USA November International squad

[Croket66]

Official squad :

USA Team has been named....

Derek Asbun
Inaki Basauri
Chris Biller
Chris Chapman
Todd Clever
Peter Dahl
Cornelius Dirksen
Brian Doyle
Paul Emerick
Zach Fenoglio
Eric Fry
Graham Harriman
Luke Hume
Scott LaValla
Toby L'Estrange
Gearoid McDonald
Takudzwa Ngwenya
Zach Pangelinan
Mike Petri
Shawn Pittman
Anthony Purpura
John Quill
Robbie Shaw
Louis Stanfill
Andrew Suniula
Roland Suniula
Nicholas Wallace
Chris Wyles

 

[psychic duck]

Where have you found this squad? Has it been leaked? It's not yet on the US rugby site.

Anyway, if it is true that the US have managed to persuade Vodacom Cup/Currie Cup winner Marcel Brache to play for them that is great news for the Eagles side, he plays anywhere in the backline and could be a long term replacement for Paul Emerick who is now 32.

Otherwise though, where is Luke Hume? He was very impressive for them in June. James Paterson is also missing. And I'm surprised neither Will Holder or Taylor Mokate made the squad at all. Would have thought they could have been in the squad if maybe not starting.

 

[usausa]

Where have you found this squad? Has it been leaked? It's not yet on the US rugby site.

Anyway, if it is true that the US have managed to persuade Vodacom Cup/Currie Cup winner Marcel Brache to play for them that is great news for the Eagles side, he plays anywhere in the backline and could be a long term replacement for Paul Emerick who is now 32.

Otherwise though, where is Luke Hume? He was very impressive for them in June. James Paterson is also missing. And I'm surprised neither Will Holder or Taylor Mokate made the squad at all. Would have thought they could have been in the squad if maybe not starting.

This can't be the official squad. I'm guessing when it is released, Rugbymag.com will the first site that gets it based on their relationship with Tolkin and USA Rugby. Rugbymag has no release on it yet, so I am assuming that there is no official roster yet. Surely it must be coming out within the coming day or two though.

 

[Croket66]

http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/features/this_is_american_rugby/7006531/eagles__28_tickets_to_europe

 

[TRF_Cymro]

http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/features/this_is_american_rugby/7006531/eagles__28_tickets_to_europe

The link says thats who they think will make the touring party.

 

[Croket66]

Hum i'm sorry, i've read too fast and my English is far to be perfect. I will change my post when the real squad will be announced

 

[usausa]

No worries mate, happens to the best of us. I'm sure USA Rugby have the squad, they are probably in the process of trying to confirm that all domestic based players are able to get off work to tour, and find replacements if one cannot tour. Once everyone confirms they can go and overseas players get the release from their clubs then USA Rugby will announce it. I get the sense Mike Tolkin already knew for awhile who he wanted anyway, and we're not very deep so one could guess and get pretty close.

 

[londonderryrugby]

Great to see Manoa back into the squad. Have Biller and McDonald not found a club since the summer? Great new about getting Brache into the squad, looks like Seymour has decided to go with Scotland. Also the younger Dirksen in aswell, might tempt his older brother to join him. Paterson, Hume and Mokate injured?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Great to see Manoa back into the squad. Have Biller and McDonald not found a club since the summer? Great new about getting Brache into the squad, looks like Seymour has decided to go with Scotland. Also the younger Dirksen in aswell, might tempt his older brother to join him. Paterson, Hume and Mokate injured?

That's not the final squad.

Paterson won't be touring because of work commitments and apparently Manoa has asked not to be considered for the Eagles international games this coming month.

 

[londonderryrugby]

Ahhh that's disappointing. Pity the USA, Canada and Russia games wernt played as curtain raisers to the Home Nations games, would get a larger crowd than they would up in the back of beyond in N.Wales.

 

[LittleGuy]

Ahhh that's disappointing. Pity the USA, Canada and Russia games wernt played as curtain raisers to the Home Nations games, would get a larger crowd than they would up in the back of beyond in N.Wales.

They were originally scheduled to be played at the Stoop which would have been much more succesful as a location.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

They were originally scheduled to be played at the Stoop which would have been much more succesful as a location.

Well it's to early to say if its not successful. It has the making of being quite successful.

 

[LittleGuy]

Well it's to early to say if its not successful. It has the making of being quite successful.

That's a fair point. These haven't been held yet.

 

[Saintjay]

Ahhh that's disappointing. Pity the USA, Canada and Russia games wernt played as curtain raisers to the Home Nations games, would get a larger crowd than they would up in the back of beyond in N.Wales.

Or they could play in front of a crowd who can for once afford to take the kids and family. Rather than a stadium where most don't give a toss about rugby and got the tickets as a business back hander. Who are more concerned about eating prawn sandwiches in the car park rather than watching two matches of rugby.

 

[LittleGuy]

USA Rugby were not pleased about these games being moved....http://rugbymag.com/usa-men/5775-eagles-fall-tour-stuck-in-outskirts.html

 

[TRF_Cymro]

The article is quite funny and anyone reading into it will think its the WRU faults. Part of the fault lies completely at USA Rugby who agreed to go into this deal contrary to what the article states. The game is not to promote the RGC 1404 as they state but rather a chance to promote Parc Eirias, its cracking facilities and a chance for North Wales to see some international rugby. If it goes well I won't be surprised if some Wales games go up there. If the USA were that unhappy they would have done something else and played at the Stoop anyway.

The website has a close relationship with Tolkin and obviously he's not happy with having to play at Parc Eirias, because this the article would automatically be negative.

Just look at the pictures and you have to ask yourself why are their pictures of penguins, Colwyn Bay Pier and Colwyn Bay RFC got to do with it?

