On June 16th, the 32-man traveling squad for the USA Men’s National Rugby Team’s summer tour was announced on the Rugby Rundown show. There were a lot of expected names on the list, but also a few surprises. Nine new players impressed their way into getting called up, and some rather big names lost their favor.
During the announcement, USA Men’s National Team head coach Scott Lawrence was interviewed about selections. Lawrence mentioned how he and the coaching staff were trying to add more “go forward” to the forward pack, and boy did they! Five out of the six new faces have put in triple-digit meters gained. Christian Poidevin leads the pack with 291 meters (318.24 yards) gained, and also scored eight tries and two try assists for good measure. On the defensive side, four of the six made triple-digit, bone-crunching tackles. Makeen Alikhan shows the rest how it’s done with 172 tackles made, and also made a nuisance of himself by stealing the ball 15 times from his opponents.
The three inclusions for the backline are all pretty interesting, though for different reasons. Christopher Hilsenbeck has really impressed since taking the starting fly-half position from the veteran English Premiership player Tim Swiel. With 26 conversion kicks, 10 penalty kicks, 203 meters gained, and 61 tackles made, what’s not to like? Tom Pittman is interesting because not a lot is known about him. He plays in the lower levels of professional French Rugby, which is not available to be viewed here in the USA. The last new person to be added is Rufus McLean. The reason he’s interesting has nothing to do with his athletic abilities, but rather the scandal of his recent past involving domestic abuse.
Longtime fans will notice the absence of some stalwarts, but a lot of those names have called an end to their international careers. Players like Dylan Fawsitt (MLR’s all-team leading try scorer), Cam Dolan, Paul Mullen, and Bryce Campbell will most likely not be seen in a USA jersey again. There are also players who have impressed (like Joe Mano, who is one reason for Utah doing so well this season), but have made themselves unavailable for selection. For example, Lawrence mentioned how Mano won’t be in the country this summer, which doesn’t help when Team USA is playing at home.
Two players who definitely lost their spots in the 32-man USA squad would be Luke Carty and Christian Dyer. Luke Carty moved from Chicago to NOLA for a fresh start, but instead became the clear backup when the Welshman, Dorian Jones, was healthy. Christian Dyer moved from Houston to LA to play more exciting rugby. He found himself struggling to compete with Rory van Vugt, Reece Macdonald, and Andrew Coe for playing time, though.
The USA Men’s National Team is going to play Belgium (July 5th), Spain (July 12th), and England (July 19th). All on home soil. Six players have used this Major League Rugby season to impress their way into the traveling squad in hopes of being selected for the match-day 23 for these matches. By making big hits, big runs, big kicks, and scoring tries, they have all staked their claims. Conversely, there are two players who unfortunately lost their spots due to lackluster seasons.
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