USA Rugby Announces Squad for Americas Rugby Championship, Gary Gold Interview

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USA Rugby Press Release

LAFAYETTE, CO. – The U.S. Men’s National Team (15s) has selected a full squad of 35-players for the annual Americas Rugby Championship 2019 (ARC) kicking off on Saturday, Feb 2.

Entering the tournament as reigning two-time champions, the Eagles will open the round-robin competition on the road against Chile and Argentina XV before coming home to play Brazil, Uruguay and rival-Canada. Of the five matches played in the tournament, all but one (Argentina XV) will be at the test level.

The USA recently concluded their most successful season in the modern era of the Men’s National Team, winning all five matches in the Americas Rugby Championship 2018 and claiming first-ever wins over then-No. 6 Scotland and Samoa. As the team assembles for their first competition in a World Cup year — aiming to build on the established momentum from last season — the named team will include several key players who return to the national team after some time.

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Two of which are the highly anticipated returns of flyhalf AJ MacGinty and wing Mike Te’o. MacGinty sat out of the Autumn Internationals to recover from injury after being instrumental in the team’s aforementioned upset of Scotland. Te’o sustained an injury that kept him out of both the Summer and Autumn test matches last year and is expected to make an appearance at some point during the tournament.

Like Te’o, Peter Malcolm is nearing complete recovery from injury and looks to return to the team during the home legs of the competition. With him is No. 8 Malon Al-Jiboori who returns to fifteens after earning his first cap in the Americas Rugby Championship last season and then continuing to make appearances in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Alongside the athletes who make long-awaited returns are a handful of newly capped players who add fresh depth to the veteran group. Among them are wing Gannon Moore and scrumhalf Nick Boyer, as well as props Chance Wenglewski and David Ainuu, who all made their Eagle debut in November of 2018.

With the tournament serving as a catalyst for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, three new players will have the opportunity to earn their first caps in Life University’s Duncan Van Schalkwyk, San Diego Legion’s Kipeli Pifeleti and New England Free Jacks‘ Tadhg Leader.

“This selection was one of the more challenging ones for us as a staff. In a World Cup year, it is important that we get the players we believe have the most probable opportunity to be selected for Japan, playing together to develop the cohesion that Coach Gold needs for the team to perform,” said Dave Hodges, General Manager of Men’s 15s Programs. “The competition marks the start of a critical period where we thoroughly test our players and processes for the World Cup while also focusing on delivering a successful ARC campaign.”

The U.S. Men’s National Team will open the Americas Rugby Championship 2019 against Chile in Santiago on Feb 2. They’ll next face Argentina XV in Rio Negro on Feb 9 before all teams rest for a bye week.

USA will play their final three matches of the competition in America with a Feb 23 matchup against Brazil in Texas; as well as two final games in Seattle against Uruguay on Mar 2 and rival-Canada on Mar 8. The first two are considered home games for the Eagles with the final counted as a home game for Canada.

Tickets to see the U.S. Men’s National Team face Brazil, Uruguay and rival-Canada are available now at usarugby.org/tickets.

All matches of the Americas Rugby Championship 2019 will be broadcast LIVE on FloRugby in the United States.

USA Men’s Eagles Squad by the Numbers

35 athletes

19 forwards

16 backs

19 former All-Americans across the high school, junior and collegiate levels

14 played for a D1A rugby program in college

20 former American football players from an official program

10 former basketball players from an official program

11 average age athletes started playing rugby

20 age of the youngest player

34 age of the oldest player

14 average player cap number

3 uncapped players

5 matches (4 at the test level)

3 countries visited

USA Men’s Eagles Squad

*Unavailable due to injury: Blaine Scully, Nate Augspurger, Psalm Wooching, Eric Fry, Tony Lamborn, Dylan Audsley

USA Men’s Eagles Staff

Head Coach | Gary Gold

Assistant Coach, Backs & Attack | Greg McWilliams

Assistant Coach, Forwards | Shawn Pittman

Strength & Conditioning Coach | Huw Bevan

Performance Analyst | Jimmy Harrison

Team Doctor | Mark Sakr (Chile, Argentina Uruguay, Canada)

Team Doctor | Sam Akhavan (Brazil)

Head Athletic Trainer | Kevin Ng

Assistant Athletic Trainer | Kristen Douhan

Massage Therapist | Daliah Hurwitz

Team Manager | Chris Hanson

Americas Rugby Championship 2019 Schedule

LIVE on FloRugby in the United States

Saturday, Feb. 2

vs Chile | Time TBA

Santiago, CHL

Saturday, Feb 9

vs Argentina XV | 3 PM ET

Rio Negro, ARG

BYE WEEK

Saturday, Feb 23

vs Brazil | 7:10 PM CT

Dell Diamond, Austin, TX

Get Tickets

Saturday, Mar 2

vs Uruguay | 7:10 PM PT

Starfire Sports, Seattle, WA

Get Tickets

Friday, Mar 8

vs Canada | 7:10 PM PT

Starfire Sports, Seattle, WA

Get Tickets

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About the Full Squad

A full squad is a pool of athletes who will assemble with the team and be available for selection at some point within a competition window. Starting rosters for each game within the competition window can be selected from this pool of athletes with occasional replacements made to cover injuries and player availability.

About the Americas Rugby Championship

The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) is an international, round-robin competition at the test level which features six competing teams from North and South America including Argentina XV, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Uruguay and USA. All matches contested in the ARC count for rankings points and test caps with the exception of those played against Argentina XV who compete as a secondary national team. Originally introduced as a development tournament, the Americas Rugby Championship began operating at the senior international level in 2016 where Argentina XV (who remained as part of the setup) claimed the inaugural championship and USA took runners-up. USA are currently reigning champions having won both the 2017 and 2018 ARC with Argentina XV runners-up in both years.

ARC Points Structure

Win – 4 points

Draw – 2 points

Loss – 0 points

Bonus

Scoring 4+ tries – 1 point

Losing by 7 or fewer points – 1 point

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