Gold backs Premiership stars against England
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: With a few English-based players in his match-day 23, US coach Gary Gold will be hoping for the inside knowledge on their Pool C opponents.
There are no major surprises as South African coach Gold opted to name four English-based players in his starting line=up.
Sale Sharks AJ MacGinty will don the flyhalf jersey.
While on the bench Bryce Campbell, who plies his trade at London Irish is the fifth English-based player in the USA side.
The youngest member of the squad is 19-year-old Toulouse prop David Ainuu, who starts at loose-head prop.
Blaine Scully will captain the side from the right wing. The former Leicester Tigers back will be playing in his third World Cup.
LET’S RALLY. #RWC2019 #ENGvUSA #EaglesUnited 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/s5RyUIMMVH
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) September 23, 2019
USA: 15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (captain), 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 John Quill, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Ben Landry, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 David Ainuu.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Bryce Campbell, 23 Mike Te’o
Date: Thursday, September 26
Venue: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe City
Kick-off: 19.45 (11.45 UK time, 06.45 USA Eastern time, 10.45 GMT)
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
