LONDON, UK – USA Men's 15s Head Coach Gary Gold has named his match-day 23 to face World No. 3 England on Sunday at Twickenham.

Kickoff is 9 AM ET and will be live-streamed on florugby.com.  The fixture marks the first time the Eagles have assembled since Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, which was also the last time they met the Eddie Jones-coached side in the opening match of group play. 

The squad features 351 cumulative test caps with the roster predominantly stacked with domestic Major League Rugby talent. Three of those players include flanker Riekert Hattingh (Seawolves), flyhalf Luke Carty (Giltinis), and wing Mika Kruse (Warriors), who will all make their national team debut as starters. In all, 13 of the 23 players have World Cup experience which adds a valuable balance to the new faces in the group. 

While England presents a hugely difficult task, especially after a long absence in competitive international games, the opportunity to test new players is invaluable as this new cycle begins. Facing the Rugby World Cup 2019 silver medalists on their home field exposes up-and-coming talent to the rigors of facing the world’s top-ranked nations.

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The Men’s Eagles have not played England at Twickenham since 1999, a game they lost 106-8. In their last meeting in Japan, the English defeated the Americans 45-7 with current Captain Bryce Campbell scoring the USA’s lone try. 

Matches against highly ranked nations are usually few and far between in the meat of a World Cup cycle. Despite the challenge ahead, the USA team needs such encounters to build meaningful depth in its player pool as the United States looks ahead to the potential of a US-hosted World Cup. 

“We’ve had a good few days in England getting the guys back together with a number of productive training sessions under our belts," said Gold. "For us, the important thing is to ensure our younger players are exposed to this quality of competition early and often in their playing career. As we look ahead to World Cup qualification against Canada and now two test matches against Ireland, we are confident we will see the experience of these games pay dividends heading into the next two World cup cycles.” 

The United States and England face off on Independence Day, July 4, at 9 AM Eastern Time. A live stream is available on FloRugby.com exclusively in the USA. 

England has not named its lineup yet, but has named a squad for the USA and Canada tests that includes 23 uncapped players. This is not uncommon in a British & Irish Lions tour year, to see a relatively inexperienced Tier 1 lineup face the Eagles.

Campbell captains the USA for the first time, with, as stated above, Hattingh, Carty, and Kruse making their debuts. Prop Matt Harmon and scrumhalf Michael Baska could also get their first caps if they come off the bench.

There aren't many other major changes from what the USA might be expected to field, with fixtures such as Greg Peterson and Nick Civetta, Cam Dolan, and Marcel Brache all in the starting lineup. Of note, Joe Taufete'e is on the bench in favor of Mikey Sosene-Feagai at hooker. This could well be a reflection of how much playing time these players have had, with Taufete'e not getting a lot of time at Lyon.

Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz being chosen over flankers Hanco Germishuys and Psalm Wooching may well be just a choice based on form.