Longtime Eagle Nate Brakeley will captain the USA in the opening match of the Vila International Rugby Cup in Alicante, Spain Saturday.
Brakeley, who played for St. John's HS in Massachusetts and Dartmouth College, will earn his 33rd cap and start in the second row for the Eagles. Nate Augspurger (Southside HS, University of Minnesota) starts at wing and will be vice captain. Head Coach Scott Lawrence has named a more heavily-USA-developed team than we saw earlier this year.
Of the starting 15, nine played high school rugby in the USA, and 13 in the gameday 23. The numbers are the same for US college rugby (with a couple of differences in terms of players). Of the players that didn't play HS rugby in the US, two are from American Samoa.
Toulouse prop David Ainu'u (Liberty HS, Washington) gets to suit up for the USA again after playing against them in September. Joseph Mano is set to make his test debut for the USA. Mano played for the Samoa 7s team but World Rugby's rule allowing a player to make one switch to a nation they qualify for is in play here. Mano was born in American Samoa which makes him USA eligible. Dom Besag, who was called up from the USA U20 team and earned his first cap this past summer against Georgia, will likely get his second off the bench.
“We’ve had two competitive weeks here in Spain together and we believe we’ve picked a team that fits the game plan in place for Brazil," said Lawrence. "We’ve been apart for a few weeks, so bringing the team cohesion back while improving the relationships amongst everyone on tour has been the main focus. Expect to see the Eagles play with the same energy, positivity, and enthusiasm that is now being encoded as an integral part of the Eagle DNA.”
Brazil is the next team on the list of South American national teams dead-set on improving and moving up the levels. The Brazilians pushed the USA in Round Rock, Texas in the Americas Rugby Championship in 2019. The Eagles won that game 33-28 but it was pretty clear that the Americans took Brazil too lightly.
