Category: USA Rugby

USA Rugby Announces June International Team

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USA Rugby recently announced the National Men’s 15s team who will face off with Canada, Georgia and Italy later this month. As expected, 2011 Rugby World Cup flanker and team USA captain Todd Clever is returning to captain the side, while Paul Emerick returns from a stint with the Aviva Premiership team London Wasps to help anchor the backline.

Interestingly, the Eagles coaching staff have added three names from America’s top college teams: Army’s Will Holder, Seamus Kelly from 8-zillion-time Collegiate Champions Cal Berkeley, and BYU’s Shaun Davies.  Adding three college players to the national team is something that team USA hasn’t done in quite a while.

Rounding out the rookie ranks of the squad is 6-2, 317-pound prop Tolifili Liufau. The Hawaiian born Liufau played football for the University of Utah, Rio Grande Valley Dorados and Arizona Rattlers (Arena League) before switching to the greatest game, where he currently plays for l’Uson in France’s Fédérale 1 – France’s top amateur level.

See the complete team selections on USA Rugby’s site.

(And a side note to USA Rugby – there has to be an easier way to link to stories on your site.)

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USA Sevens Announces Largest Attendance Yet!

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According to the IRB and USA Sevens, over 64,000 rugby fans visited UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium over the three days of the tournament and over 30,000 attended the second day of games – making it the largest rugby crowd ever in North America.

Tournament Director Dan Lyle said

We have quite a lot of people from the southern hemisphere in the stands but it’s Las Vegas and that lends itself to the international party that we promote and adding the element of high class sporting fun it is really exciting to be in the middle of a growth element and proving some points that the sport is on the rise.

With the facilities offered by an NCAA Division I university like UNLV, and the unique entertainment opportunities in Las Vegas, Nev. (as opposed to that hotbed of night life, Las Vegas, N.M.) the USA Sevens has a chance to continue the stellar growth it has achieved since moving to Las Vegas and eventually become one of the top two venues in the HSBC Sevens World Series, second only to the iconic Hong Kong Sevens.

With almost half of the tournament’s visitors attending on Saturday, I wonder if the tourney would be better served moving from a three-day schedule (much like the Hong Kong Sevens) to a two-day tournament to serve as many visitors as possible without taxing their resources.  Some of the matches broadcast on NBC had fairly empty looking stadiums, not a criticism but I’m just wondering if moving the tournament to two days will help keep more fans in the stands.

One of the great things that the team at the USA Sevens have been able to secure is broadcast time on NBC and NBC Sports for the last couple of years. This, along with coverage of the collegiate sevens championship, is presenting rugby in a form that many U.S. sporting fans can quickly understand.

USA Sevens Announces Pools

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The United States Eagles once again find themselves facing an uphill battle in this weekend’s USA Sevens tournament after the pool matches were announced earlier this week.

The USA is in Pool B, along side #2 ranked Fiji and #9 Argentina. Even #11 Canada might be giving the Eagles a little bit of a problem this week. What do you think? Will the Eagles repeat their performance of last week in Wellington? Or will they be able to rally and take one or even two wins in the first day of pool matches?

All Blacks Wins NZ Sevens – What Does Fate Hold for Las Vegas?

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The New Zealand All Blacks once again reigned supreme in Wellington at last weekend’s New Zealand stage of the IRB Sevens World Series. Aptly called the “Hertz Sevens,” for title sponsor the Hertz Car Rental Company, the All Blacks dished out plenty of ass kickings all around in Wellington – going undefeated in pool play and sweeping their way through the championship bracket en route to their tournament victory. With the win the All Blacks broke their tie with runners-up Fiji at the top of the Sevens World Series standings.

Team USA hit the wall in Wellington, going 0-for-the tournament. After a promising 21-0 loss to USA Sevens Tourney champs South Africa, the Eagles lost to England and finally to the Cook Islands (26-22) in their last match of the first day. The second day Eagles fans were witness to defeats to Wales and Scotland to knock them completely out of the tournament.

And the Kenyans, looking to recover from their first day 1-3 showing (with a victory over Australia) put Wales and Scotland to the sword before handing Australia their second loss in two days with a 12-7 win in the Wellington Bowl Finals.

Now the eyes of the Rugby World turn to the United States, for this weekend’s USA Sevens in Las Vegas.

There are several questions that need to be asked and answered by the time the USA Sevens ends this weekend. Can the All Blacks hold on to their tight series lead over Fiji and England? Can the Islanders rally this weekend in Vegas? And what about defending USA Sevens champions South Africa, can they repeat as champions? And what about Kenya? The Kenyans and their fans always delight the crowd in Las Vegas!

And, of course, how will the teams recover from a grueling weekend of Sevens in New Zealand, a 14-16 hour flight, and preparation in the Nevada desert in less than a week?  These questions and more will be answered this weekend! If you don’t have Universal Sports, or the NBC Sports Network, formerly known as the “Versus” network, you can catch the latest updates at universalsports.com or usarugby.org!

Getting Your Sevens Fix This Week!

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It’s that time again! This weekend marks the latest installment in the IRB’s wildly popular (of course it is… well you tell me how many other rugby matches you’ve seen on network TV this winter?) World Sevens Series tournament – the USA Sevens!

While it appears that this year’s USA Sevens isn’t going to be on NBC’s network lineup this year, if you’re lucky enough to have either Universal Sports, or the NBC Sports channel, you’ll still have the chance to watch plenty of Sevens this weekend.  And, as it turns out, plenty of other World Sevens Series matches this spring as well! You can catch the TV lineup here!

Giving the USA Sevens a Brazilian… um.. twist!

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The field for the USA Sevens leg of the IRB Sevens World Series is starting to come together nicely, with this report from the IRB that Brazil has been invited to Las Vegas to give the sevens a whirl.

It makes sense to invite the Brazilians, if for no other reason than the combination of Brazil’s fans and the ever entertaining Kenyan fans could be an explosion of awesomeness! But Brazil is also the host country of the 2016 Olympic Games, where Rugby Sevens will debut.  According to the IRB story:

Continue reading “Giving the USA Sevens a Brazilian… um.. twist!” →

USA Rugby: Desperately Seeking Coaching

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Good evening ladies and gentlemen and all the ships at sea. This urgent telegraph message just in from USA Rugby:

USA Eagles men’s coach Eddie O’Sullivan has decided to call it a day in the U.S. and won’t be continuing his coaching career on this side of the pond – possibly wanting to explore professional opportunities in Europe.

O’Sullivan came to the Eagles in 2009, after his resignation as head coach of his home nation of Ireland, having led the green-and-white to three triple crowns (beating the other three British Isles rugby teams – Wales, Scotland and England) and finishing as high as second place in the Six Nations Championship. During his tenure Ireland also rose to as high as third in the IRB World Rankings.

Continue reading “USA Rugby: Desperately Seeking Coaching” →