Vancouver, BC (USA Release)—The USA Women’s Eagles have landed in Vancouver, and prepare for their first WXV 1 matchup against defending champions England. Together for the past two weeks, the squad began their WXV tour with some prep in Seattle before crossing the border to Vancouver.

Kate Zackary returns to captaincy, recovered from an injury to play in her first Eagles game since the team’s win against Australia in May. Hope Rogers also returns to the Eagles roster for the first time since May. A few months after a bronze medal win at the Paris Olympics, Alev Kelter joins the 15s squad as an inside center. Cheta Emba and Kris Thomas also come in from the USA 7s program to start at the wings.

On this week’s roster, Head Coach Sione Fukofuka said, “We welcome back core players to our on and off field leadership in Kate as Captain, Rachel as Vice Captain and Hope as a part of the leadership group. They are all experienced world class players in our forward pack, they have a physical presence and add confidence to the players around them which will be important in WXV, especially against a strong England team. With the addition of Alev, Kris, and Cheta, we add strike power to our backline that we are excited to unleash.”

The USA and England last met on the pitch in September 2022 ahead of the World Cup, where England came away with the win. In their opening WXV 1 match, both teams will be looking to make a statement ahead of the next three weeks.

Fukofuka said of this week’s prep, “The squad has worked really hard on their core skills, set piece and our collision work. We know we are in a performance tournament against the top 4 teams in the world and are excited to test ourselves against the best teams in the world as we continue to build to the World Cup.”

The USA has not beaten England since the 1991 Rugby World Cup final, and they face an England team that is undefeated under Head Coach John Mitchell. Mitchell, of course, is a former Head Coach of the USA men's team. 

This is the USA's first foray into WXV1 as they played in WXV2 last year. They are coming off a victory over Japan, but the Eagles haven't won two games in a row in over seven years.

USA v England kicks off Sunday, September 29, at 3:30pm ET, live on RugbyPass TV.