Head Coach Shawn Pittman has selected 26 Men’s Eagles prospects to travel and compete across two matches in Uruguay as the USA Falcons.
The first game will be against Uruguay XV on Thursday, October 13 and the second will be against Argentina XV on Tuesday, October 18. Live streaming details have yet to be confirmed by event organizers.
This is part of a two-tour October preparing a large amount of players for the Rugby World Cup Final Qualifier Tournament. A USA team will be touring South Africa at the same time.
USA Falcons to South Africa, Selects to Uruguay in Qualifier Warmups
“I think it will be a positive experience for these young guys," said Pittman, who was capped 30 times by the USA at prop. "As a group, we spoke about what success looks like and I feel like we have some serious buy-in to what we’re trying to achieve on this short tour.”
The tournament also acts as an extension of the development partnership between USA Rugby and Major League Rugby (MLR) as the large majority of those selected are currently competing or committed with MLR clubs for the upcoming 2023 season. Chris Bauman and Jason Damm will bring senior national team experience and leadership to the squad as capped USA Eagles, while Ethan McVeigh joins right after his invite to Gary Gold’s senior squad camp in Glendale, Colo. last month.
Gold said in his interview with Goff Rugby Report that the split of the two touring sides was mostly on experience lines, but added that there were some players going to Uruguay who were put on that team mainly to ensure they got playing time and Gold and his staff could see them play.
