The USA Men’s National Team has less than two weeks now before the two-game summer series kicks off.

Head Coach John Mitchell has already made his statement - repeatedly - regarding fitness. Such as:

"We are kidding ourselves if we think we are as fit as we can be, so we have to find a way to bridge our gap in 15s to realistically and authentically compete against Tier One nations,. “We cannot do this without creating a model by where the players take greater ownership for targeting and raising their standards in their total distance covered and high velocity speed percentages daily. We need to find better ways to help the player implement to be in the optimal zone daily through guidance, supervision, and updating their daily work and volume."

Certainly Mitchell has left some players off the current training group because of lack of fitness.

But what else is he trying to do?

Get Depth at Prop

Injuries pounded the Eagles in the Americas Rugby Championship, and they already had depth problems at prop when it happened. Now, with Ben Tarr and Angus MacLellan back healthy, and Titi Lamositele available for both games, John Mitchell is looking at six guys. Interestingly, we don’t have Eric Fry among them, and he appears to have been un-selected on form.

So this is a relatively young group, and it’s unlikely Mitchell will go back to older players. Ben Tarr is 22 and Titi Lamositele is 21, and you might see those guys, and their peers, take over this position for a long time.

Depth at Hooker

Hooker was an even more difficult position to fill, especially after both World Cup #2s were unavailable. No Michelangelo Sosene-Feagai, also, apparently, un-selected on form. Sosene-Feagai is still young, though, and they’re still working with him. James Hilterbrand can certainly be listed as a hooker as well as prop, and he joins Joe Taufete’e and Tom Coolican. It’s a disparate group, with Taufete’e a big runner, while Coolican or more of a harasser and cleanup guy. But the Eagles need to look at more at hooker for someone who can be a game-changer. Set piece if crucial, of course, but we’d like to see a guy who can through consistently and break the line and knock some teeth loose.

The Right Halfback Combination

James Bird started off relatively well at flyhalf in the ARC, but JP Eloff showed some different skills - mostly running skills - that Bird didn’t real have. Bird is more static, Eloff more dynamic. Then Eloff got hurt, and we have another battle for the position, which hasn’t really been settled for more than a few months since 2008. 

AJ MacGinty is probably the #1 choice, but there’s also Bird, Will Holder, and Shalom Suniula. And the question always seems to be, do you pick two guys who are similar in skill set for consistency, or do you find different players to get a different look? 

It will be an interesting battle.

As for scrumhalf, Tom Bliss looked the best of the group in January, but got hurt. Niku Kruger was not picked, so we’re back with Shaun Davies - not capped since 2013 - Nate Augspurger - a mostly 7s guy for quite some time - and Shalom Suniula. It’s a complete change-up from the last group. We like Davies - he has a lot to recommend him. The key is, can whoever the scrumhalf is make his tackles (something we see a lot of #9s forget to do) and get the ball out quickly. Slow ball will kill the Eagles.

Some more Eagles questions to answer:

Is there room enough for all of the loose forwards? Seems like we ask that all the time. Even without the injured Samua Manoa, a back row of Todd Clever, Andrew Durutalo, and Cam Dolan looks really good. Is there room for young try-scorer Aladdin Schirmer, or newcomers Harry Higgins or Tony Lamborn? Maybe on the bench. That test match experience is pretty valuable. But Mitchell has already thrown the dice a few times, so you never know.

What’s going on at lock? Nate Brakeley, James King, Greg Peterson, Brodie Orth, and Dolan are all in an almighty battle to secure the scrum, set the tone physically, and win some lineouts. All have their pros. One wonders if any can match Dolan for his mobility.

What’s going to happen at center? The midfield is a complete guess, even though only Chad London and Thretton Palamo appear to be the only straight-up centers on the list. I kind of think you might see a few surprises here. I wonder if Luke Hume (a wing) or Will Holder (a flyhalf) or Mike Te’o (can play anywhere) might get a look here. Again, don’t be surprised if you’re surprised.