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Eagles Take 28 to Houston

irish rugby tours

Eagles Take 28 to Houston

 

USA Men's Head Coach Mike Tolkin has named his 28 players to travelto Houston to take on Scotland at BBVA Compass Stadium Saturday.

This came after a tough, 40-man camp in Denver. Tolkin said the team had a good, hard day of training on Monday with "lots of commitment" and it was needed, as all the overseas players are now in camp and ready to play.

The team is healthy, and deep at most positions. Toby L'Estrange is not available at flyhalf due to an injury incurred while playing for London Welsh, and Adam Siddall, who had been struggling with a concussion earlier in the year, was not picked for Houston. So flyhalf comes down to Shalom Suniula or perhaps former East Palo Alto U19 product Folau Niua.

As reported earlier, this group probably has more alumni of American high school programs than any Eagles team before it.

 

Seventeen of the 28 players have played HS rugby in the USA, with Chuckanut of Washington state leading the list with three players, all props (Titi Lamositele, Shawn Pittman, and Nick Wallace). Xavier wuld have three if you count coaches, as Seamus Kelly, Mike Petri, and Tolkin all played at Xavier. Five players (the Chuckanut props plus Ollie Kilifi and Scott LaValla) played HS rugby in Washington, and five played in California.

Notable in this list are Miles Craigwell, the former Brown University football standout who played 7s for the USA and has been pushing to get a spot on the 15s team, and Troy Hall, another player long on the outskirts who battled work and injury to get the timing right. 

 

Danny Barrett USA Rugby Sevens

Todd Clever NTT Shining Arcs Japan

Tom Coolican NYAC

Miles Craigwell Seattle-OPSB

Cameron Dolan Northampton FC England

Eric Fry London Scottish England

Troy Hall Seattle-OPSB

Luke Hume Narbonne France

Seamus Kelly Univ. of California

Olive Kilifi Seattle-OPSB

Titi Lamositele Saracens RFC England

Scott Lavalla Stade Francais France

Chad London Glendale Raptors 

Samu Manoa Northampton FC England

Tim Maupin USA Rugby Sevens 

Folau Niua Glasgow Warriors 

Mike Petri NYAC

Shawn Pittman Seattle-OPSB   

Blaine Scully Leicester Tigers England

Hayden Smith Saracens RFC England

Louis Stanfill Seattle-OPSB

Kyle Sumsion BYU

Andrew Suniula London Wasps RFC England 

Shalom Suniula Seattle-OPSB

Phil Thiel Life Rugby

Tai Tuisamoa OMBAC 

Nick Wallace James Bay RFC Canada

Chris Wyles Saracens RFC England

 

STAFF

 

Mike Tolkin Head Coach

William Millard Asst. Coach

Justin Fitzpatrick Asst. Coach

Phil Bailey Asst. Coach

Chris O’Brien Asst. Coach

David William S&C Coach

Paul Goulding Video Analyst

Hamish Kerr Doctor 

Richard Quincy Jr Physiotherapist

Zach Vyhananek Physiotherapist

Mary-Jane Kluempers Physiotherapist Intern

Sarah Sall     Massage Therapist

Tristan Lewis     Manager