Pacific Nations Cup 2019

   USA Rugby Eagles played in the Pacific Nations Cup 2019 and placed 3rd. This is about what they deserved. The Eagles soundly beat Canada 49 to 19, that game was on American home soil. The second game was a slug fest against Samoa, This game was played in Fiji. The USA won on a last second kick. I beleive this was a well deserved win. The last game was against Japan. The USA lost to the Brave Blossoms 20-37. It is to bad the USA couldnt win this tournamnet and gain some confidence going into the World Cup.

• USA 49-19 Canada 
• USA 13-10 Samoa
• USA 20-37- Japan

I have to say this is an improvement for the Eagles in this tournament. They have improved greatly over a 6 year period. 

World Cup:

  The game against Japan shows the reality of how good the higher ranked nation are. The USA has England, France and Argentina who I believe are all better and ranked higher than the Eagles. There is the last game against Tonga who are slightly below the Eagles.

The Eagles now prepare for the World Cup in Japan, starting Sept 26th for the Eagles.

This tournament is right at the start of the College football season and the NFL, so it is going to be hard to get some attention. Also the games will be played in Japan so the time differential might make a difference. 

Go Eagles

USA Sevens Rugby is tied for 1st..Best ever start

     The USA Eagles Seven team is presently tied for 1st pace in the World Seven Series. There have been 4 competitions so far and the USA has reached the final every time. They have not won it however by reaching the final they have gained valuable Points for the ultimate goal of winning the 2019 Championship.

Next up for the Eagles with be the 2 North American Venues pf Las Vegas and Vancouver. The USA usually plays well in the Americas ....so here is hoping the Eagles can win again in Las Vegas and claim a champion in one of these 10 tournamnets.

Looking ahead-- I believe the London and Paris competitions will be the hardest, just for the Fact that Ireland will be joining the frey. Ireland has the potential to win the entire tournament at either London or Paris.

Next game in March 1st - 3rd

American Rugby Championship USA Rugby vs Chile & USASevens update

        The American Rugby championship get underway t2/2/2019 with the USA taking on Chile. The game was  played in Chile. The USA, Argentina and Uruguay all won.

The American are 2 time defending Champions. I am expecting a solid win from the americans.

USA Sevens

The USA Sevens are currently tied for 1st place and will have to keep pace if they want to try to win this year. They went undefeated in group play. They were extreamly fortunate to smash Kenya and Canada. They gave them +70 point differential and the #1 seed in the knockout rounds.


Fiji the Sevens other #1 ranked team has to play the host Australia in Sydney. The host are a very proud and tough opponent at home.

New Zealand, the perenial power, and the nations with the most Championships in Rugby 7 and Rugby Union will hae to get by a formitable European France, and the winner will have to play either Fiji or the host.

The USA missed the difficult side of the bracket, however if you take your guard down....you will lose. The USA opens against Spans and will have either England or South African to Contend with. I am glad the usa doesnt have to face Powerful Fiji, Perenial domination of NEw Zealand or the Aussie at home.

Upcoming 2019 USA sporting evnets

2019 (Soccer, Hockey, Rugby)		Host
Dec 26- Jan 5th	U-20 “World Juniors” Hockey	Vanc & Victoria
Jan 26-27th	World Rugby Seven Series	Hamilton, New Z
Feb 2nd-3rd	World Rugby Seven Series	Sydney, Australia
Feb - March	American Rugby Championship (Argentina XI, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile)	Home /Away
March 1-3rd	World Rugby Seven Series	Las Vegas, USA
March 9-10th	World Rugby Seven Series	Vancouver, Can
March 21, 26th	Nations League Qualification-CONCACAF (no –USA)	Home/away
April 5th-7th	World Rugby Seven Series	Hong Kong, China
April 13th 14th	World Rugby Seven Series	Singapore
April 18th-28th	IIHF World U-18 Championship (10 nations)	Sweden
April 21st –May 7th	U-17 CONCACAF Championship	No picked yet
May 10th -26th	IIHF Hockey World Championship	Slovakia
May 25-27th	World Rugby Seven Series	London, England
May 23 – June 15th	U-20 FIFA World Cup	Poland
June 1 and 2nd	World Rugby Seven Series-Final	Paris, France
June	2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy Qualification V Canada	Home/Away
July 9th -21st	2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy (8 Tier 2 Nations)	Brazil
July 9th -30th	Gold Cup 2019 –CONCACAF 16 nations	USA
Sept 2 -10th	Nations League A Match 1 & 2	Home/ Away
Sept 20th – Nov 2nd	Rugby World Cup 2019	Japan
Oct 7th – 15th	Nations League A Match 3 & 4	Home Away
Nov 11th – 19th	Nations League Match 5 & 6	Home / Away
	Rugby End – of –year-test	away

