Eagles get Clever
The USA Eagles will welcome back their talismanic captain Todd Clever from injury for their year-end tour of Europe.
Skipper Clever, who has two years of Super Rugby experience with the Lions, has been in great form for his Tokyo-based club Suntory and will surely boost the 28-man squad that head coach Eddie O’Sullivan has named for the tour.
With the 2011 Rugby World Cup less than a year away, the tour will be a prime opportunity for O’Sullivan to evaluate the players he will take to New Zealand next year.
Seventeen of the men named in the squad are professional rugby players and have been training in full-time, high-performance environments.
Of the 11 non-professional players, ten travelled to Argentina with the USA Select XV last month for the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC), so they are familiar with O’Sullivan’s systems on attack and defence.
Along with Clever, Kevin Swiryn and Hayden Smith will also rejoin the squad after missing the 2010 Churchill Cup due to injury. Kevin Swiryn, Louis Stanfill, Chris Wyles, Mike MacDonald, Takudzwa Ngwenya and Shawn Pittman have also been impressive in various European leagues such as the Top 14 and Aviva Premiership.
The Eagles will play Saracens, Scotland ‘A’, Portugal, and Georgia on the tour. The Portugal and Georgia fixtures will be International Rugby Board (IRB) ranking Tests, which means that the Eagles’ performance may change their world ranking.
Chris Wyles and Hayden Smith will sit out when the Eagles open their tour against Saracens on November 9 as they both play for Saracens.
Forwards:Inaki Basauri (L’aquila), Chris Biller (San Francisco Golden Gate), Todd Clever (Suntory), Eric Fry (Unattached), JJ Gaganio (Eastern Province), Nic Johnson (Denver Barbarians), Scott LaValla (Dublin University), Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie), Samu Manoa (San Francisco Golden Gate), Mate Moeakiola (Albi), Shawn Pittman (London Welsh), Hayden Smith (Saracens), Louis Stanfill (Mogliano), Phil Thiel (Life University), John van der Giessen (Bath).
Backs: Tai Enosa (Belmont Shore), Paul Emerick (Ulster), Colin Hawley (Unattached), Nese Malifa (Glendale), Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz), Mike Petri (Sale), Andrew Suniula (Chicago Griffins), Kevin Swiryn (Agen), Zack Test (Loughborough University), Alipate Tulievuka (Old Puget Sound Beach), Seta Tulievuka (Montpellier), Tim Usasz (Nottingham), Chris Wyles (Saracens)
