USA Men's 15s Head Coach Scott Lawrence has made several changes to the USA lineup as they look to face Samoa in the 3rd-place game in the Pacific Nations Cup.
While Japan plays Fiji for the championship, and Tonga has already won 5th over Canada. The 3rd-4th game between USA and Samoa will be live on Peacock on Saturday morning at 3AM.
The Eagles are coming off a 21-3 loss to Fiji in the semifinals where they held the Fijians to just three tries (one scored on a fairly clear forward pass) and produced several scoring opportunities, but encourntered errors or bad luck at crucial moments.
Overall, Lawrence was fairly positive about that game.
"I know we back our defensive system, and the way we run it right now," said Lawrence. "The key thing is not to get bored with a team that holds on to the ball. We'll just need to keep our discipline and don't get bored with it, just keep getting off off the line."
When asked about defending the attack, Captain Greg Peterson answered, "We've really looked at this matchup, and what we expect from Samoa. They've got a lot of key players but when it comes to it, we've got a really good defensive plan. In the past two games we haven't gotten as many turnovers as we wanted to, but we spent a little bit extra time and worked hard at it this week. We're sticking to our guns and some the same plan, because we know it's a big area we can make some improvements on."
Injuries to starters Jack Isacro and Nate Augspurger will shift the final roster against Samoa, with Jake Turnbull starting in the loosehead position and Alex Maughan back at tighthead. Mitch Wilson will also move from fullback to wing in place of Augspurger. Wilson primarily plays wing with the New England Free Jacks. Lastly, Flyhalf Luke Carty will jump back in to the #10 jersey. The 2020 Rudy Scholz Award Winner and San Diego Legion prop, Payton Telea, earns his first USA Eagles roster selection, with an opportunity to debut off the bench.
Looking back on the long tour, Lawrence added, "When you're away for seven months, you learn how to communicate with each other. A first it's about getting the big things right, but the more time you spend with each other, the more you realize the details that can be improved. It's like peeling an onion, so to speak. You just keep finding new layers and the best part about sport is that it's a constant improvement environment. We're always looking beyond game play, we're focused on the way we operate, the way we communicate, hold meetings, travel, etc. It's a consistent improvement mentality, all the time."
Lawrence made nine changes to the lineup compared to the starting 15 that faced Fiji. If Telea, who was initially listed as in injury recovery for the PNC assembly, is back from injury and if he takes the field (which is a virtual certainty) he will be the fifth player to make his USA debut during the PNC.
