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Eagle Origins - More Home-Grown Every Day

irish rugby tours

Eagle Origins - More Home-Grown Every Day

Players who traveled the pathway. Todd Clever - College Park U19s, USA U19s, University of Nevada, College All Americans, USA 7s team, USA 15s team. Cam Dolan, Naples U19s, USA U19s, USA U20s, Life University, College All Americans, USA 7s team, USA 15s team. David Barpal photo.

As has been the case for the last several years, the USA Men's National Team is populated by athletes from all kinds of backgrounds, but the good news is that home-grown players who played high school rugby in the USA are becoming the majority.

If the 38 players who will participate in the Eagles games (or at least the preparation) this November, here's how they break down:

High School All Americans. We count 14 - Augspurger, Campbell, Cima, Clever, Dolan, Filikitonga, Holder, Hughes, Lamositele, MacLellan, Maughan, Ngwenya, Palamo, Te'o. (We're using a relatively broad definition in that if a player was in a HSAA camp, then he was part of the process.)

College All Americans. We count 16 - Barrett, Blair, Brakeley, Campbell, Cima, Civetta, Clever, Dolan, Eloff, Holder, Hughes, Jensen, MacLellan, Maughan, Scully, Waldron.

Players who played HS rugby in the USA: We count 24: Augspurger, Barrett, Blair, Brakeley, Campbell, Cima, Civetta, Clever, Dolan, Filikitonga, Harajly, Holder, Iosefo, Jensen, Lamositele, MacLelland, Mahoni, Maughan, Manoa, Ngwenya, Niua, Palamao, Taufete'e, and Te'o.

Players who learned their rugby overseas: Brache, Durutalo, Hilterbrand, Lamborn, McFarland.

Players who started playing rugby in college or later: Baumann, Haupeakui, Jensen, Leuta, Scully, Tomasin, Waldren.

Of the 24 US high school players represented, fully 19 different teams are represented, from 11 states and the District of Columbia. The programs with more than one player are East Palo Alto (Holder, Mahoni, and Niua), Belmont Shore (Taufete'e and Te'o), and SFGG (Palamo and Barrett).

Nineteen different colleges are represented in this group, with Cal providing three, and Dartmouth, Davenport, and Life providing two players each.