While fans are going to watch the USA play Russia at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver, CO because it's a classic rivalry, and they want their team to win, there are a few more reasons to find this matchup compelling, and, really, a game you don't want to miss.

Watch USA vs Russia LIVE on FloRugby
Kickoff 7pm CT Saturday, June 9

World Cup Intensity

Russia confirmed this week that the Bears will be in the 2019 World Cup after Spain and Romania's appeal on a convoluted World Rugby ruling regarding use of ineligible players was rejected. 

The USA has been in since last July. So this is - well, not exactly a World Cup preview, as these teams won't meet in Tokyo, but it is a look at two World Cup teams trying to prove something. The intensity will be very high. The players will be trying to get noticed by their coaches. These teams played in the 2011 World Cup after all, and this game could be a revisit to that meat grinder.

Hold Onto Our Roots

In the old days of the Eagles, the USA was thought of as a supremely physical team. The Americans might not be well-drilled in the nuances of the game, but, boy, they will knock you flat.

This team is like that. There is nuance to the USA's game, for sure, but job #1 seems to be to hit players so hard that they curl up in a little ball (this would be the Samu Manoa special). This won't be a game about surviving the Russian physicality - this will be a game about making the Russians survive the Eagles.

"We're are physical and confrontational teams and this is test match rugby," said USA captain Blaine Scully. "We have faith in our defense and our ability to make that turn on to our defense ... we are also committed to contact conditioning - getting in and out of tackles and the breakdown."

And, he said, those guys who get all riled up? Scully says they should just be themselves.

"We want to bring that physicality," he said. "We are encouraging Hanco [Germishuys] to carry like a maniac, and we want Quilly [John Quill] to be booming people around the field."

Fans should like the sound of that.

Watch USA vs Russia LIVE on FloRugby
Kickoff 7pm CT Saturday, June 9

The Scrum

USA head coach Gary Gold said he wasn't happy with the scrum in the Americas Rugby Championship. Well, for the most part fans wanted to say: "you should have seen it before!" The fear in Eagle games has always been that the game devolves into a scrum battle, the referee gets it in his head that the USA team is at fault for any missteps, and here come the penalties, yellow cards, and recriminations.

The Eagles have shown less of this lately, and Gold made it plain this week that he thinks his team is even better in the scrum now. Callum Black was picked at prop because he scrums well - or is expected to. Watch this aspect of play. If the USA is to make the next big leap, 

And one question ...

Can The USA Beat A Tier 1 Nation?

The answer, since 1976, has been "no." The only time the USA 15s team has beaten one of the major nations was in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. In the context of today's rugby, those games don't really count. In the modern game, the USA has led major nations at halftime on several occasions, only to lose. Every time.

Is this USA team good enough to beat the likes of Scotland, or, as the World Cup looms, Argentina? Make your own determination. Watch Saturday.