The Eagles face the Lions Saturday in Charlotte as the USA Men’s 15s team hosts Spain at American Legion Memorial Stadium in the Queen City.
With Sam Golla’s unfortunate injury last week there is a little shifting in the forward pack, with Vili Helu moving from flanker to lock, captain Benjamin Bonasso moving to flanker, and Jamason Fa’anana-Schulz stepping at No. 8.
There is no change to the backline from the team that beat Belgium last week.
There are some changes to the bench, with Kaleb Geiger listed as hooker replacement, Ezekial Lindenmuth set for potentially his first cap at prop, Christian Poidevin potentially set for his first cap at flanker, Tom Pittman set for potentially his first cap in the backs, and Lauina Futi in as a deep three replacement.
What the USA will be looking for some more support in the scrums, as a strong scrum performance was not rewarded last year, in fact the opposite.
The Eagles worked hard to play a fairly expansive style of play that included plenty of offloads out of contact. Not all of it came to hand, but enough did for six tries. This week, the expectation is a bit of a step forward in terms of timing and execution.
However, it’s worth noting that these two teams played to a 26-23 decision (USA winning) in Madrid last November.
