The Eagles’ selections for Monday’s Pacific Nations Cup finale day will be a commentary on where Head Coach Mike Tolkin thinks his players stand.

With three more games left after Monday, Tolkin still has some opportunities to test players on the bubble - that will most likely happen against Harlequins in Chester, Pa. Monday is more about showing us who he thinks are his starters.

The rotation at hooker seems set and despite Phil Thiel’s throwing issues against Tonga, both he and Zach Fenoglio look solid.

At prop it seems like the scrum is good when Eric Fry and Titi Lamositele are in there, and not as strong without them. 

At lock, Greg Peterson had his best game for the USA against Tonga, and is making strides, and with Hayden Smith playing well, things are looking good there. Lou Stanfill has played only about 20 minutes, but he was doing fine until he hyperextended his elbow against Tonga. 

More on second row in the back row section.

Back Row. So no Todd Clever, but Scott LaValla, Danny Barrett, Andrew Durutalo, John Quill, and Cam Dolan have all done just fine - anywhere from good to really good. With LaValla and Dolan also able to play lock, and with Samu Manoa still set to join the team later this month, the back five seems almost set. If only someone could emerge with some big moments … like Al McFarland. And in fact, that’s exactly what McFarland has done. The lock/flanker area is probably the USA’s best spot.

Halfback. Mike Petri looks like the better option here simply because he gets the ball out faster. Nothing wrong with Shalom Suniula, but we might well see Niku Kruger, as reports are that the former Kutztown University captain has the goods.

Flyhalf. AJ MacGinty not only has it, he showed how he can make adjustments, changing his approach against Samoa at halftime and helping the USA win that 40 minutes. Toby L’Estrange has so many skills, but it’s not translating at the international level, and it seems like his confidence is undercutting him, making offensive decisions and execution too slow. So, to us, it looks as if MacGinty and Suniula are the players at flyhalf, meaning there is room for Kruger at scrumhalf.

Tolkin's quote on the flyhalf situation was this: "AJ has taken the position by the horns." 

Center. While Andrew Suniula seemed quiet in the loss against Tonga, it was partly because the team’s continuity suffered. Defensively he was solid and the Eagles still have four good centers.

Wing. Zack Test got a lot accomplished against Tonga and it seems he might have shown he can handle the reduced space in 15s. Brett Thompson, in his first rugby game in anger since November, was up and down, but mostly up.

Fullback. Troy Hall did almost everything he could do to show he’s a competent fullback on a team that has two other players ahead of him on the depth chart. As Hall said so himself, however, he is versatile, and that’s a good thing.

So it looks as if Test, McFarland, Peterson, and Durutalo have seen their stock rise significantly. Fenoglio and Hall’s stocks have risen a little. 

For Monday, we will likely see a return to the lineup that approximates the lineup that faced Japan, which was:

1. Eric Fry; 2. Zach Fenoglio; 3. Titi Lamositele; 4. Hayden Smith; 5. Cameron Dolan; 6. Scott LaValla; 7. Andrew Durutalo; 8. Danny Barrett; 9. Mike Petri; 10. AJ MacGinty; 11. Takudzwa Ngwenya; 12. Thretton Palamo; 13. Seamus Kelly; 14. Blaine Scully; 15. Chris Wyles (C)

It’s possible Peterson could get another start at lock if Tolkin wants a little more meat on the scrum’s bones against Canada. Thiel might well start at hooker instead of Fenoglio, and John Quill should get the start over Andrew Durutalo at #7. In the backs, we might see Andrew Suniula at inside center instead of Thretton Palamo. 

On the bench, Durutalo - who has scored three tries on zero meters run in two games - McFarland could well make the bench, too. Zack Test will almost certainly make the bench, and Kruger might well make it to the reserves list later, but not right now.

Notes: There's some rumor going around that the door remains open for Todd Clever to return to the team. It is true that selections will be re-done for the Canada-Harlequins-Australia trio of games. But that doesn't mean everything starts over, and with how well the back-rowers are playing, we'll see.

Samu Manoa is expected to be part of the squad for the final three pre-World Cup games.