USA Women's 15s Head Coach Rob Cain has selected his players for the Rugby World Cup.

Dubbed RWC 2021, this is of course being held in 2022 because of a COVID delay. New Zealand hosts and the USA goes into this tournament with a couple of recent wins under its belt, having beaten Australia and Scotland in close contests. But overhauling England and New Zealand has proven more difficult and questions remain as to where the USA will fit in this ever-more-competitive tournament.

Many of Cain's players, and thus the team as a whole, have benefited from professional gigs in the Allianz Premiership in England. There several players, notably Hope Rogers, Kate Zackary, and Alev Kelter have shown themselves to be among the game's best. Several others have also performed at a high level. But that hasn't quite translated into consistent test match victories ... yet. Part of that is due to the high level of opposition—it is a rare thing indeed for the Eagles to play a team ranked below them.

In New Zealand the USA will face Italy, Japan, and archrivals Canada. They are perfectly capable of winning this pool, but certainly the Canada game will be the toughest, although it should be noted that Italy beat Scotland 20-13 earlier this year, a team the USA beat 21-17 in August. So Italy will not be a pushover.

The Rugby World Cup 2021 will consist of three pools of four. The top eight will enter the quarterfinals, so winning the pool or coming second guarantees your team a place in the top eight. The two best third-place teams will also advance. Then it's a knockout bracket with consolation matches as well.

The USA squad includes two Sorensen Award-winners in Hope Rogers and McKenzie Hawkins, plus a 2022 finalist in Eti Haungatau. Of the 32 players picked, 21 currently play overseas. Twenty-six of the 32 played rugby in college with seven of them coming through the Penn State program. Other college programs with more than one player selected are Harvard (three), Lindenwood (two), and Stanford (two). An astounding 16 different colleges are represented on this squad, including: LIfe, Columbia, Utah State, Grand Valley State, BYU, Benedictine, UW-Milwaukee, UCSB, Chico State, Texas A&M, Davenport, and Reed College.

The squad includes two players from Alaksa, in Alev Kelter and Kathryn Treder, with treder being a proud member of the Inupiaq native people of that region.

Kate Zackary will be the captain, a role she has filled 16 times for the USA.

“Heading into a Rugby World Cup as Captain of the USA National Team is not something I ever expected to say," said the USA skipper. "Years ago I didn’t even know what rugby was, so having this opportunity is a huge honor and privilege. I look forward to representing my country, my family and play alongside some of the best players I’ve ever had the privilege of playing with. I hope we make everyone proud.”

“I believe we have selected the right group, to go on and achieve the things that we are aspiring to do," said Cain. "To represent the team, the USA Rugby family on and off the pitch and bring this playing group identity everyone has worked hard on to life. After a big development period learning what the game looked like and where we needed to be. We then spent the last 12 months looking at combinations, refining our playing identity and helping [the players] to understand what their points of difference are and how that comes out within the team. From now it’s really about having absolute clarity in your role, how your ownership and responsibility can come to the front.”

Of the 32 named, nine will return with previous Rugby World Cup experience from 2017, whereas veteran Hope Rogers will travel to Auckland for her third straight tournament after first competing in the 2014 Rugby World Cup. Rogers has shown no sign of slowing down as the Prop comes off a lengthy club season with Exeter and has been the leading try scorer for the USA in the last few test matches.

"Competing in my third World Cup just has me feeling an immense feeling of gratitude," said Rogers, who has been on a try-scoring tear for the USA of late. "Being able to play in the 2014 World Cup at 20 years old because there were people back then who believed in me, I just feel a lot of gratitude towards what I was taught by those people. It is about leaving the jersey better than you found it, so being able to pass it on to some of our young bucks [in their] first World Cup is just really exciting."