Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
History will be made in London on Sunday as Chris Wyles makes his 250th appearance for Saracens. Having captained the USA in RWC 2015 he was commonly referred to as Captain America.
For Saracens he has been nothing short of an outstanding and dedicated performer. He made his debut for the London-based club over a decade ago and is now into his final season.
Wyles joined Saracens in 2008 from rivals the Northampton Saints. His professional career began prior to that for Nottingham in 2004. Some fourteen years later and the phenomenal player from the USA is amazingly making his 250th appearance for Saracens.
In addition to being an outstanding performer for Saracens, the club has been crucial to his success for the USA Eagles. Upon his international retirement following RWC 2015, Wyles had made more appearances at fullback than any other player in Eagles history.
For the Eagles Wyles appeared in three RWCs 2007, 2011 and 2015. He was a try scorer in all three tournaments, crossing against South Africa in 2007, Italy in 2011 and both Samoa and Japan in 2015.
In total he scored 16 tries for the USA in a 54-test career. Yet his achievements go even further with him having had a colored career for the USA Eagles 7’s side. He captained the team from 2007-2009, and in 2016 he would play at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
For Saracens his 250th appearance comes on the back of five club titles. He is a three-time English Premiership champion (2011, 2015, 2016) and a two-time European Champions Cup winner (2016, 2017).
Ahead of the match Saracens made a tribute video of Chris Wyles playing for the club. It is displayed below:
The full Saracens line-up for Sunday’s match is as follows:
SARACENS
15 Liam Williams, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Nick Isiekwe, 5 George Kruis, 4 Dom Day, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Kieran Longbottom, 19 Michael Rhodes, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 Alex Goode
