The USA Men\u2019s Eagles delivered when it mattered most, earning a decisive 29\u201313 victory over Samoa in Denver to book their ticket to the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
The Eagles combined resilient first-half defense with a second-half surge of tries to secure the win and punch their ticket to rugby’s biggest show. Having missed the 2023 tournament, this revitalized team thoroughly enjoyed the moment they have had their eyes on since 2022. <\/p>\n
Speaking post match, Head Coach Scott Lawrence said on qualification, “This has been three years coming, and it feels good. We’ve been building this team, they’re young in caps, but they went out there and performed today.”<\/p>\n
The Eagles entered the match under pressure, struggling early with penalties and lineouts that gave Samoa momentum. A penalty goal in the 3rd minute put the visitors ahead 3\u20130. USA\u2019s defense responded with grit on the goal line multiple times, shutting down carriers, and making key turnovers to halt multiple threats inside the five meters.<\/p>\n
Talking the last 10 minutes, Lawrence added, “We had been getting back training to the intensity we needed to, so we knew we could put in a full 80 minutes. We did it against Japan, but we were better this week and that’s all you want.”<\/p>\n
That defensive stand set the tone for the first half. In the 21st minute, patience on attack paid off as the Eagles stretched the field and found Toby Fricker on the wing for the first try of the match, taking a 5\u20133 lead. While Samoa briefly reclaimed the scoreboard through penalty goals, Luke Carty\u2019s steady boot before halftime restored USA\u2019s edge. The Eagles held Samoa tryless in the opening 40 and went into the break ahead 8\u20136. <\/p>\n
The Eagles opened the second half down a man but regrouped to put consistent pressure on Samoa with physical carries, tactical kicking, and sharper lineout execution. Though Samoa found a gap in the 60th minute to retake the lead 13\u20138, the response from the Eagles was immediate. <\/p>\n
At 65\u2019, relentless work at the five-meter line saw Carty crash over, with Mitch Wilson\u2019s conversion swinging the scoreboard back in USA\u2019s favor, 15\u201313. The Eagles seized momentum from there. A try in the 74th minute from Jason Damm extended the cushion, before Kaleb Geiger finished another attacking sequence just minutes later. Wilson\u2019s conversions made it 29\u201313, and a late yellow card to Samoa sealed the win. <\/p>\n
With the 29\u201313 victory, the Eagles not only closed out their Pacific Nations Cup campaign on a high note but also secured their place on rugby\u2019s biggest stage. Punching their ticket to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia marks a pivotal moment for USA Rugby. The road to 2027 is officially underway, and the Eagles will carry forward the momentum and confidence built in Denver as they prepare to take on the world.<\/p>\n
Lawrence said on the road ahead, “I think we start looking at the 2027 squad going into the November test series. We’ve got a U20s World Championship next year with a new crop of players coming through, so we’re ready to invest in them and spend time with that playing group. Otherwise we just start planning. It was a three year plan to get here, so it will be another two year plan into the Rugby World Cup. I’ll take 24 hours off, but we’ll be back to work on Tuesday.”<\/p>\n
USA Men\u2019s Eagles Roster | USA vs Samoa \u2013 Pacific Nations Cup<\/p>\n
Name Club 1. Jack Iscaro Old Glory DC 2. Kapeli Pifeleti Provence (FRA) 3. Pono Davis Unattached 4. Marno Redelinghuys Unattached 5. Jason Damm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(C) CA Legion 6. Viliami Helu CA Legion 7. Cory Daniel Old Glory DC 8. Paddy Ryan CA Legion 9. Ruben de Haas Unattached 10. Chris Hilsenbeck Chicao Hounds 11. Toby Fricker Anthem Rugby Carolina 12. Tommaso Boni Unattached 13. Dominic Besag Sain Mary’s College 14. Rufus McLean Unattached 15. Mitch Wilson Anthem Rugby Carolina 16. Kaleb Geiger New England Free Jacks 17. Ezekiel Lindenmuth Unattached 18. Maliu Niuafe* CA Legion 19. Tevita Naqali Old Glory DC 20. Christian Poidevin CA Legion 21. Ethan McVeigh Old Glory DC 22. Luke Carty Unattached 23. Erich Storti Anthem Rugby Carolina <\/p>\n
USA Men\u2019s Eagles Coaches & Staff | Pacific Nations Cup<\/p>\n
Scott Lawrence | Head Coach<\/p>\n
Steve Brett | Skills & Attack Coach<\/p>\n
Nick Easter | Forwards & Defense<\/p>\n
Blake Bradford | Scrum Coach<\/p>\n
Rodolfo Broggi | Lead Performance Coach<\/p>\n
Jimmy Harrison | Head of Analysis<\/p>\n
Matoko Noudehou | Performance Coach<\/p>\n
Michael Sheridan | Lead Athletic Trainer<\/p>\n
Jennifer Roney | Athletic Trainer<\/p>\n
Willie Berlanga | Sports Massage Therapist<\/p>\n
Corey Wells | Team Doctor<\/p>\n
Nick Colling | Team Manager<\/p>\n
Calder Cahill | Media Manager<\/p>\n
USA Men\u2019s Eagles Schedule | Pacific Nations Cup<\/p>\n
Canada vs USA<\/p>\n
Aug 22 | 34-20 (L)<\/p>\n
Calgary, AB, Canada<\/p>\n
USA vs Japan<\/p>\n
Sep 6 | 47-21 (L)<\/p>\n
Sacramento, CA<\/p>\n
USA vs Samoa<\/p>\n
Sep 14 | 29-13 (W)<\/p>\n
Denver, CO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The USA Men\u2019s Eagles delivered when it mattered most, earning a decisive 29\u201313 victory over Samoa in Denver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,95031],"class_list":["post-143574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-usa-mens-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}