltons Field)
USA opened the match with a clear intent to carry the ball into contact however Ireland found themselves up to the task. With a couple of loose passes and handling errors creeping in, in the first half, the USA quickly found themselves on the back foot. Ireland looked to exploit the space in behind the Eagles and a regathered kick and excellent footwork by the Irish led to them going ahead 7-0.
The US looked to restore momentum with a good turnover by Pinkelman, however their scrum strike plays seemed not to faze the Irish. A penalty at the ruck led to a quick-tap by the Irish and veteran Jordan Cornoy ran in for their second (14-0).
USA Women 2-1 in Cape Town
The USA Women's 7s team finished a 2-1 day in Cape Town, ...
Canada vs USA (Hamiltons Field)
The USA started off with two solid minutes of resolute defense, biding their time to strike. They drew first blood off the base of the scrum with halfback Alena Olsen running in untouched followed by Nicole Heavirland's conversion for a 7-0 lead.
With Canada suffering from kickoff errors and the Cape Town wind providing being tough to gauge, the USA used their scrum platform to great effect, running in two more tries off the base of scrums. They scored this way twice off four possessions in the first half, with Naya Tapper running in for the Eagles' second try and a 14-0 lead.
Consistency, Restarts, and X-Factor Needed for 7s Eagle Men
USA Men's 7s Head Coach Mike Friday acknowledged that the 2023-24 SVNS opener in Dubai was up and down for the Eagles.
Consistency, and perhaps a little personal accountability, were the watchwords.
Tickets for the Los Angeles 7s stop in the SVNS world cricuit are on sale now!
"There is a little bit of reflection and recognizing that as a young, developing squad, you can only be deemed young for so long," Friday told GRR correspondent Hanno Van Vuuren. As the Eagles get set to face Ireland, Great Britain, and South Africa in Cape Town, they know it won't get any easier.
It's going to be tough, said Friday, "but you need to stay in that arm wrestle."
Eagle Teams Have Slow SVNS Start in Dubai
The USA men and women opened their SVNS seasons in Dubai with some up-and-down performances.
USA Women
The women opened the tournament with a shutout victory over Spain, but two late tries from Canada's Charity Williams saw the second game slip away 15-10.
They finished pool play getting slammed France 38-5.
The Eagles still made the quarterfinals but were beaten comprehensively by Australia 32-5. before finishing the tournament with a 38-7 victory over Brazil for 7th.
So, for a team that has Olympic medal aspirations, not the greatest start.
Dubai Kicks Off SVNS and Olympic Prep
The newly-re-branded SVNS series, World Rugby’s world sevens circuit, kicks off in Dubai this weekend with both the USA Women and USA Men in action.
For the women, this is an experienced and talented group that is likely to be very similar to the roster for Paris 2024.
Hard-charging stars such as Alev Kelter and Ilona Maher combine nicely with finishers such as Jaz Gray, Sam Sullivan, and Ariana Ramsey. The Eagles won Gold at the recent Pan-Am Games and at that tournament we saw Cheta Emba take another step forward in her impressive run of form, and Spiff Sedrick take full advantage of the extra playing time she received. Naya Tapper and Lauren Doyle captain the side which also has veteran leaders like Kris Thomas and Nicole Heavirland.
RMA Podcast: Scott Lawrence After Spain
USA Men's 15s Interim Head Coach and Interim Men's HP GM Scott Lawrence sat down with Alex Goff of GRR for the latest Ruggamatrix America podcast episode.
The USA Men's 15s just came off winning the Vila International Cup, beating Brazil 48-3 and Spain 42-12, and Goff spoke with Lawrence about the USA's style of play, how they prepared for the tournament in Spain, and, most importantly, what his vision is for the next steps.
USA Rugby Tags Brandon Sparks as Women's High Performance Manager
GLENDALE, Colo. (USA Rugby Press Release)– Continuing to build structure and foundation for the USA Rugby National Teams and High Performance Pathways, USA Rugby today announced the appointment of Brandon Sparks as Head of Women’s High Performance, a role responsible for oversight and development of the Women’s XVs and Sevens programs.
From the Women’s Senior National Teams to Junior National Teams and player pathway talent identification, the addition of Sparks brings increased expertise and resources to an ongoing development plan for women’s rugby in the United States. With long-term goals expected to enrich the Eagles platform alongside collegiate and women’s professional rugby, Sparks and the renewed USA Rugby High Performance department look forward to positive progress as the LA2028 Olympics and Rugby World Cup 2033 shine bright ahead.
USA Dominantes to Win La Vila International Cup
The USA Men’s Eagles won the La Vila International Rugby Cup, clinching the trophy with a 42-12 final win over hosts Spain.
Led by captain Nate Brakeley, who had announced his retirement from international rugby, the Eagles overcame a shaky start Saturday to control the match. Chris Mattina, who was strong in support and from the boot, scored five points from a conversion and a penalty goal, earned himself Player of the Match honors.
“Happy for the men that we were able to show improvement again over the previous week, and a big credit to the assistant coaches for preparing them and Alex Ross in getting us to a level of conditioning that we need to be to play in zero G," said Interim Head Coach Scott Lawrence.
