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More Changes for Eagles as they Face Georgia Saturday

irish rugby tours

More Changes for Eagles as they Face Georgia Saturday

Greg Peterson leads the USA again. Calder Cahill photo.

The USA Men's 15s team caps off its summer tour with a very challenging test match against Georgia in Tbilisi.

This meeting has traditionally been very close but this is young and rebuilding USA team facing a seasons Lelos side that just beat Romania 56-6 (the same Oaks side the Eagles beat 31-17).

So this will certainly be a challenge. However, at the same time, the USA team matches up a little better with Georgia than they do against Portugal. It wasn't just Portugal's deep three that won last week's test match, but they had a lot to do with it. The USA scrum and maul and maul defense are all quite good at the moment, and they can negate some of the positives for Georgia.

In addition, the USA defense (yes, yes they gave up 46 points to Portugal and it was almost 51) is quite good in a number of issues. Mostly they can defend phase after phase and they can handle the physicality.

The USA gave up seven tries to Portugal and for the most part they were because of silly penalties, counterattacking, and a kicking game.

First try: two penalties and then a launch off a scrum; second try: a counter on broken play and a grubber through. Third try: penalty and then a defensive breakdown; fourth try: two kicks. Fifth try: a missed tackle; sixth try: a grubber through; seventh try: penalty and a maul.

So phase-to-phase defense gave up two tries.

New Lineup vs. Georgia

Head Coach Scott Lawrence moves Sam Golla to lock and puts Cam Dolan at blindside flanker. Another change in the back row is Thomas Tu'avao starting at No. 8 in place of Luke White. Ruben de Haas gets a start in place of Nick McCarthy at scrumhalf. Tommaso Boni returns at inside center and partners with Tavite Lopeti to make a different midfield combination for the third straight game. Chris Mattina starts at fullback in place of Mitch Wilson.

On the bench, Dom Besag comes in. The USA U20 captain was called up to the Eagle squad after his performance at the World Rugby Trophy, and he now could earn his first cap. If he does, he will be the second-youngest Eagle ever, with only prop David Ainu'u Titi Lamositele being younger when he made his debut.  Actually, disregard that last sentence. That's not correct—the three youngest USA debutants, as far as we can tell, are: Titi Lamositele at 18 years and 117 days, David Ainu'u at 18 years, 355 days, and Thretton Palamo at 19 years and eight days. Besag comes after those three.

“American’s need to play minutes, that’s how we develop," said Lawrence. "They need to play games; they need to play hard games under pressure. We hope Dom takes the experiences of this match and camp, and continues to get more game time over time, making him and international player to be proud of.”

The USA squad on tour in Europe 2023. Photo Calder Cahill.

Other Adjustments

A successful USA team against Georgia will return to the hard-charging attacking approach that they unleashed against Romania. Against Portugal that go-forward, sparked perhaps by good leading passes and better depth for the big carriers, was gone. In addition, someone has to keep an eye on the kicking game. Getting up in a defense's face is a good thing, but if a team can grubber the ball through then the impressive line speed is actually a detriment.

The kick chase, and avoiding being offside on those kicks, is hugely important, but overall the USA is better off with the ball in hand. Kicking when they have the ball past their own dotted ten-meter-line is probably not the USA's best option.

But, of course, if they keep the ball in hand they have to keep the ball. The USA back play against Portugal was not good as too often they lost the ball or had miss-timed passes. Those mistakes undercut several promising attacking chances and against any international team, you cannot make those types of mistakes.

The USA kicks off against Georgia at 11AM Eastern Time. It will be live on The Rugby Network>>

USA Lineup to Face Georgia
Name Club Caps
1. Jack Iscaro Old Glory DC 4
2. Dylan Fawsitt New York Ironworkers 24
3. Kaleb Geiger New York Ironworkers 1
4. Sam Golla Dallas Jackals 2
5. Greg Peterson (C) Unattached 41
6. Cam Dolan NOLA Gold 65
7. Paddy Ryan Coventry (ENG) 2
8. Thomas Tu'avao Utah Warriors 2
9. Ruben de Haas Free State Cheetahs (RSA) 30
10. Luke Carty Chicago Hounds 13
11. Nate Augspurger (VC) San Diego Legion 38
12. Tommaso Boni Zebra (ITA) 1
13. Tavite Lopeti Seattle Seawolves 9
14. Christian Dyer Houston SaberCats 13
15. Chris Mattina Chicago Hounds 2
     
Reserves    
16. Peter Malcolm Seattle Seawolves 12
17. Jake Turnbull Seattle Seawolves 2
18. Paul Mullen Utah Warriors 32
19. Nate Brakeley New York Ironworkers 31
20. Luke White Chicago Hounds 2
21. Nick McCarthy Leinster 2
22. Dominic Besag Saint Mary's College Debut
23. Lauina Futi Seattle Seawolves 1