World Rugby confirmed an end-of-year tournament for teams that did not compete in this year's Rugby World Cup.
The Vila International Rugby Cup will include the USA, Canada, Brazil, and hosts Spain in a tournament hosted by the Federación Española de Rugby in Villajoyosa, Spain. The new tournament will be played at El Pantano stadium over two match days, with the Men’s Eagles facing Brazil and Spain playing Canada on November 11. The winners and losers of the first round matches will then play each other for a tournament final. Broadcast details for the tournament will be confirmed later.
Looking ahead to the first round match up, the USA will meet Brazil for the first time since 2019, last defeating Os Tupis in Austin, Texas for the Americas Rugby Championship. Again touring overseas, the Men’s Eagles this time will see one addition to the traveling roster as David Ainu’u joins for his first USA tour of 2023, having just competed against the Eagles in September with his club, Stade Toulousain.
Captain AJ MacGinty will miss the tour having recently sustained an injury at Bristol, joining Ruben de Haas, Kapeli Pifeleti, Paul Lasike, Joe Taufete’e, Christian Dyer and Mikey Sosene-Feagai as 2023 pool players to sit out while recovering. This summer's Captain, Greg Peterson is also unavailable with club commitments while starting Prop Paul Mullen is also on leave.
Continuing to introduce new players to the program and identify talents on the international stage, Joseph Mano and Line Latu have been named to the traveling squad with an opportunity to make their test match debut. Both Mano and Latu stepped on the field in the exhibition match against Stade Toulousain last month, however will now compete for the opportunity to earn an Eagle number in Spain.
Head Coach Scott Lawrence said on the program’s third assembly, “We’re grateful for the opportunity to spend additional time together, preparing and playing in test matches as we wrap up 2023 Project Mercury. We aimed to get the right players on board this year, and believe we have a solid core both on tour and extended through the player pool that will push positive momentum into 2024.”