The World Juniors or the IIHF U-20 hockey tournament always starts the year off with an exciting bang. This year Canada will host again.  The
USAU-20 is now considered equal to Canada and Russia in this tournament. However Sweden and Finland are both just as good. This
tournament is played in Canada every other year, since it is a huge event and Canada hockey makes the most mula and kicks back revenue to
the IIHF.  

The American Rugby Championship starts 2 weeks after the Super Bowl with 3 games in Feb and 2 in March. This year the Eagles will again
have 3 home games, First Austin TX then 2 in Seattle. They will have to play Argentina XV away this year, so this year it will be much more
difficult to repeat. Hoping we see lots of progress.

We then switch back to Hockey for the IIHF U-18 Championship, which will be held in Sweden this year. The USA has dominated, yes I said
dominated in this Championship. They have reached the final 9 out of the last 10 years and winning 7 of the 9 times. The USA has the best
junior program.

The CONCACAF U-17 Championship will be in April and the host is not picked. It was hosted in Mex (09), Jam(11), Panama (13), Honduras
(15) and in  Panama (17) again. I believe the new president will try to get this tournament to Canada or a Caribbean nation next. I am thinking
a nice island like Curacao, Martinique, Bermuda or Guadeloupe. Since the USA host the Gold Cup, the last 3 Olympic qualifications and the last
U-20 Men’s Championship I believe it has to move to another location.

IIHF Hockey World Championship is in Slovakia, This tournament starts in May right after the completion of the second round of NHL playoffs.
 So when your NHL team is knocked out you get to tune in and cheer for Team USA. Canada has 26 Championships, Russia 27, Czech 12, and
Sweden 11. Finland and USA only have a paltry 2.  The USA just do not take this tournament that serious or they are just out gunned by better
teams …EVERY YEAR!?

FIFA U-20 World Cup is in Poland in May which is a great summer start for soccer.  The USA U-20 performs much better than the senior side
in the World Cup at this level. USA has reached the quarter finals the last 2 years. They enter as CONCACAF Champions.

Then we have the high intensity (Rugby) USA Selects v Canada A for the qualification to the U-20 World Rugby Trophy. This is a yearly
tournament that will be in Brazil this year. Canada has beaten the USA Selects last 2 years. Canada then flopped at last year’s Tournament
. Let’s hope we can finally beat Canada and play in the international U-20 Trophy tournament in Brazil. The tournament is the same time
as the Gold Cup.

CONCACAF Gold Cup is the Granddaddy of all USA tournaments in 2019.  It will be hosted in the USA (also Costa Rica). There will be
15 venues in the USA. Alliance Field will be a brand new SSS due to open in March 2019. Also Banc of California Stadium just opened in
2018. These stadiums will be perfect for the expanded Gold Cup. The tournament finally expanded to 16 nations. I am hoping for more
scoring and we should get that in the group games. There should be some quality Caribbean nations who will bring a plethora of European
players to make for a really good competition.

Then we have the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan to start the Fall.  The USA Eagles will not be favorite in any match. Every nation in their group
out ranks them. I am personally hoping for massive improvement in this tournament.  I am hoping we can keep up with the thoroughbreds here.

Except for the Nations League and the 3 or 4 Rugby test matches that will wrap up 2019. The Nations League comes right after the Gold Cup.
The nations League is a much smaller tournament and will not get the glitz the Gold Cup had.  The test matches comes after the Rugby World Cup.
The Test matches will seem miniscule after the exciting Rugby World Cup 2019.

Order of excitement/importance for me

1. CONCACAF Gold Cup (July)
2. U-20 World Juniors (January)
3. Rugby World Cup (Fall)
4. FIFA U-20 World Cup
5. American Rugby Championship
6. U-20 World Rugby Trophy (if USA qualifies)

USA Rugby Seven starts off with a bang.

Last year the USA placed dead last in Dubai. This year they reached the final game. The year before in 2016 they didnt make the Cup knockout rounds of the top 8 nations. This effected their final standing which is when the Champion for the year is declared. The USA were only 5 points behind England and 6 points behind Australia in last years 2017-2018 Rugby World Seven Series. 

