Eddie O’Sullivan releases list of Eagle squad for Saturday’s clash against Saxons – Rugby update
USA Eagles head coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, has announced his match-22 for their Saturday, June 4 Churchill Cup encounter against the England Saxons. The tournament will kick-start at Franklin’s Garden, Northampton as the defending champions will host the
United States rugby union team.
Eddie O’Sullivan has selected the match-22 from the original 29-man squad announced for the tournament on May 25, 2011. O’Sullivan announced the match squad on Thursday June 3, at Northampton. He has also stated that the scrum half, Mike Petri, will be the
captain of the team for the Saxons’ clash.
Eddie O’Sullivan has termed Saxons’ match a great opportunity for the players and for the team as a whole to earn a place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) and for their 2011 preparations. He said, “The team to face the Saxons reflects the fact that we need
this tournament to continue as part of our preparations for RWC.”
O’Sullivan has expressed his concern over the team’s lack of match practice and fitness. However, he added that they have been training hard and held two training sessions per day in order to get themselves in to shape. USA Eagles are playing their first
game after an absence of eight months. They last played during the month of November, 2010.
O’Sullivan particularly urged the relatively younger players with less international exposure to make most of the opportunity at hand. Earlier, the match-22 he announced had six players that did not feature in last year’s tournament.
The players include Utah Warriors’ fullback Mike Palefau, San Francisco Golden Gate’s winger Mile Pulu, Nottingham RFC centre Junior Sifa, London Irish prop Will Johnson and flanker Danny LaPrevotte from San Francisco Golden Gate.
O’ Sullivan said, “It is an opportunity for a number of players, who have limited experience with the Eagles up until now, to test themselves in what will be a very tough environment against a strong Saxons side.”
The USA Eagles squad announced for their Saturday’s match with Saxons’ includes-
Starting XV: 15 Mike Palefau (Utah Warriors), 14 Mile Pulu (San Francisco Golden Gate), 13 Tai Enosa (Belmont Shore), 12 Junior Sifa (Nottingham RFC), 11 Colin Hawley (Olympic Club), 10 Troy Hall (New York Athletic Club), 9 Mike Petri (New
York Athletic Club, captain), 8 JJ Gagiano (Univ. of Cape Town), 7 Danny LaPrevotte (San Francisco Golden Gate), 6 Pat Danahy (Life University), 5 Scott LaValla (Stade Francais), 4 John van der Giessen (Utah Warriors), 3 Will Johnson (London Irish), 2 Phil
Thiel (Life University), 1 Eric Fry (Las Vegas Blackjacks),
Replacements: 16 Chris Biller (San Francisco Golden Gate), 17 Shawn Pittman (London Welsh), 18 Louis Stanfill (Mogliano), 19 Inaki Basauri (L' Aquila), 20 Tim Usasz (Nottingham RFC), 21 Roland Suniula (Boston Rugby), 22 Andrew Suniula
(Chicago Griffins).
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