Amazingly, USA Rugby sat 12th in the world rankings by the end of 2018 but currently sit 15th after a less than outstanding trip through the Americas Rugby Championship to kick off the year. Now with the Rugby World Cup in Japan less than two months away, it’s just about time to start rolling out predictions for who makes the trip.

Criteria here will be entirely based on players who are in form and tactics. Gary Gold has had a lot of time the last two and a half years to evaluate players, both at the club level and at the international stage. He’ll get one more look with the Pacific Nations Cup set to begin this weekend.

Considering how successful 2018 was for American rugby, it will be hard to ignore the players that were involved in such a historic year. Also, with how successful of a second season it was for Major League Rugby, it gave us an idea of what players make a case to be on the squad.

Props

Olive Kilifi

Titi Lamositele

Paul Mullen

David Ainuu

Chance Wenglewski

Second row

Nick Civetta

David Tameilau

Ben Landry

Greg Peterson

Hookers

Joe Taufete’e

Dylan Fawsitt

James Hilterbrand

Back row

Hanco Germishuys

Psalm Wooching

Tony Lamborn

Cam Dolan

John Quill

Considering pool matches against Argentina’s formidable scrum and a strong forward pack for England, it makes sense for the Eagles to go heavy with forwards. We don’t know what France side will come out in this World Cup, as they have been pretty inconsistent, but they should push the US. Tonga has strong forwards as well.

Five props mean important depth in this competitive group of death. Titi Lamositele is no doubt the best of the props, but who his counterpart is will be an intriguing watch as both David Ainuu and Paul Mullen are both worthy of the spot. He who doesn’t cinch that down will still serve an important substitute role. In reserves are Kilifi, who has been a strong player for a formidable Seattle Seawolves defense, and Wnglewski, an up-and-coming prospect destined to be a starter for the national team in the near future.

At hooker, Joe Taufete’e is unquestionably the starter; not only is he the clear number one choice at the position, but he is also one of the best in the world –he even broke an international record with the number of tries scored (20 tries in 22 matches played). Fawsitt is an excellent player and will be an awesome player coming in as a substitute after having such a great season with Rugby United New York, scoring 13 tries. Hilterbrand is unlikely to get much playing time, but he is the third-most experienced hooker on the squad and is a good depth player.

For the second row, this was actually a pretty easy decision as these were clearly the four best at their positions for the US. Civetta and Peterson are likely to be the starters.

The back row has a lot of talent. It was tough to narrow down exactly who to take as it is a deep position for the country. The hardest choice will be who starts at the two flanker positions and the number eight position. The likelihood will be that Germishuys and Quill will start at the flankers and Cam Dolan will take the number eight, however, Lamborn will probably get a start there too.

The only question about this group will be the substitutes on game day.

Scrum halves

Nate Augspurger

Shaun Davies

Ruben de Haas

Fly halves

AJ MacGinty

Will Magie

Centers

Dylan Audsley

Marcel Brache

Bryce Campbell

Paul Lasike

Wings/Full back

Will Hooley

Ryan Matyas

Blaine Scully

Tim Maupin

Gannon Moore

The United States has been blessed with a load of talent in the backs and such great depth that this could be the difference in the final score of each match. They have such power, cohesiveness, speed, and experience to possibly match up well with each team. It will be exciting to see what they do.

Davies is the number one choice at scrum half as he moves the ball well out of the scrum and is so smart with it as well. However, at times Davies struggled and when de Haas played, the offense seemed to move smoothly. Augspurger is a worthy backup plan, but he can also play at the wing and at full back so expect him to get a lot of playing time still.

MacGinty is a world-class fly half and will no doubt be the starter there. He is a deadly and precise kicker which should help their offense. Magie will get the start if MacGinty hurts himself.

Campbell and Lasike are most likely to be the starters at the 12 and 13 jerseys, but Audsley and Brache are worthy of a start as well.

At the wings and full back positions, an intriguing battle lays ahead. Blaine Scully is the most experienced of them all and will likely get a start at the 14 jersey or even at 15, but who starts on the other side for the 11 jersey appears very in the air. My guess will be Moore. For the 15 jersey, Hooley is probably going to get that spot, but he can also play at fly half if needed, also absorbing kicking duties while remaining the true full back. Don’t be shocked to see Augspurger put on a jersey at one of the wings or at full back too.

There are plenty of snubs; can’t help but mention Dino Waldren, Nate Brakeley, Riekert Hattingh, Ben Cima, Thretton Palamo, Mike Te’o, Paddy Ryan, Kapeli Pifeleti, Louis Stanfill, Mike Petri, and 7s crossover Madison Hughes. They have not been forgotten, merely beaten out. The squad must be slimmed to 31.

A lot can change in the coming months. Those on the Pacific Nations Cup roster will have the upper hand with crucial playing time against quality competition, but injuries always hauntingly linger around the corner.

With the first look in the books, expect the first updates following Saturday’s match against Canada.