This year they wanted start strong and they did. In the knockout round they beat last years runner up and olympic Champion Fiji. They then gutted out a hard fought win against Australia 22-17.

They faced down New Zealand and lost 21-5. However they do take home 19 points and sit in second place. I know it is early however this is the best USA has even done in Dubai. This is one series out of 10 which concludes in Paris

Next location is South Africa next weekend

USA Rugby year in Review

USA Rugby year in Review 2018

USA Eagles had an awesome year in 2018. They won the Americas Rugby Championship for the
second year in a row. They also had more convincing wins that the previous year. This was the first
year they went undefeated in this tournament. This was a very good step forward, seperating themselves from
the rest of the Americas. Hopefully we will see Argentinas top team if the USA keep winning.

Major League Rugby: This League may be more important than the American Rugby

Championship. The first year was 2018 and it was a success. Attendance is only about 2,000 per

game however it provides a chance for players to play professionally in the USA. It also provided a competition for
half the year to keep the top players or even developing players a place to play in USA,

USA World Seven Series : They also had a very good year. They placed 6th in the World Rugby

Seven Series. They were never in the top 6 in the first 15 years of this tournament. They have placed

6th in 3 of the last 4 years and placed 5th place in 2017. They are competing and beating the top teams

in this sport. New Zealand and Fiji still remain the nations to beat here.

USA Sevens World Cup 2018. This tournament was hosted in the USA San Francisco and was a

huge success. Both in attendance, interest and the results. They achieved their  highest ever Rugby

Sevens World Cup result and placed 6th. They lost in the quarterfinals to England in Extra Added time.

The good thing is most people, including myself though we had a legitimate shot at winning this

tournament. This is a huge adjustment attitude in this sport and it is nice we can compete with the top

teams in the world.

USA Eagles Test Matches:

The USA Eagles have won 8 test matches in a row. They also beat a Tier 1 nation, Scotland for
the first time. They have also move up the ranking in the last 10 years. From the 20th spot in 2008 to
the 13th spot in 2018. The 13th ranking is the highest ranking the USA has ever achieved. 2018 has
been the best year for USA Rugby ever with Gary Gold as their head coach.

Going forward:

• The USA first has the Americas Rugby Championship to defend
• Then there is the Rugby Seven World Series that Starts in December this year and run the first half of 2019.
• We also want to keep an eye on Major League Rugby. There will be to 2 more teams and a new Rugby Stadium
• in Houston. 2020 3 more Rugby teams in Boston, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Just as Major League Soccer
• benefited soccer in this nation, Rugby should do the same.
• The USA Eagles have the 2019 World Cup Japan coming up.

USA trying to gain Tier 1 status win latest victory

First off. Who are the Tier 1 nations.  

Well - the Six Nations Championship teams are all
tier 1. So England, France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy. Then the 4 nations from the
Rugby Championship (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina). That’s about it,

Tier II:

Fiji, Japan, Tonga and Georgia all currently out rank Tier 1 Italy. Georgia has been lobbying
to replace Italy in the Six nations Championship, however Italy beat Japan 25-22 in June
2018 and Georgia 28-17 in Florence Nov 2018. Italy has never lost to Georgia. So how can Georgia
claim to take Italys place in the Six Nations or even this "Tier I" status.
So i guess we will see Italy take their place back in the top 10 soon.

Every nation are trying to catch there so called Tier 1 nations.

Fiji is the top nation in the Pacific Nations Cup. Winning the battle of the Pacific nations time
and again. They have a dominant Rugby 7 team but are vying, just like the other Tier 2
nations to be considered for Tier 1. To do this these teams have to beat Tier 1 sides in
meaningful Test match games or at next years Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Fiji, Japan, Georgia Tonga, Samoa and the USA are all trying to catch the elusive status of
Tier 1 nation.

.

Where does the USA stands:

The USA are probing the top 10. They have won their last 9 games including a victory against Tier 1
Scotland. I would put them exactly where they are. A solid Tier 2. They ony beat Samoa with
a last second kick, They just played and beat #16th ranked Samoa on neutral site (France).
Next up
for the USA Eagles will be an away game against #17 ranked Romania. Away games are
much harder. After that they play #2 ranked Ireland in Ireland. To be considered for Teir 1 you
have to beat them. USA Eagles are making tremendous strides howver beating Teir 1
consistently---is required.

For now lets enjoy the 9 game win streak and the upcoming Test match against another Tier 2 nations
Romania trying to prove themselves.