The United States Men’s National Rugby Team landed in New Zealand this afternoon to take part in the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in New Zealand. The Eagles will face Ireland (Sept 11), Russia (Sept 15), Australia (Sept 23) and Italy (Sept 27) during pool play, with coverage on NBC Universal.

Following the recent tour to Japan, the Eagles assembled in Santa Barbara on Sunday August 28. The short camp at the University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB), held in cooperation with the Santa Barbara Rugby Academy, was extremely beneficial leading up to the RWC challenge.

Eagles Head Coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, said “It was a great three days at UCSB, and hugely important to us. For the first time this year with no game immediately looming we were able to get a lot of work done and hardwire our systems for the RWC. We were very well hosted by Kevin Battle in Santa Barbara, and the facilities were excellent with the squad really enjoying our time there.”

The USA will be based in Wanganui for the first week of the RWC tournament, traveling to New Plymouth on September 9. There the Eagles will face Ireland on September 11, and Russia four days later, on September 15.

Wellington will be the next base camp for the United States as they take on Tri Nations champions Australia at Westpac Stadium on September 23. The final pool match will be against Italy in Nelson on September 27. The top two teams in each pool will then advance to the RWC quarterfinals.

USA EAGLES RWC 2011 SQUAD

Forwards:
Inaki Basauri (Perigueux), Chris Biller (San Francisco Golden Gate), Todd Clever (Suntory Sungoliath), Pat Danahy (Life University), Eric Fry (Las Vegas Blackjacks), JJ Gagiano (Univ. of Cape Town), Nic Johnson (Unattached), Scott LaValla (Stade Francais), Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie), Brian McClenahan (Olympic Club), Mate Moeakiola (Bobigny 93), Shawn Pittman (London Welsh), Hayden Smith (Saracens), Louis Stanfill (Unattached), Phil Thiel (Life University), John van der Giessen (Unattached)

Backs:
Paul Emerick (Life University), Tai Enosa (Belmont Shore), Colin Hawley (Olympic Club), Nese Malifa (Glendale), Taku Ngwenya (Biarritz), James Paterson (Highlanders), Mike Petri (New York Athletic Club), Blaine Scully (Unattached), Junior Sifa (Nottingham RFC), Andrew Suniula (Chicago Griffins), Roland Suniula (Boston Rugby), Kevin Swiryn (Agen), Tim Usasz (Nottingham RFC), Chris Wyles (Saracens)

USA EAGLES RWC 2011 STAFF
Eddie O’Sullivan (Head Coach), Dave Hodges (Forwards Coach & Technical Analyst), Matt Sherman (Backs Coach), Mike Tolkin (Defensive Coach), Dan Payne (Skills Coach), Chris O’Brien (Kicking Coach), David Williams (Strength & Conditioning), Jarrad Griffiths (Assistant Technical Analyst), Tristan Lewis (Team Manager), Kevin Battle (Assistant Manager), Dallen Stanford (Team Media Manager), Michael Keating (Physiotherapist), Alex Garibay (Physiotherapist), Sarah Sall (Masseuse), David Schneider (Doctor, 3-16 Sept), Pat McNair (Doctor, 17 Sept onwards)

RWC 2011 SCHEDULE | NEW ZEALAND
September 11, 2011: USA vs. Ireland (New Plymouth)
September 15, 2011: USA vs. Russia (New Plymouth)
September 23, 2011: USA vs. Australia (Wellington)
September 27, 2011: USA vs. Italy (Nelson)