GRR: National Teams
The members of the USA Men’s National Team have split up and gone back home.
Some are off to professional contracts, others back to squeezing work and rugby into an ever-shrinking day. Some return to the USA to look around and think “now what?”
The USA leaves the 2015 Rugby World Cup without any victories, and in the team’s final game, just a glimpse of what they can do.
Japan defeated the Eagles 28-18 Sunday at Kingsholm in Gloucester to drop the USA to 0-4 in pool play, and put Japan at 3-1, albeit not a good enough 3-1 to make the quarterfinals.
The final Rugby World Cup game kicks off Sunday with coverage starting at 2:30pm ET, 11:30pm PT, and players and coaches discussed what they want to accomplish.
So the USA Rugby World Cup comes down to Japan, as it so often does.
Japan wants to go 3-1 and get at least a shot at a quarterfinal place. The Eagles just want to win a game.
“It’s pretty important,” said USA captain and fullback Chris Wyles. “We came into this World Cup with pretty high expectations of ourselves so this is a defining game for us."
GLOUCESTER, UK (USA Rugby Release, edited) – USA Men's 15s Head Coach Mike Tolkin has named his lineup to face Japan on Sunday, with the roster almost unchanged from the team that faced Samoa and Scotland earlier in the World Cup.