Eagle Women Look to Spain, Canada at End of March
Eagle Women Look to Spain, Canada at End of March
The USA Women's 15s team will play Canada in their 2023 Pacific Four Series opener next month.
This year, the Series will take place over three international-play windows and kicks off with a classic opening-round fixture between Canada and USA in Madrid, Spain. The USA’s traveling squad will meet in Madrid to also play Spain in a lead-up match prior to the Canada game, as the women’s 15s 2023 season takes off. Broadcast details are to be confirmed.
The World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2023 schedule works within women’s domestic and international competition calendars for 2023. The cross-regional international competition also acts as one of the principal annual qualification routes for the top two tiers of WXV, with the top three teams qualifying for WXV 1 and the fourth-placed team securing a place in WXV 2. The host locations for WXV will be announced next month.
“The Pacific Four Series continues to provide more consistent, annual international playing opportunities for Australia, USA, Canada and New Zealand," said World Rugby Head of Women’s Competitions, Alison Hughes. “We have worked closely and collaboratively with competing nations and host unions to optimize the existing women’s international and domestic calendar for this year’s Pacific Four Series. With a significant number of USA and Canada players based in Europe, playing round one of the Pacific Four Series 2023 in April takes advantage of the extended break these players would have faced while the domestic competitions in England and France pause for the Women’s Six Nations. We are delighted to be bringing the Pacific Four Series to new territories, including Spain in Madrid and hosting the final two rounds in Canada.”
USA Interim Head Coach Rich Ashfield has also announced the Women’s Eagles traveling roster of 30 for the first leg of the 2023 Pacific Four Series. Spain will play host to the first stop, where the USA will play a test match against the host country on March 25 and then meet Canada for the Series opener on April 1. The Spain match will be the first reassembly for the Eagles since the Rugby World Cup, played in New Zealand last fall.
Ashfield Takes Eagle Helm and Looks to Stabilize the Ship
Australia and New Zealand will play in the second round of the series in June, hosted by New Zealand. The four teams will then reunite in Canada for the final stop in early July (dates to be announced). Host locations will be announced next month. This is the third time the Women’s Eagles will play in the Pacific Four Series, first hosting in 2021. The squad finished 1-2 in the series last June, which included a 16-14 win over Australia.
“We’ve identified a promising pool of players from various different pathways so this is an exciting time to kick off a new cycle as we look to build toward 2025," said Ashfield. "These upcoming fixtures will be a great opportunity to get some talented age grade players exposure to what it is like to play with the senior side. I’m also looking forward to seeing a couple of sevens players involved in 15s again, as well as some solid WPL players that we plan on bringing into the mix. In addition to delivering some great rugby, my goal is to build a strong foundation and depth of players leading up to 2025.”
There are several changes between this group of 30 players and the 32 sent to the 2021 (2022) World Cup. Twelve players, including six uncapped players, are set for Spain who did not play in the RWC in New Zealand. Fourteen players who were on the World Cup squad are not in this group, with injury, retirement, and switching to 7s all being reasons why. Just flat not being picked is also a reason, and it's worth noting that two of those players, prop Charli Jacoby and center Katana Howard, are on the injury reserve list.
Kate Zachary returns as captains and Hope Rogers returns as basically the USA's best player.
The Eagles’ test match against Spain will be the first time the two teams meet on the pitch in 15s. They have played several times in 7s.
Of the 30 players picked by Ashfield, 20 play professionally overseas in the UK. Of that group, four player for Exeter, which leads the English Premiership with an 11-1 record, and five play for the DMP Sharks, which sit 9th (out of 10) at 2-10.
