GRR: Americas Rugby Championship
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (USA Rugby Release) – The Men's Eagles squad for the final match of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship has been selected, with several players coming back into the team for Saturday's match against Uruguay.
USA MNT Head Coach John Mitchell gave a brief statement at a press conference in Montevideo this week.
Mitchell was guarded in his comments about the USA's loss to Brazil, but noted that a large number of players had received their first caps during the Americas Rugby Championship, and that development of future Eagles was still a big part of the tournament.
While the USA’s loss to Brazil is an almost devastating blow to the Eagles’ dreams of winning the ARC, and the worst rankings upset in World Rugby history, there are some mitigating factors that should give us all pause.
Brazil defeated the USA 24-23 in Sao Paulo in the Americas Rugby Championship, giving the Brazilians their first win in the competition, and dealing a devastating blow to the USA’s chances of hoisting the trophy.
Rarely does the USA Men’s National 15s team go into a game where we expect them to win.
Even more rare is when we expect them to win when had the expected starters aren’t there. And even, even more rare to have that feeling when pretty much the entire team is either a new cap, or has one or two caps to his name.