USA Men's 15s Head Coach Scott Lawrence has named his side to face Hong Kong China Sunday in the Nations Cup.
The game will be played at Bourg-en-Bresse’s Stade Marcel-Verchère in France and gives a chance for the USA to move to 4-0 in Pool A.
At 1-2 in the competition, Hong Kong might be the underdogs, but it would be a mistake to overlook them, said Lawrence.
"They're pretty exciting, so they they play heads up as you would expect an Andrew Douglas team to be," said Lawrence, referring to Hong Kong's Head Coach. "I wouldn't call it unpredictable, but it's a bit, if space is there they'll take it. So so I think that just makes us button ourselves up in our backfield and run our defensive game."
Oscar Lennon, having been officially captured as a USA player against Austrlaia XV, now gets his first cap. The Welsh-trained American (his father was born in Ohio) makes his debut in part because Ruben de Haas is injured. However, Lennon has been in the USA plans for some time.
"You know, it doesn't matter if it's his first test or his first time in a jersey, he just he just loves the game," said Lawrence. "So we like to watch him play. He plays heads up. He's got good field vision and looks for opportunities, checks short sides really well, and he kicks off both feet, which is really helpful. I think he'll provide us some opportunities to take advantage of some pictures we see that maybe we wouldn't have taken advantage of in the past."
