USA Rugby Eagles will finish their unbeaten 2018 season on Saturday aiming to topple Ireland in Dublin. It will be no easy task.
Head coach Gary Gold expects the “greatest challenge yet” when facing Ireland in a bid to claim a 10th straight Test victory, facing an opposition who on their last outing toppled the famous New Zealand All Blacks.
“We know this weekend will present our greatest challenge yet with the Ireland side still buzzing from their historic victory over the All Blacks,” Gold said.
“Ireland will be relentless as ever this weekend and our guys have spent the last week ensuring that they approach Saturday’s game with the level of intensity that will put us in the best position to meet the fight.”
The USA Rugby Eagles will take the pitch at Aviva Stadium for the first time since 2004 having last faced Ireland in 2017 at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. In 2017, the United States men fell to a 19-55 Irish victory.
They arrive on the back of a 31-5 victory over Romania in Bucharest that lifted the USA to their highest ever World Rugby Ranking of 13th.
During their 2018 winning run, the USA have beaten Scotland, the Maori All Blacks and Samoa.
Ireland boast similar form. Not only did they beat the All Blacks 16-9 last weekend in Dublin they are the reigning champions of Europe, claiming this year’s Six Nations championship.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has warned his side will not take Saturday’s visitors lightly. He said:
“They are the only unbeaten international side I can think of this season. They are nine from nine, so especially putting into context their win over Scotland this summer, if you’re not absolutely on the money then there’s a big risk for us.”
THE USA side is:
W Hooley, B Scully, B Campbell, P Lasike, M Brache, W Magie, S Davies, T Lamositele, J Taufete’e , P Mullen, G Peterson, N Civetta, J Quill, H Germishuys, C Dolan.
Replacements: D Fawsitt, C Wenglewski, D Waldren, S Manoa, D Tameilau, R De Haas, G Moore, R Matyas
The game can be viewed this Saturday at 1:30 PM ET, LIVE on ESPN+
Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com
//