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USA Eagles Head Coach Mike Tolkin has made one change to his team for Sunday’s Pool B clash against Scotland in Leeds. The one change sees hooker Phil Thiel being named to start ahead of Zach Fenoglio who started against Samoa last Sunday in Brighton.
Tolkin has also made one positional change with captain Chris Wyles moving from the left wing to fullback which means Blaine Scully will play left wing and together the pair will join Takudzwa Ngwenya in an all-star back-three.
In search for continuity Tolkin has resisted the temptation to start either Cam Dolan or Danny Barrett, two of the Eagles leading forwards in recent years. Both will be on the bench with Tolkin, curiously, having just two replacement backs to enable him to have John Quill also providing back-row cover.
Scotland named their team earlier in the day. It can be seen here.
After playing poorly in their opening loss to Samoa, the USA looks to rebound with an improved performance against Scotland. The Scots have made ten changes to their side that defeated Japan, but still fields a very strong team. If the USA are to be competitive against Scotland, they’ll need to limit their mistakes and lower their penalty count. Tolkin has loaded the lineup with forwards, expecting a forward heavy battle with a Scottish side that has shown the ability to play an expansive game.
The USA needs to set the tempo of the match early and draw Scotland into a close battle. If they can coax some early penalties and use MacGinty to keep the scoreboard ticking, then the Eagles may have a chance to keep things close. Keep an eye on the final quarter of the match. The USA is notorious for fading around that point and Scotland poured in on Japan during that time period.
The USA takes on Scotland on September 27th in Leeds.
USA
1 Eric Fry, 2 Phil Thiel, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Hayden Smith, 5 Greg Peterson, 6 Al McFarland, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Samu Manoa, 9 Mike Petri, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Blaine Scully, 12 Thretton Palamo, 13 Seamus Kelly, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 15 Chris Wyles (Captain)
16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cam Dolan, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Folau Niua
