Eagles call for Suniula and King

John Mitchell has called up World Cup centre Andrew Suniula and newcomer James King to his US Eagles squad for their South American leg of the Americas Rugby Championship. Suniula replaces Lorenzo Thomas who has returned to Lindenwood University after impressing in his test debut against Chile on the weekend. Thomas had himself been called in to cover for injured Lemoto Filikitonga.

New Zealand-born King, a 6’7″ second row, joins the team for the first time having previously represented the Blues and Rebels in Super Rugby. The 28-year-old qualifies through his American mother and has spent the last two seasons playing for Yakult Levins in the Japanese second division.

Injuries have further affected Mitchell’s selection slightly, as prop Chris Baumann has been forced out of the tour. Eric Fry will now travel with the squad instead of returning to Newcastle Falcons, but Todd Clever has departed as planned. Nick Edwards is ruled out with a broken leg suffered in the first half against Los Condores, while Pat Blair has rejoined the sevens program. Nate Brakeley and Luke Hume have returned to New York with work commitments.

While Matt Trouville and Bruce Thomas remain on the sidelines as well, there are two new loose forwards at Mitchell’s disposal in the form of u20 captain Hanco Germishuys and sevens standout Aladdin Schirmer. Cameron Falcon travels having not yet appeared in a match day squad, but with only six available front row players he looks like to finally get his shot with Joseph Taufete’e expected to revert to prop, having started at hooker against Chile.

The first match of the two-game tour is on Saturday as the Eagles face Brazil at the Arena Barueri in Sao Paulo. Kickoff is at 6pm EST. Montevideo’s Charrua Stadium will host the final match against Uruguay on March 5, kickoff at 4pm EST. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

FORWARDS
Demecus Beach (Life), Eric Fry (Newcastle Falcons, UK), Olive Kilifi (Seattle Saracens), Joseph Taufete’e (Belmont Shore), Cameron Falcon (New Orleans), Mike Sosene-Feagai (Belmont Shore), James King (Yakult Levins, JP), Ben Landry (Seattle Saracens), Brodie Orth (Kansas City Blues), Hanco Germishuys (Glendale Raptors), Alec Gletzer (Olympic), Aladdin Schirmer (Central Washington), David Tameilau (Life West)

BACKS
Tom Bliss (Ealing Trailfinders, UK), Niku Kruger (Glendale Raptors), Mike Te’o (Belmont Shore), James Bird (Old Blue), JP Eloff (Chicago Lions), Mike Garrity (Seattle Saracens), Chad London (Glendale Raptors), Andrew Suniula (CSM Bucuresti, RO), Ryan Matyas (Old Blue), Kingsley McGowan (Trinity College, IR), Tim Stanfill (Seattle Saracens), Jake Anderson (Olympic)