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USA RUGBY NAMES SQUADS FOR IRB TOURNAMENT |
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USA Rugby officially announced the players selected to make up the USA Hawks and USA Falcons squads set to play in the first portion of the International Rugby Board’s North America 4 tournament in early July.
The first match, held on July 10 and hosted at Mount Hood Community College in Oregon, will feature the USA Falcons, which consists primarily of Pacific Coast players, against their eastern U.S. rivals, the Hawks. The two American teams will then travel up to Vancouver Island, British Columbia for a dual double-header against their Canadian counterparts, Canada West and Canada East, on July 15 and July 19.
The IRB NA 4 will then take a 10-day break before heading into the last portion of the event at Glendale’s Infinity Park, just four miles from downtown Denver, for both the semifinal and final rounds of this year’s tournament.
This is the third year that the IRB has hosted this popular cross-border competition featuring two elite representative teams from both Canada and the USA. Over 80 percent of the players representing Canada and the USA at Rugby World Cup 2007 had participated in the Tournament and there is no doubt the IRB North America 4 serves as an invaluable preparation tool for the Test arena.
This year’s USA Falcons squad includes:
Errol Allard (Belmont Shore)
Naki Angilau ( Park City Haggis)
William Brazier (Old Blue)
Luke Council (Cal Poly/USA All-American)
Peter Dahl (Belmont Shore)
Jason Engelbrecht (Dallas Harlequins)
Vaha Esikia (Las Vegas)
Gary Golding (University of California/ USA All American)
Mark Kernen (Belmont Shore)
Jon Kollerer (Olympic Club)
Saimone Laulaupeaalu (San Francisco Golden Gate)
Mark Litke (Old Puget Sound Beach)
Valenese Malifa (Belmont Shore)
Tyson Meek (Denver Barbarians)
Mate Moeakiola (Pukekohe, NZ)
Jone Naqica (San Francisco Golden Gate)
Zachary Pangelinan (Old Mission Beach Athletic Club)
Shawn Pittman (San Francisco Golden Gate/ USA u20)
Rikus Pretorius (University of California/ USA All American)
Volney Rouse (San Francisco Golden Gate)
Derek Smith (Brigham Young University/ USA All American)
Louis Stanfill (University of California/ USA All American)
Jared Wolfgramm (Belmont Shore)
Jesse Taylor (Santa Monica)
Mose Timoteo (San Francisco Golden Gate)
Tim Usasz (Nottingham).
The Falcons Coaching and Management team consists of Pacific Region High Performance Manager Matt Sherman, Head Coach Ray Lehner (Olympic Club), Asst. Coach Mike Saunders (Snake River), Scrum Coach Bill LeClerc, Strength and Conditioning Coach Jeremy Bettle, Team Manager Craig Brown (Western Washington University), Physiotherapist Matt Nerri, Pacific Region Medical Coordinator Maury Hayashida, Film Analyst Dan Payne (San Diego State University) and Nutritional Consultant Adam Russell.
The Hawks squad consists of:
Phil Abraham (Chicago Lions)
Mark Aylor (Life University )
Justin Boyd (Dallas Harlequins)
Owen Collins (Boston Irish Wolfhounds)
Josh Dean (Air Force Men)
James Denise (New York Athletic Club)
Brian Doyle (NYAC)
Nathan Michael Ebner (The Ohio State University/USA All-American)
Michael Graham (Glendale Raptors)
Taylor Howden (Glendale Raptors)
Justin Hundley (NYAC)
Brian Lemay (Boston Irish Wolfhounds)
Nicholas Johnson (Denver Barbarians)
Travis Meidinger (Denver Barbarians)
Keikiokalani Misipeka (Pearl City)
Brian Olmes (Potomac Athletic Club)
Michael Petri (NYAC)
Patrick Quinn (Denver Barbarians)
Shawn Rafferty (NYAC)
Steven Sablan (PAC/USA u20)
Chad Slaby (Chicago Lions)
Brendan Thompson (Life University)
Phil Thiel (Life University)
John Van der Giessen (Denver Barbarians)
John Vitale (Chicago Lions)
The Hawks Coaching and Management team consists of Head Coach Marty Wiggins (Chicago Lions), Strength and Conditioning Coach David Williams (Denver Barbarians), Backs Coach Adam Friend (Pearl City), Scrum Coach Bill LeClerc, Manager Kenneth Holliday (Combined Services/PAC), Physiotherapist Kristen Douhand, Physiotherapist Travis Webb, Video & Film Analysis Daniel Yarusso (SUNY-Stony Brook) and Nutritional Consultant Adam Russell.
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