The USA Men’s Eagles finish up their 2024 with three test matches in Europe, taking on Portugal, Tonga, and Spain.
Head Coach Scott Lawrence has named 30 players for the tour, and also a further 17 who are non-traveling reserves. A further 12 players have been named as those who might have been picked, but are injured or unavailable.
The two players Lawrence has been using as captains of late, Greg Peterson and Nate Augspurger, both have a chance to get to 50 caps on this tour.
Veterans are hte order of the day in the #10 jersey with Luke Carty and AJ MacGinty back in the squad. We see massive lock Siaosi Mahoni back; Mahoni, who brings height and power to the team, has been capped nine times, but not for several years. Four players could earn caps on this trip: just-graduated Saint Mary's captain Erich Storti, who has assembles with the team before, Noah Brown (Penn HS and Indiana University) has played for the USA in 7s and now chances his hand at 15s. Mark O'Keeffe is a 29-year-old Irish-born center who qualifies on residency, and Shilo Klein is a hooker who players for the Crusaders in Super Rugby but was born in California.
“The November tour is an opportunity for us to test ourselves against a formidable team in Tonga, with their full contingent, as well as Spain and Portugal," said Lawrence. "Two nations with plenty of time together and a player base getting consistent professional minutes. As we look to improve test match minutes of our players, by way of the national team, we’ll have a chance to do it against three teams who are already there.”
Of the 59 players named in this overall pool, 27 played high school rugby in the USA, and 23 played collegiate rugby in the US.
