More Big Rocks to Move for Eagles Against Zimbabwe

07.10.2026Eagles

USA training in Charlotte.

Author: Alex Goff

What are the big rocks this week?

Last week the USA Men's 15s looked at tough, disciplined defense, set piece, and the kicking game.

Those were the biggest rocks to move out of the way in constructing the road to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Overall, they did the job. The defense hit that disciplined-but-physical mark in the second half. The Eagles only gave up four penalties in the entire match.

The set piece was ... good and not so good. The lineout could be better, but it wasn't especially weak, either. The scrum? Well it looked very good and is a point of strength for the USA.

"We've made some strides there," said USA Head Coach Scott Lawrence. "I think having Jack [Iscaro] back in the squad has been nice. He's improved his scrummaging, but I think that becomes infectious amongst the group. I think we've also we've got second rows in the squad now that legitimately like to scrum."

Going into the game against Portugal the Eagles weren't quite sure where their scrum matched up against a Portuguese side that had done very well vs Spain in that area.

But, "once we figured it out and figured out what was working, then we just went back to it."

Saturday, the Eagles basically have three props in the front row. Alex Maughan is a combo tighthead prop and hooker, and he gives the front row a little extra.

"The fact that he can play tighthead and hooker, it gives you three props in the front row, and, you know, on a wet and slippery humid night in North Carolina,, having a strong scrum isn't such a bad thing," said Lawrence.

As for the kicking game, yes the Eagles got burned on grubbers early, but they stopped that from being a problem afterward. The kick exchanges didn't hurt the Eagles, and kicking from the tee? Well Chris Hilsenbeck was perfect.

Hilsenbeck is a USA player but his German background came through in those clutch situations. He was calm, even after kicking the game-winner. He told his captain, Jason Damm, that he wasn't worried about that final kick because there were more than two minutes left in the match.

"If I miss this, were going to get it back and I'm going to get another shot at it."

"He was just very matter-of-fact about it," said Damm.

OK, so looking ahead to this week, the Big Rocks are a little different. Without being complacent, the Eagles can probably expect to be stronger than Zimbabwe in the scrum. They will expect to hold their own in the kicking game. They will need to be on-point on defense, but more importantly, they will need to avoid silly turnovers that a speedy Sables side can exploit.

"This week we need to focus on being clinical coming out of our own half, control and connection and defense, and then we really need to generate more speed of ball, and we'll we'll do that with ... playing with a little bit more depth this week. So I think those are the those are the three big rocks for us going into the into the next game."

Control and connection on defense goes hand-in-hand with managing the transition game on turnovers. And clinical exits means kicking to touch so emphatically that the ball goes into the stands and Zimbabwe can't go quick.

And then the players do the rest, and sometimes that's all about tenacity.

"There are a lot of things we can improve on," said Damm. "There are a lot of areas that were sloppier than we want them to be. But the boys just kept fighting; they stayed in the fight, and I think you'll notice in some of those tough moments how well the team stuck together and and stayed connected."

They'll need that in Charlotte.