The USA women's 15s team will face off with Australia under the lights Friday night at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.; kickoff at 8:00pm CT.
This has become a hotly-contested matchup, as witnessed by the 31-31 tie at the Rugby World Cup.
Both sides came out of that match thinking they should have won.
The game will be shown live on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network. Limited tickets are still available at https://usa.rugby/pac4. CPKC Stadium was where a record crowd of 10,518 watched the Eagle women play last year.
USA Head Coach Jack Hanratty's squad showed fairly well against New Zealand, and so it's no surprise that the coach has made only a few changes. The starting 15 is unchanged, but Hanratty does bring in Paige Stathopoulos and previous Sorensen Award contender out of Central Washington, Tessa Hann, who joins the set up from the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens program.
“Last week we wanted to showcase that we could score from different areas of the game," said Hanratty. "We showed glimpses of that but we definitely want more. The starting team has remained unchanged allowing the group to build on the good and have a redo of what needs to be better. Australia and the USA seem to be growing a rivalry. Last year's RWC tie was likely one of the Games of the tournament but it was still a tie and I know both sides will be targeting this as a win.
“We had some exciting moments last week, but the aim is creating consistent momentum on both sides of the ball. We are trying to compete everyday at training - not just on match day. Paige comes in as a consistent perfumer in the Eagles jersey and with Lightning this year. Although Tessa was a late addition into our traveling squad Tessa has been performing week in and out as part of the Sevens program - also showcasing an exciting development of more fluid movement between the programs to allow for the athletes to chase results not just as Sevens or XVs but as Eagles.”
