USA ready for next step in rugby journey

It hasn't been the best of tournaments for the USA. It hasn't been the worst either.

It's been three comprehensive losses to date in Japan for the American rugby side. Defeats to England, France and Argentina were always on the cards, but they've acquitted themselves reasonably well against the Tier 1 outfits. Their big game is this Sunday. There's very little to play for. Argentina have cemented third place and whatever slim hopes they had of a Quarter Final spot have long since dissipated. But, a win against Tonga would be only their fourth in World Cup history, and their first since 2011. Victories against Russia and twice against Japan are the only bright lights in the USA's seven campaigns to date, and their clash with Tonga sees them come up against a side breathing down their necks in the world rankings. A win for Tonga will likely see them leapfrog the States into 15th. There is a sizeable Irish contingent involved with USA Rugby, four players in the 31-man squad. Dylan Fawsitt, John Quill, Paul Mullen and AJ MacGinty. Their campaigns vary from the solid MacGinty (top points scorer at the tournament for the Eagles) to the downright disastrous Quill (sent off for a high tackle on England's Owen Farrell and suspended for the remainder of the tournament). Speaking on The JOEpan Rugby Show this week, Jerry Flannery spoke about how the USA are on the right track in their development of the game, but there's a while yet until they start developing indigenous players in the volume and quality needed to compete at the highest level;

"Long-term, that's the way they need to go. They need to start developing players within the USA. A step on the way towards doing that is strengthening the league, is bringing in more quality into the league and if it has to be that a lot of the younger Irish lads are coming over, coming across, plying their trade in the domestic league over in the States, then younger players will get better as a result of seeing the quality improve there and learning off them."

It's not only a large Irish contingent in the American squad, the USA have used the nature of their population demographics and the residency rule to full effect in order to piece together a squad that, prior to the World Cup, had won 16 of their 20 previous fixtures, including a landmark victory over Scotland. Fla doesn't think that nature of their squad diminishes their achievements;

"It's the exact same as... you go down to New Zealand and they're going to have Fijians, they're going to have Samoans, they're going to have Tongans. And those guys will come through, and they'll play for New Zealand, so at the moment it's a stepping stone where a lot of players who probably aren't making it in Ireland, John Quill, A.J. MacGinty, they say 'well I can play international Test rugby here'. Down the line then, you just want to see that those lads actually... That the coaching improves and the pathways improve towards the senior team."

A victory over Tonga on Sunday would simply secure a very successful Rugby World Cup for Gary Gold's side.   You can watch the full episode of The JOEpan Rugby Show below, with full previews of Scotland v Japan, Wales v Uruguay and USA v Tonga, as well as a general love-in for the Tier 2 nations at this year's World Cup: https://youtu.be/f9RSUS3j13s

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