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John Mitchell cannot be accused of disliking surprises. The Eagles head coach has handed the captaincy to Nate Augspurger for the Americas Rugby Championship match against Chile on Saturday. The Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo will be the venue for the fourth round meeting that sees an undefeated USA side up against a winless Chilean team.
Augspurger captains for the first time despite being retained on the wing, with Shaun Davies continuing at halfback and Todd Clever named vice-captain. Ben Cima gets an opportunity at flyhalf with Will Magie swapped to the bench, and injury to Ryan Matyas opens the door for Spike Davis to make his second start of the competition on the right wing.
Only Chris Baumann remains in a new-look tight five picked to run out against Los Cóndores. Ben Tarr and James Hilterbrand are rotated back in with Anthony Purpura and Peter Malcolm moved to the bench. Olive Kilifi has joined the side during the week and will act as a reserve.
Outstanding locks Nate Brakeley and Nick Civetta will miss out on the trip to South America so there are first test starts for twin towers Matt Jensen and Siaosi Mahoni. David Tameilau covers lock or no8 on the bench, while Hanco Germishuys is called in to cover the flank. South African midfielder Calvin Whiting and English-born outside back Andrew Turner are each in line to make their test debuts.
USA EAGLES
1 Ben Tarr, 2 James Hilterbrand, 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Siaosi Mahoni, 6 Todd Clever, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 12 JP Eloff, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Spike Davis, 15 Mike Te’o
Replacements: 16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Anthony Purpura, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Hanco Germishuys, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Will Magie, 22 Calvin Whiting, 23 Andrew Turner