On a last note ... just hope that the games are well attended and give a reason for the website to actually hold their hands up and say ... ye we got this wrong. C'mon the people of North Wales and the surrounding areas, get behind it.

 

[Thingimubob]

Didn't Parc Eirias sell out for the u20s games they had up there? I'm sure if u20s rugby attracts a decent crowd then so will full international games of smaller nations. That article is pretty damn misleading, like Cymro said its got bugger all to do with RGC 1404 its about bringing rugby to north Wales and showing off Parc Eirias as the cracking venue it is!

 

[Saintjay]

As most know i am a resident of Colwyn Bay and find the article a joke. They fail to mention the pier is run down and the public have no access. Colwyn Bay Rfc are not that good, prefer Aberegele my-self. Then to even suggest you have groups of good looking birds walking about is well a lie.

I am going all being well. I hope it is a good turn out.TV adds have been on S4C for it. If not i'll be the bloke stood on my own with a border collie wearing an England shirt. It might be the back of beyond but every rugby match has the one man and his dog.

All the U20 games were a sell out and a great day.

 

[LittleGuy]

Didn't Parc Eirias sell out for the u20s games they had up there? I'm sure if u20s rugby attracts a decent crowd then so will full international games of smaller nations. That article is pretty damn misleading, like Cymro said its got bugger all to do with RGC 1404 its about bringing rugby to north Wales and showing off Parc Eirias as the cracking venue it is!

While I wasn't privy to the debate on whether it was to promote RGC 1404 or Parc Eirias and this article could be brutally wrong on this question. I beleive it's a red herring to the rest of the article's points. Since when is it Canada, Samoa, Russia, Tonga and the United States job to bring international rugby to North Wales? Surely Wales "A" or a Welsh club side could have played a match against one(or two of these teams in consecutive weeks). Melville even says he wasn't opposed to playing a game there just that he didn't want to spend two weeks in the same location and facilities.

The Stoop was close to large expat communities, was a major hub for transportation and is in London a major tourism centre. It would also serve the purpose of helping promote the 2015 RWC, a good early start to get fans knowing many of the smaller tier sides since the venues they've chosen are very large and likely won't be filled for Tier two and three games without solid marketing(and smart pricing).

While I suppose the USA Eagles had a choice to play elsewhere as you suggest Cyrmo, they are really caught between a rock and a hard place if they rejected these tests. What sort of opponents would have been left? Or even worse a major spat between the IRB and the USA union may have occured. It's more the fault of the five teams who agreed for not having the resources to 1) Have travel budgets large enough to afford not having to play at a central location. 2) Host tests in their own countries, and 3) Get away from relying on IRB funding(Canada a prime example here).

As for the pictures....context maybe, the Colwyn RFC photo does make sense, but I'm assuming most of Rugby Mag's readers haven't heard of Colwyn Bay and I hardly think the pictures put the town in a bad light they actually make it seem pretty nice...again though a side point which has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Edit: I don't want this to seem like a shot at Colwyn Bay or North Wales, if Canada were playing a Welsh national side or a Welsh club here I would be very excited about the venue and would actually make the most sense since several Canadian players are known for their time playing for RGC 1404 there. It just seems strange to put four games involving five teams there as a neutral ground.

 

[psychic duck]

Well it's to early to say if its not successful. It has the making of being quite successful.

The success is yet to be determined, but there is no denying that London would be a much more preferable location.

It would be a lot closer and easier to get to for an awful lot more people. North Wales is quite sparse and Colwyn Bay itself has a small population and the ground itself doesn't have a capacity compared to the Stoop (not saying the Stoop would sell out though).

Also London is multicultural, and I can guarantee that there are much more Americans, Canadians, Samoans in London than North Wales.

So the potential audience is much higher than North Wales, add to that it is easier logistically for everybody and would have more chance of being covered on TV, and getting more coverage in an easier location for the media to reach.

In North Wales, the only people who will go are people from North Wales. There won't likely be too many Canadian/American/Tongan expats, and there are much fewer people who could travel to the area from the around the country.

The whole mini series idea though is a poor one in the first place anyway. Teams like Canada, Japan, Samoa, USA, Tonga etc should just tour European nations like Georgia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Russia in November like the Tier 1 nations do, Japan is also a viable host in November. Neutral matches are normally much duller in atmosphere, and also don't help interest in the game grow in countries like Russia.

The article is quite funny and anyone reading into it will think its the WRU faults. Part of the fault lies completely at USA Rugby who agreed to go into this deal contrary to what the article states. The game is not to promote the RGC 1404 as they state but rather a chance to promote Parc Eirias, its cracking facilities and a chance for North Wales to see some international rugby. If it goes well I won't be surprised if some Wales games go up there. If the USA were that unhappy they would have done something else and played at the Stoop anyway.

The website has a close relationship with Tolkin but the article is quite unfair in my eyes.

Just look at the pictures and you have to ask yourself why are their pictures of penguins, Colwyn Bay Pier and Colwyn Bay RFC got to do with it also?

On a last note ... just hope that the games are well attended and give a reason for the website to actually hold their hands up and say ... ye we got this wrong. C'mon the people of North Wales and the surrounding areas, get behind it.

USA didn't agree to this in the way that they chose it. The IRB (persuaded by the WRU) forced them to, otherwise they would lose any fixtures in Europe.

It is the WRU's responsibility to host matches in North Wales and promote the game there. Not something Tier 2 nations should be doing, the IRB should have allowed them ideally to host their own matches and grow the game in nations like Russia, Japan or Spain or second best host it at the easiest place logistically and where most people can attend.