USA Men's 15s Hed Coach Gary Gold has made a couple of changes for his lineup as the Eagles face Portugal Friday in Dubai for the final spot in Rugby World Cup 2023.
It's winner take all as both Portugal and the USA are 2-0 in the Final Qualifier Tournament.
Games so far:
USA 68
Tries: Fawsitt 3, Fa'anana-Schultz, Dyer 3, Augspurger, Sosene Feagai, Wilson
Convs: Carty 4, MacGinty 5
Kenya 14
Tries: Juma, Weru
Convs: Mukidza 2
Portugal 42
Tries: Madeira, Storti 2, Morais, Marta, Lima
Convs: Marques 6
Hong Kong 14
Tries: Port, Neville
Convs: McNeish 2
Portugal 85
Tries:Tadjer 3, Cardoso Pinto, Lima, V Pinto 2, Appleton 2, Rebelo Andrade, Belo, Campergue
Convs: Marques 7, Portela, Sousa Guedes
Kenya 0
USA 49
Tries: Fa'anana-Schultz, Pifeleti, Augspurger 2, Dolan, Wilson Tonga'uiha
Convs: MacGinty 6, Carty
Hong Kong 7
Tries: Worley
Convs: Cumming
Bryce Campbell comes in at outside center for Marcel Brache after Brache picked up a calf injury in training.
"Bryce is a season campaigner and has performed well for us in the past and it's really just next man up," Gold told GRR. While acknowledging that injuries can be frustrating, Gold also accepted that the Eagles have been fairly fortunate during this Final Qualifier Tournament when it comes to injuries.
"Injuries are part of the game," said Gold. "[But] after the game on Sunday morning we evaluated where we are and it was pretty miraculous, to go through such a series o games and have our frontline players fairly healthy is definitely good."
CC Mahoni also sits out with an injury, and those two knocks open up a space for Tavite Lopeti on the bench and Benjamin Borasso on the bench among the forwards, also.
Now it all comes to getting the job done. Asked about the large ramifications of winning or losing this game, Gold shrugged those off saying "it's an important game because it's the next game. Right now we're focused on short-term goals and our short-term goal is to win a game on Friday night."
USA Rugby CEO Ross Young does acknowledge the importance of qualifying for RWC 2023 and touted the organization's ability to keep USA-based the players in assembly for several weeks to accomplish the task.
“Assembly time and suitable preparation is always an important factor in the success of a team over 80 short minutes, so we’re grateful to have a support system in MLR during this all-important series," said Young in a USA Rugby release. "We collectively understand the significance of competing in France next year, so working in partnership these last few months has been abundant on the performance so far. MLR and USA Rugby together are enthusiastic to support Gary and the players this weekend in Dubai as we know they’ll represent the rugby community well.”
USA Kicks off vs Portugal on The Rugby Network Friday, Nov. 18 at 10:30AM ET
