United States national rugby union team

USA Rugby's national team is nicknamed the Eagles.

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The USA have always been considered a rugby union minnow, but through professionalism the Eagles are making improvements in coaching, management and player development, and as a result have improved on the field. The Eagles have a potentially huge pool of players as many Americans play American football in college but give up playing afterwards. However, because very few Americans grow up playing rugby union, with the majority of players not taking up the game until college (or even later), the average American player has far less rugby experience than most players of the same age in the rest of the world.

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With the sheer size of the USA, coupled with relatively few fixtures, the Eagles squad only get together before games and for periodic evaluations. Selections are in part made from talent spotting done at USA Super League matches.

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Ranked 16th in the world the Eagles participate annually in the Can Am trophy match against Canada. There are also the bi-annual Pan American championships, which can also double as the Americas zone World Cup qualifiers.

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The USA is also involved in the implementation of the NAWIRA zone competition, which will give North American and West Indies sides regular competition.

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The one area that has seen improvement for the USA internationally is in the game of Sevens where the Eagles have impressed on the IRB World Sevens circuit, making it regularly to play-off rounds of the top tournaments in the world.

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