{"id":672132,"date":"2026-07-03T18:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/672132\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:53:16","slug":"were-trying-to-get-some-fireworks-us-mens-and-womens-rugby-teams-seek-fourth-of-july-wins-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/672132\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re trying to get some fireworks\u2019: US men\u2019s and women\u2019s rugby teams seek Fourth of July wins | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday is America\u2019s 250th birthday and a huge national holiday but the US Eagles will be working. The men are in Denver, kicking off the World Rugby Nations Cup<\/a> against Portugal, champions of Europe\u2019s second tier. The women are in Johannesburg for the first of two games against South Africa, a double bill with the Springbok men facing England.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dual nationality,\u201d said the women\u2019s captain, Georgie Perris-Redding, who speaks with a Manchester accent but was born in Detroit and whose development included a stint at the American Pro Rugby Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas<\/a>, a groundbreaking operation that nurtured US women\u2019s talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of my group,\u201d the Sale Sharks flanker continued, \u201cand they are so passionate about our country and what we represent. We\u2019ve been talking about it all week. Honestly, we\u2019re trying to find a way to get some fireworks. That\u2019s not looking too likely to me right now, but growing the game is what massively drives this group as well, and I think being able to do that on such an occasion at Ellis Park is arguably once-in-a-lifetime. So, yeah, I think we\u2019re excited, the group have been working really hard, and it\u2019s going to be a super special occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Jack Hanratty is Irish but also fully appreciates both America\u2019s national day and playing in a stadium where, if you think about it, a great American once lifted the Webb Ellis Cup. That was Matt Damon, as Francois Pienaar in Invictus<\/a>, Clint Eastwood\u2019s movie about Nelson Mandela, the 1995 World Cup and the making of modern South Africa. Among the great Americans running out on the Fourth of July will be Perris-Redding\u2019s fellow flanker Kate Zackary, who played in England in the PWR<\/a> final for Ealing Trailfinders<\/a> last week then flew south \u2013 her Boeing buzzing Ellis Park<\/a>, perhaps \u2013 to join the Eagles for her 50th cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny because 50 is going to become normal soon,\u201d Hanratty said, of the expanding horizons of the women\u2019s game. \u201cKate\u2019s only the third Eagle to do it. We were joking about this a while ago. Bella Vogel<\/a> got her first cap [aged just 19, at fly-half] against New Zealand, and [25-year-old back-row crossover athlete] Hann Humphreys<\/a> got their first cap against New Zealand. So we\u2019re kind of thinking that in five years they could have 50.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a lovely moment for Kate, especially after captaining the Trailfinders last Saturday. I think it\u2019s a real compliment to the respect that the athletes have. What she\u2019s doing off the field and on the field for this logo is pretty rewarding. We\u2019re not going to make emotional decisions as staff. We need to make decisions that are high-performance decisions, and Kate\u2019s earned another cap, and that one is number 50, and hopefully we\u2019ll make some arrangements for her to lead the team out. Hopefully this program can continue to grow with leaders like that, who have laid such an incredible foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flanker Kate Zackary is set to celebrate her 50th cap for the US Eagles on Saturday against South Africa. Photograph: Molly Darlington\/World Rugby\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

South Africa rank two places behind the US, 10th in the world to eighth<\/a>. Hanratty expects a physical game and has chosen an experienced pack. As the coach pointed out, the Springbok women made the World Cup knockouts in England last year, and the US did not. That said, the US came out of the Pac Four in April<\/a> with a win over Australia and encouraging aspects of defeats by Canada and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

In Denver, the US men\u2019s coach, Scott Lawrence, has worked with his team on what it means to play for their country, this week in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important for us to recognize the strength of the diversity of our country,\u201d Lawrence said, of sessions including a talk from two US Air Force Academy cadets followed by a spot of competitive flag-folding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Eagles are, have been and always will be a representation of the diverse nature of our country,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cYou don\u2019t see that in a lot of other countries. They may have players that move there young and qualify after five years. That\u2019s pretty common in international rugby. But the way our team comes together is much different. It looks like any classroom in the United States. We could have guys speaking French at one table, and two of the staff speaking Spanish, and that\u2019s not any different than walking down the street and having a coffee here in Denver. But the thing we all unite behind is the values of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

One French speaker is young back Perry Mayo, who plays for Nevers in Pro D2 and qualifies, like several teammates, through American heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been good, he\u2019s got X Factor, you know,\u201d Lawrence said, \u201cThe French, they play differently. It\u2019s always good to have another left foot in the back line in terms of the kicking game, and he\u2019s played wing, he\u2019s played full-back, so he gives us versatility, more options around whether you go 5-3 or 6-2 on the bench \u2026 he throws the ball around. It\u2019s not in the American nature, but in the last year we\u2019ve really needed to train and play messy at times, and he offers a bit of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s first summer outing, against England in Washington<\/a>, was more sticky than messy, a trudge through lightning delays in a swampy city, a loss by 40 with a deserved try at the end. Playing the Portuguese in the Denver mountain air \u2013 such is the size of Donald Trump\u2019s planned DC fireworks display<\/a>, it\u2019s not impossible the smoke will reach the Mile High City \u2013 should offer chances to run and pass. Lawrence is under no illusion about the scale of the task. Portugal denied the US a spot at the 2023 World Cup<\/a>, thanks to a draw in Dubai. Since then they\u2019ve rebuilt, this year beating Georgia for the Rugby Europe Championship crown, long stored in Tbilisi.<\/p>\n

Lawrence said: \u201cThey followed a proven recipe in our division, which is time together domestically, a focused team that has all the best internationals, not just says they\u2019re internationally focused, domestically focused, but all the best [players] are playing in Seattle and Chicago and everywhere else, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the Portugal team play for Lusitanos in the Rugby Europe Super Cup, which supports second-tier national teams. Lawrence\u2019s Eagles mostly play in Major League Rugby, which recently finished a six-team season<\/a> after a major contraction. MLR aims to produce American talent but the one team solely devoted to it, Anthem RC in Charlotte, North Carolina, is set to disappear after three years backed by World Rugby. On the plus side, Lawrence is able to call on Europe-based pros including Jack Iscaro, a loosehead prop thriving in the Top 14 with Stade Fran\u00e7ais. AJ MacGinty, the vastly experienced fly-half who plays for Bristol in England, is still out with injury.<\/p>\n

After Denver, the Eagles go to North Carolina to play Zimbabwe and Spain. The month of July, Lawrence said, \u201chas always been our most challenging window, based on the way the European schedule maps out, and the teams that are coming in, and the momentum they have. So what does that mean for the Eagles? You got to do the big rocks first. You have to know your set piece, you have to know your kicking game. It\u2019s those game-defining things that are really the basics of the game. And then you have to trust the talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

USA v South Africa and USA v Portugal are broadcast in the US on Paramount+<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martin Pengelly writes on rugby in the US on Substack, at The National Maul<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday is America\u2019s 250th birthday and a huge national holiday but the US Eagles will be working. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-672132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}