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USA Profile

Thursday 04th January 2007

Colours: Blue with Red Trim

Nickname: The Eagles

Honours: Qualifying for the 1999 Rugby World Cup

Coach: Tom Billups took the reigns of the full team in 2002. As head coach of USA Rugby's Collegiate All-American team in 2001, he guided USA Universities to a 2-0 tour of Ireland in September of that year. As a former Eagles hooker and captain - he played in 44 Tests, also playing at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

Captain: Veteran back rower Dan Lyle plays professional rugby for Bath in England and has 39 caps to his credit. The flanker made his debut against Ireland in November 1994.

Player(s) to watch: Veteran lock forward Luke Gross became the most-capped American international of all time when he faced South Africa in December 2001 - his 47th Test. 34-year-old loose forward Oloseti Fifita spent the 1993 season in Australia playing club rugby for North Sydney and he has a strong American Gridiron background - having played as a line-backer for Chabot College.

Profile: The USA have struggled under the moniker of being a rugby minnow, but through professionalism the Eagles are making improvements in coaching, management and player development, and as a result have improved the on-field product.

With the geographic challenges facing the squad, coupled with relatively few fixtures, the Eagles squad only get together prior to a test, and for periodic evaluations. Selections are in part made from talent identification done at USA Super League matches.

Ranked 16th in the world the Eagles participate annually in the Can Am trophy match against its neighbour to the north, Canada. As well there are the bi-ennial Pan American championships, which can also double as Americas zone World Cup qualifiers.

The USA is also involved in the implementation of the NAWIRA zone competition, which will pit North American and West Indies sides in regular competition.

The one area that has seen improvement for the USA internationally is in the game of Sevens where the Eagles have impressed on the IRB World Sevens circuit, making it regularly to play-off rounds of the top tournaments in the world.