Narrated by USA Captains from every Rugby World Cup featuring the United States:
Ed Burlingham (1987), Brian Vizard (1991), Dan Lyle (1999), Dave Hodges (2003), Mike Hercus (2007), Todd Clever (2011) and Samu Manoa (2015 vs South Africa)
The No. 13 USA Men’s National Team XVs officially announce the 31-player squad for Rugby World Cup Japan 2019.
Head Coach Gary Gold has named 18 forwards and 13 backs with 10 players having previously competed in a Rugby World Cup (RWC). Three will look ahead to their third World Cup event including Captain Blaine Scully, Eric Fry and Thretton Palamo. Scully and Fry both competed in 2011 and 2015 while Palamo competed in 2007 as the youngest player in history to appear in a RWC event and 2015.
The group features three Rio 2016 Olympians including Nate Augspurger, Martin Iosefo and Ben Pinkelman. Pinkelman and Iosefo were both recently instrumental in leading the USA Men’s Sevens program to their most successful season in history.
More than half of the named squad began playing rugby at the youth level (middle school and earlier) with another 12 picking up the sport in high school and three doing so in college. A total of 29 players can be considered multi-sport athletes, having played in an official program for a sport other than rugby at one point in their athletic career.
The full squad features 677 cumulative test caps.
Head Coach Gary Gold said: “We’ve picked a pretty balanced team, we’ve gone with 18 forwards and 13 backs. We think that the attrition for this Rugby World Cup, especially our pool, is going to take it out of our forwards, so we’ve gone with an extra forward. We’ve got good depth in almost every position, I think we’re well covered. Where I think we are very lucky is that we’ve got quite a few guys who can play in multiple positions. From that point of view, we thought long and hard about those combinations and how we can best make up the combinations for the squad and what’s going to be a rather attritious pool.”
View full comments by Head Coach Gary Gold
As the ninth edition of the quadrennial event, the World Cup will run from September 20 - November 2 with the Eagles drawn in Pool C against England (No. 3), France (No. 8), Argentina (No. 11) and Tonga (No. 15).
The United States men have appeared in all but one Rugby World Cup event (1995) with three total wins in the group stages including Japan in 1987 and 2003, as well as Russia in 2011.
In the four years since the last World Cup in England, the Eagles have improved from a 3-5 test match record in 2016 to a 9-1 test match record in 2018. The team will go into Japan 6-2 in test matches this year.
USA FORWARDS
| NAME | POSITION | CLUB | CAPS |
| David Ainu’u | Prop | Toulouse | 8 |
| Malon Al-Jiboori | Flanker | Unattached | 5 |
| Nate Brakeley | Lock | Rugby United New York | 21 |
| Nick Civetta | Lock | Unattached | 23 |
| Cam Dolan | No. 8 | NOLA Gold | 47 |
| Dylan Fawsitt | Hooker | Rugby United New York | 12 |
| Eric Fry | Prop | Vannes | 45 |
| Hanco Germishuys | Flanker | Glendale Raptors | 17 |
| James Hilterbrand | Hooker | Manly Marlins | 19 |
| Olive Kilifi | Prop | Seattle Seawolves | 27 |
| Tony Lamborn | Flanker | Melbourne Rebels (AUS) Hawke's Bay Magpies (NZL) |
19 |
| Titi Lamositele | Prop | Saracens | 28 |
| Ben Landry | Lock | Ealing Trailfinders | 22 |
| Paul Mullen | Prop | Unattached | 14 |
| Gregory Peterson | Lock | Newcastle Falcons | 26 |
| Ben Pinkelman | Flanker | USA Sevens | 1 |
| John Quill | Flanker | Rugby United New York | 36 |
| Joseph Taufete'e | Hooker | Worcester Warriors | 23 |
USA BACKS
| NAME | POSITION | CLUB | CAPS |
| Blaine Scully (C) | Wing | Unattached | 50 |
| Nate Augspurger | Scrumhalf / Wing | San Diego Legion | 24 |
| Marcel Brache | Center/Wing | Western Force | 19 |
| Bryce Campbell | Center | London Irish | 28 |
| Shaun Davies | Scrumhalf | Glendale Raptors | 25 |
| Ruben De Haas | Scrumhalf | Free State Cheetahs | 13 |
| Will Hooley | Fullback | Bedford Blues | 12 |
| Martin Iosefo | Wing | USA Sevens | 6 |
| Paul Lasike | Center | Harlequins | 16 |
| AJ MacGinty | Flyhalf | Sale Sharks | 24 |
| Will Magie | Flyhalf | Unattached | 25 |
| Thretton Palamo | Center | Houston SaberCats | 18 |
| Mike Te'o | Wing | San Diego Legion | 24 |
USA STAFF
General Manager | Dave Hodges
Head Coach | Gary Gold
Assistant Coach, Attack | Greg McWilliams
Assistant Coach, Set Piece | Shawn Pittman
Assistant Coach, Defense | Jaque Fourie
Strength & Conditioning Coach | Huw Bevan
Performance Analyst | Jimmy Harrison
Assistant S&C and Analyst | Tom Kindley
Team Doctor | Mark Sakr
Team Doctor | Sam Akhavan
Head Athletic Trainer | Kevin Ng
Athletic Trainer | Kristen Douhan
Massage Therapist | Daliah Hurwitz
Team Manager | Chris Hanson
Assistant Team Manager | Mark Drown
All media inquiries should be forwarded to Aalina Tabani at atabani@usa.rugby.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Rugby World Cup Japan 2019 will be broadcast LIVE across NBC Sports properties in the United States. A total 26 matches will be aired on NBCSN linear television network including all USA pool games and the Final on November 2nd. Fans can watch every game LIVE and on demand through the NBC Sports Gold package available for purchase here.
Live updates, match reports and other content will be available by following @USARugby on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Fans are encouraged to use the hashtags #EaglesUnited and #USMNTXVs across the tournament.
RUGBY WORLD CUP JAPAN 2019 POOL C SCHEDULE
vs England
September 26 | 6:45 AM ET
Kobe Misaki Stadium
WATCH | NBCSN + NBC Sports Gold
vs France
October 2 | 3:45 AM ET
Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium
WATCH | NBCSN + NBC Sports Gold
vs Argentina
October 9 | 12:45 AM ET
Kumagaya Rugby Stadium
WATCH | NBCSN + NBC Sports Gold
vs Tonga
October 13 | 1:45 AM ET
Hanazono Rugby Stadium
WATCH | NBCSN + NBC Sports Gold
