NEWS

Head Coach Gary Gold Names USA Men’s Eagles Player Pool for 2022 Summer Series and Rugby World Cup Qualifiers

Photo by USA Rugby

GLENDALE, CO (June 10, 2022)

With the 2022 USA Rugby Summer Series and Rugby World Cup  Qualifiers upcoming for the USA Men’s Eagles, Head Coach Gary Gold has named 30 players to the traveling  roster for three fixtures this July. The USA Men’s National Team XVs kick off this summer with an exciting  match against the French Barbarians in Houston on July 1st, before jetting off to Santiago for the first of a home and-away series against Chile to compete for Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification. Gold and the Men’s Eagles  coaching staff have been visiting and scouting MLR clubs over the past few months, similarly hosting a two day alignment camp in early May to shortly assemble players and staff ahead of this summer’s penultimate  games. Players will enter camp in Houston through a staggered entry as many continue to compete with their  respective MLR, Premiership and Top 14 club competitions, with the full 30-man roster in assembly by week of  the French Barbarians match. Tickets are now available to the upcoming home matches in Houston, TX and  Glendale, CO via usa.rugby/tickets and all summer series matches will be streaming LIVE on FloRugby. 

Photo Credit: Travis Prior | USA Rugby

Roster Highlights 

• 22 of 30 traveling roster players are currently competing in Major League Rugby (MLR) as the growing  league nears completion of its fifth season.  
• Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Martin Iosefo named to the greater player pool, following transition to MLR for  the 2021-22 season.  
• Lock Samu Manoa returns from an international hiatus following a strong season with the Seattle  Seawolves. 
• New England FreeJack Mitch Wilson has the potential to make his USA debut and earn first cap during  Chile matches.  

Comments from Head Coach Gary Gold ahead of this year’s summer series and qualification matches:

“It’s been a tough selection process due to the level of improvement across the MLR and with many of our  players playing so well. We are all really excited to eventually reassemble and spend time together as we  prepare for an incredibly important summer. The games will prove a real challenge for us as a group, as we have  a massive amount of respect for how well this Chile team has developed and improved.  

“We have spent time as a coaching group with many of the clubs around MLR over the past few months, it has  been a really good exercise as the level of coaching and feedback has been excellent. We were also able to have  an alignment camp in Houston this past May, where we got our wider group of players together and we were  able to lay out our plans and ideas for the French Barbarians and Chile. The camp afforded us an opportunity to  spend two days with the group to agree on those plans and strategies, so that when we do assemble as a group  we can hit the ground running and be more efficient. 

“Our immediate goals are to get the squad in as soon as possible, post all player commitments, and to become  aligned as a group as soon as possible as we don’t have a massive amount of time before the first game is upon  us..” 

USA MEN’S EAGLES 2022 SUMMER SERIES TRAVELING SQUAD

USA MEN’S EAGLES 2022 SUMMER SERIES MATCH SCHEDULE 

USA vs French Barbarians | Houston, TX 

July 1, 2022 7:30 PM CT at Aveva Stadium 

GET TICKETS | Watch Live on FloRugby 

Chile vs USA | Santiago, Chile | Rugby World Cup Qualifier 

July 9, 2022 Time 6:00 PM ET at Estadio Santa Laura Universidad 

Watch Live on FloRugby 

USA vs Chile | Glendale, CO | Rugby World Cup Qualifier 

July 16, 2022 1:00 PM MT at Infinity Park 

GET TICKETS | Watch Live on FloRugby 

USA Rugby Media Contact  

Calder Cahill  

ccahill@usa.rugby