European Championship Cup: USA List of Champions

History was made on Saturday. David Ainu’u became the fourth USA player to win the European Champions Cup. The 21-year-old received 15 minutes of game time for the winning team. Toulouse defeated La Rochelle 22-17 in what was an all-French final.

Dan Lyle became the first American to win the European Champions Cup. He did so in 1998 with Bath. The native of Louisville, Kentucky joined joined Bath in 1996. He first captained the USA that same year against Japan. He went on to lead the Eagles at RWC 1999 and was a stand-out performer until his final test match against France at RWC 2003.

After a  long wait, Chris Wyles became the second USA player to win the European Champions Cup. The native of Stamford, Connecticut who also spent his youth in Allentown, Pennsylvania played at RWCs 2007, 2011 and 2015. He won the European Champions Cup in 2016 and 2017 with Saracens.

Wyles was joined by a second American in the 2017 Final. Titi Lamositele was a part of the winning effort in 2017 and again in 2019. The native of Bellingham, Washington broke the record as the youngest player to play for the USA. It happened in 2013 in a RWC qualifier for the USA vs Canada. He subsequently became a professional player for Saracens and is now also a European Challenge Cup winner for Montpellier.

Ainu’u is the fourth, and latest USA player to win the European Champions Cup. Like Lamositele, Ainu’u is a prop out of Washington state. They hail from either side of Seattle. Ainu’u is a prop out of Olympia. He earned a call-up to train with the USA Eagles while still attending high school. He made his Eagles debut against Samoa in 2018 and remarkably started against England at RWC 2019 as a teenager.