Test Match Preview – England vs USA

After no activity in 2020 the USA Eagles are ready to fly again. The USA play on the special date of the 4th of July against England. The Sunday fixture will be the first test match for the Eagles since RWC 2019. It comes with eyes firmly looking at RWC 2023; the Eagles face Canada in their first qualifiers in September.

Head coach Eddie Jones has named eight uncapped players in his starting line-up. The decision comes on the back of a busy Premiership season and is also a reflection of England missing eleven players to the British & Irish Lions.

His line-up has a USA connection. Ohio-native Sam Underhill starts for England at flanker. He will join captain Lewis Ludlow and debutant Callum Chick in the back-row.

They will be under the command of an uncapped scrum-half; Harry Randall will his test debut. Randall will do so in a halves combination with another debutant, the outstanding Marcus Smith. He will have the experienced Henry Slade with him in the backs. The 38-capped veteran of RWCs 2015 and 2019 will start at outside center. Freddie Steward will debut at fullback

Jones has also handed debuts to forwards. In addition to Chick, three additional starting forwards will win their first caps for England. They are hooker Curtis Langdon; prop Joe Heyes; and second-rower Josh McNally.

USA Head Coach Gary Gold has an 18-3 split. That is to say 18 of the match-day 23 are MLR players. Of those who play outside of the MLR four are in the starting line-up. They are forwards David Ainu’u (Toulouse, FR) and Greg Peterson (Newcastle, UK); plus backs Marcel Brache (Western Force, AU) and Will Hooley (Saracens, UK).

Many of the 18 MLR names have prior experience playing abroad. Among them is captain Bryce Campbell who is formally of London Irish. In short, Gold’s team has more high profile players in comparative terms; prior Eagles touring teams have not been as professional.

AJ MacGinty is missing; yet, Gold has a team with reputable athletes named as replacements. Joe Taufete’e, Nate Brakeley, 20 Psalm Wooching, and Hanco Germishuys are all on the bench. They are joined by newcomers Michael Baska and Matt Harmon. If either receive game time they will make their test debuts.

The starting line-up also contains three uncapped players. Seattle’s Riekert Hattingh will debut at flanker; LA Giltinis’ Luke Carty will debut at fly half; and Utah’s Mika Kruse will earn his first cap on the left wing.

EDIT: Late changes see Will Hooley dropping out with injury. Marcel Brache moves to fullback, Calvin Whiting starts in the midfield, and uncapped Christian Dyer joins the bench.

Coach Gold said

“For us, the important thing is to ensure our younger players are exposed to this quality of competition early and often in their playing career. As we look ahead to World Cup qualification against Canada and now two test matches against Ireland, we are confident we will see the experience of these games pay dividends heading into the next two World cup cycles.”

England and the USA have met on six prior occasions. The six matches have been spread over four decades. The 2021 fixture begins a new decade for the Eagles and extends the rivalry into a fifth decade. Four of the six test matches were at RWCs. The USA’s only prior visit to England outside of a RWC was in 1999.

England is unbeaten against the USA Eagles. The 6-0 record is a reflection of the historic levels of the teams. England’s move to professionalism added to the gap. It is now closer than in 1999 and a closer result is expected in the upcoming test match than at RWC 2019.

ENGLAND
1 Ellis Genge, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Charlie Esels, 6 Lewis Ludlow (capt.), 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Callum Chick, 9 Harry Randall, 10 Marcus Smith, 11 Max Malins, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 13 Henry Slade, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Freddie Steward

Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Lewis Ludlam, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Jacob Umaga

USA
1 David Ainu’u, 2 Mikey Sosene-Feagai, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 7 Riekert Hattingh, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 Luke Carty, 11 Mika Kruse, 12 Calvin Whiting, 13 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Marcel Brache

Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Matt Harmon, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Nate Brakeley, 20 Psalm Wooching, 21 Hanco Germishuys, 22 Michael Baska, 23 Christian Dyer

Date: Sunday 4 July 2021
Kick-Off: 2:00pm (London); 9:00am (Eastern)
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, (London)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

HISTORICAL RESULTS
2019-09-26 – England 45, USA 7 (Kobe, Japan)
2007-09-08 – England 28, USA 10 (Lens, France)
2001-06-16 – USA 19, England 48 (San Francisco, USA)
1999-08-21 – England 106, USA 8 (London, England)
1991-10-11 – England 37, USA 9 (London, England)
1987-06-03 – England 47, USA 12 (Brisbane, Australia)

OVERALL RESULTS
England 6 Wins
USA 0 Wins