World Cup rehearsal in Bowl battle
Eddie O’Sullivan has made several changes to the American team’s starting line-up for their final Churchill Cup fixture, as the Eagles look to come away from the tournament with a win in the Bowl Final for a second time.
In a preview to the 2011 World Cup Pool C fixture, the US Eagles will face Russia at Sixways on Saturday in a bid to take home some silverware.
O’Sullivan’s Eagles have lost both their Pool A fixtures, suffering a Churchill Cup record defeat (8-87) to England Saxons on the opening weekend at Franklin’s Gardens, followed three days later by a second loss to Tonga (13-44) at Esher Rugby.
Despite the losses, the former Ireland head coach insists the tournament has been a worthwhile experience.
“It has been a very valuable Churchill Cup so far as we have had a great opportunity to look at players and combinations very closely for RWC,” O’Sullivan said.
“The first two games against a very strong Saxons team and Tonga have been tough. The Tonga result was disappointing as we fielded a much more experienced team than against the Saxons. But we looked very ring rusty and made a lot of errors.
“I am confident after our third week in camp we will play with a lot more precision on Saturday. But it will take a big performance as Russia are playing well and were unlucky to lose to Italy A. They have some dangerous backs and a very solid pack so we will need to fire on all cylinders for this one.”
Saturday’s team shows five changes to the 22 that lost to Tonga, as former Sale Sharks scrumhalf Mike Petri is named in replacement of Tim Usasz, who moves to the bench.
Phil Thiel is the only change in the front row, replacing Chris Biller, while Louis Stanfill moves from the second row to No.8; John Van der Giessen starting at lock.
Teams:
United States Eagles: 15 Blaine Scully, 14 Colin Hawley, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Nese Malifa, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Louis Stanfill, 7 Todd Clever (captain), 6 Inaki Basauri, 5 Scott LaValla, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
Replacements: 16 Phil Thiel, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Pat Danahy, 19 Nic Johnson, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Roland Suniula, 22 Tai Enosa.
Russia: 15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 Alexey Makovetsky, 12 Igor Galinovsky, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Yuri Kushnarev, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 8 Vyacheslav Grachev, 7 Andrey Garbuzov, 6 Andrey Temnov, 5 Denis Antonov, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Ivan Prishchepenko, 2 Vladislav Korshunov (captain), 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements: 16 Valery Tsnobiladze, 17 Alexey Chernyshev, 18 Alexey Panasenko, 19 Victor Gresev, 20 Andrey Bykanov, 21 Anton Ryabov, 22 Igor Galinovsky.
Date: Saturday, June 18
Venue: Sixways, Worcester
Kick-off: 12.00 (11.00 GMT)
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: Nick Carrick (England), Roy Maybank
