USA Rugby World Cup Squad Named
USA Rugby World Cup Squad Named
USA Rugby World Cup Squad Named
USA Men’s National 15s team head coach Gary Gold has named 18 forwards and 13 backs with 10 players having previously competed in a Rugby World Cup for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Three players—captain Blaine Scully, Eric Fry, and Thretton Palamo—will play in their third RWC.
The group features three Rio 2016 Olympians including Nate Augspurger, Martin Iosefoand Ben Pinkelman. Pinkelman and Iosefo were both recently instrumental in leading the USA Men’s Sevens program to their most successful season in history.
More than half of the named squad began playing rugby at the youth level (middle school and earlier) with another 12 picking up the sport in high school and three doing so in college. A total of 29 players can be considered multi-sport athletes, having played in an official program for a sport other than rugby at one point in their athletic career.
The full squad features 677 cumulative test caps.
“We’ve picked a pretty balanced team, we’ve gone with 18 forwards and 13 backs," said Gold. "We think that the attrition for this Rugby World Cup, especially our pool, is going to take it out of our forwards, so we’ve gone with an extra forward. We’ve got good depth in almost every position, I think we’re well covered.
"Where I think we are very lucky is that we’ve got quite a few guys who can play in multiple positions. From that point of view, we thought long and hard about those combinations and how we can best make up the combinations for the squad and what’s going to be a rather attritious pool.”
The Eagles are drawn in Pool C against England (ranked No. 3), France (No. 8), Argentina (No. 11) and Tonga (No. 15).
| USA FORWARDS | |||
| NAME | POSITION | CLUB | CAPS |
| David Ainu’u | Prop | Toulouse | 8 |
| Malon Al-Jiboori | Flanker | Unattached | 5 |
| Nate Brakeley | Lock | Rugby United New York | 21 |
| Nick Civetta | Lock | Unattached | 23 |
| Cam Dolan | No. 8 | NOLA Gold | 47 |
| Dylan Fawsitt | Hooker | Rugby United New York | 12 |
| Eric Fry | Prop | Vannes | 45 |
| Hanco Germishuys | Flanker | Glendale Raptors | 17 |
| James Hilterbrand | Hooker | Manly Marlins | 19 |
| Olive Kilifi | Prop | Seattle Seawolves | 27 |
| Tony Lamborn | Flanker | Melbourne Rebels (AUS) Hawke's Bay Magpies (NZL) | 19 |
| Titi Lamositele | Prop | Saracens | 28 |
| Ben Landry | Lock | Ealing Trailfinders | 22 |
| Paul Mullen | Prop | Unattached | 14 |
| Gregory Peterson | Lock | Newcastle Falcons | 26 |
| Ben Pinkelman | Flanker | USA Sevens | 1 |
| John Quill | Flanker | Rugby United New York | 36 |
| Joseph Taufete'e | Hooker | Worcester Warriors | 23 |
| USA BACKS | |||
| NAME | POSITION | CLUB | CAPS |
| Blaine Scully (C) | Wing | Unattached | 50 |
| Nate Augspurger | Scrumhalf / Wing | San Diego Legion | 24 |
| Marcel Brache | Center/Wing | Western Force | 19 |
| Bryce Campbell | Center | London Irish | 28 |
| Shaun Davies | Scrumhalf | Glendale Raptors | 25 |
| Ruben De Haas | Scrumhalf | Free State Cheetahs | 13 |
| Will Hooley | Fullback | Bedford Blues | 12 |
| Martin Iosefo | Wing | USA Sevens | 6 |
| Paul Lasike | Center | Harlequins | 16 |
| AJ MacGinty | Flyhalf | Sale Sharks | 24 |
| Will Magie | Flyhalf | Unattached | 25 |
| Thretton Palamo | Center | Houston SaberCats | 18 |
| Mike Te'o | Wing | San Diego Legion | 24 |
USA STAFF
General Manager | Dave Hodges
Head Coach | Gary Gold
Assistant Coach, Attack | Greg McWilliams
Assistant Coach, Set Piece | Shawn Pittman
Assistant Coach, Defense | Jaque Fourie
Strength & Conditioning Coach | Huw Bevan
Performance Analyst | Jimmy Harrison
Assistant S&C and Analyst | Tom Kindley
Team Doctor | Mark Sakr
Team Doctor | Sam Akhavan
Head Athletic Trainer | Kevin Ng
Athletic Trainer | Kristen Douhan
Massage Therapist | Daliah Hurwitz
Team Manager | Chris Hanson
Assistant Team Manager | Mark Drown