Eagle Men To Assemble in Charlotte Before Summer Tour

With the USA Men’s Eagles returning to assembly on July 16, Interim Head Coach and General Manager Scott Lawrence has selected 33 names to gather in Charlotte, NC for a preparatory camp ahead of the upcoming August tour.

Of the players invited, 18 are uncapped at the senior international level, with 14 venturing to their first Men’s Eagles camp. Marking the official beginning of the program’s journey to Rugby World Cup 2027, Lawrence has put a focus on development and identification during this training camp and tour. With the August tour scheduled against three teams within seven positions of the USA on the World Rugby rankings, the three-match series will set a quality stage for the prospective new players. 30 of the Charlotte camp invites will be selected to the traveling squad departing for Romania at the end of the two-week camp.

This being a Rugby World Cup year, August is not in the Regulation 9 window. As a result, professional clubs in Europe do not have to release players to international teams and, since many will be releasing players for World Cup duty, they are quite motivated to ensure they have the services of any American players they have signed on.

Several players who would be expected to be in the player list are either contracted with overseas clubs or are injured. They include: Ben Bonasso, Ben Landry, Bryce Campbell, Chance Wenglewski, Connor Mooneyham, Cory Daniel, David Ainu'u, Devin Short, Hanco Germishuys, Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz, Jason Damm, Kapeli Pifeleti, Mike Dabulas, Mike Sosene-Feagai, Paul Lasike, and Tesimoni Tonga'uiha. Their absence has afforded the chance for young players and those who have been knocking on the door for a while to get a look.

USA captain AJ MacGinty is one of those overseas players but an effort is afoot to make him available for this assembly. 

Regardless, the USA is slated to face Romania in Bucharest on August 5, Portugal in Algarve on August 12, and then Georgia in Tbilisi on August 19.

“We’re looking forward to bringing some fresh faces into this learning environment where the Eagles will face some very good teams who are fully loaded with maximum time together preparing for the World Cup," said Lawrence. "The senior players who will mentor and lead the team are committed Eagles who we believe will feed off the energy of competition and excitement of their new teammates and will serve the team in expanded roles throughout the campaign. Our expectation is that by August 21st we will have identified a group who love the pressure of the test environment, work hard for each other and bring energy to a distinctly American game plan. This is the single biggest challenge I’ve been a part of in our national teams and the collective staff are excited to take the challenge head on with this group.”