Eagles Roster Named For World Cup Qualifier Against Chile

Facing off with Chile for the first time since the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship, the Eagles made a few roster changes as they prepare in South America.

Jul 7, 2022 by FloRugby Staff

Eagles Roster Named For World Cup Qualifier Against Chile

Coming off a nail-biting win against the French Barbarians in Houston, the USA Men’s Eagles are warmed up and eager to begin their second venture for Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification against Chile; this Saturday, July 9 at 6:00PM EDT in Santiago.

Facing off with Los Condores for the first time since the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship, the United States made a few roster changes as they prepare in South America. Saturday’s match is the first of a two-match, home and away series where win total or points aggregate will determine who officially qualifies for next fall’s Rugby World Cup in France. The second fixture on home soil will be at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO - a match that has since sold out and awaits its home team. Both matches will be streamed live on FloRugby.

Jul 9, 2022, 9:50 PM UTC

2022 USA vs Chile

Match Preview

While the USA have won five of their six previous meetings with Chile, the last four by an average of more than 50 points, this much improved South American side cannot be discounted. Los Condores have shown some notable improvement over the last two years, competing with Scotland A, Russia and fine tuning young talent through the Americas Pacific Challenge and Superliga Americana de Rugby club play. In test match rugby, Chile most recently defeated Canada in the fall Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers, bumping the Canadians from qualification. Most notably however, Chile will be vying for the nation’s first invite to the Rugby World Cup, a motivating factor the USA are prepared to counter.

The Eagles played well defensively in Houston, containing the high-flying potential of the French Barbarians, and will look to parlay that pressure in Santiago as Chile play in front of home field energy. Martin Iosefo, Joe Taufete’e and Ben Bonasso step into the starting fifteen from last week’s roster, with Hanco Germishuys moving from left to right flanker. Nick Civtta and Greg Peterson will similarly swap lock positions as Tavite Tamileau joins the match day 23. Utah Warriors Prop, Angus MacLellan also joins the traveling roster in Santiago, following an exit from injured Paul Lasike. MacLellan has five caps and last played with the Eagles in 2018. Lastly, Jason Damm earns his spot as a reserve, and the chance to make his USA debut.

Head Coach Gary Gold noted on the away qualifier:

“I am incredibly proud of the performance we put out in Houston. It was a short assembly period with the full squad, so I’m pleased with our early defensive effort and expect to see the same this Saturday. We allowed the French Barbarian’s back in the game as time went on last week - with a few corrections needed at our set piece - but I’m confident we can play our game as we need to on the road.

South America is always a challenging arena to play in on the road, so setting the pace early as we did last week, will be important against this hungry Chilean side.”

USA Men's Eagles Roster

Position	Name	Club
1	David Ainu'u	Toulouse (FRA)
2	Joe Taufete’e	LA Giltinis
3	Paul Mullen	Utah Warriors
4	Greg Peterson	Newcastle Falcons (ENG)
5	Nick Civetta	Rugby New York
6	Ben Bonasso	Rugby New York
7	Hanco Germishuys	LA Giltinis
8	Cam Dolan	NOLA Gold
9	Ruben de Haas	Saracens (ENG)
10	AJ MacGinty (C)	Sale Sharks (ENG)
11	Martin Iosefo	Seattle Seawolves
12	Bryce Campbell	Austin Gilgronis
13	Tavite Lopeti	Seattle Seawolves
14	Christian Dyer	Houston SaberCats
15	Marcel Brache	Austin Gilgronis
16	Kapeli Pifeleti	Saracens (ENG)
17	Chance Wenglewski	Rugby New York
18	Angus MacLellan	Utah Warriors
19	Siaosi Mahoni	Houston SaberCats
20	Jason Damm	Rugby ATL
21	Tavita Tameilau	San Diego Legion
22	Nate Augspurger	San Diego Legion
23	Luke Carty	LA Giltinis