The troubles for the USA pack, and especially the lineout, are not as troublesome as fans might be following the Eagles’ 47-10 loss to Australia.

While Scott LaValla is out with a broken elbow, Hayden hasn’t played since July, and Cam Dolan, Al McFarland, and Samu Manoa all left the game with apparent injuries, all save LaValla will be ready to play soon.

Smith could potentially have played on Saturday, but Head Coach Mike Tolkin decided to hold the Saracens second row out just to keep him safe. Dolan and Manoa both sustained arm stingers that are not long-term problems. McFarland was taken off with a suspected concussion, but it’s not considered especially serious.

What that means is the USA forward pack that will face Samoa in less than two weeks to open the Rugby World Cup will have all of its weapons in the lineout available. This is crucial given the two muffed attacking lineouts the Eagles had against Australia. On one of those, John Quill won the ball at the back and tried to present the ball to a trailing forward bonding on, but no one took it, and the ball rolled away for a knock-on. A couple of penalties later the Wallabies had lifted the siege and scored.

The second lineout appeared to be a less-than-perfect lift by Danny Barrett and, to a lesser extent, Greg Peterson, on Lou Stanfill. The result was Stanfill couldn’t reach what appeared to be a perfect throw from Phil Thiel, and Australia recovered the loose ball and scored from 93 meters out.

Proper execution on those lineouts could have resulted in tries, and we might conceivably be looking at a final score of 33-22 - still an Australian win, but a different story nonetheless.

Going into the World Cup, all of the Eagles’ set piece weapons need to be available and usable.