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Thomas Morani has declared his desire to play for the USA. In an interview with Maximiliano Ludueña on ESPN Scrum, Morani says he intends to make himself available for the Eagles. He is eligible to do so as despite being raised in Buenos Aires he was, in fact, born in Miami, Florida.
The 26-year-old is qualified for Argentina and the USA. He was raised in the former and learned his rugby in Buenos Aires. Morani played for CUBA in Argentina’s leading club competition, the URBA. He has decided that he wants to play for the USA.
Morani said:
“I like having short term goals that can be met to arrive at a primary objective. First, is being in the starting line-up in the team and having a good season, this obviously leads to winning the tournament.”
“I would also like to play for the USA; but, without having a good season I don’t think I will be able to play for the Eagles. That is why I set objectives for the short-term to be able to achieve them over the long-term.”
The 26-year-old recently signed to remain at the San Diego Legion. He joined the team during the 2021 Major League Rugby (MLR) season from the Houston SaberCats. Matías Freyre has also moved from Houston to San Diego and, like Morani, he is USA eligible.
Freyre is Eagles-eligible under World Rugby’s new Union Transfer regulation law. The 27-year-old was born in Kansas City before moving to Argentina as a child. He learned his rugby in Buenos Aires and is a product of Newman. He played in the URBA Top 12 and at international level for Los Pumas 7’s before returning to the USA in 2019 to play MLR.
His most recent appearance for Argentina was for Los Pumas 7’s in April of 2018; as such, he has already fulfilled the three-year stand-down period required. This should qualify him as a domestic player in MLR. Would Freyre be interested in an Eagles call-up?
Morani’s decision follows that of Axel Müller. The 28-year-old stated his desire to play for the USA at the Rugby World Cup. Müller was born in Argentina and does not have USA ancestry. He lived in Arizona for ten years which he hopes can qualify him.
