Eagles As Ready As They Can Be.

The Munster squad joined the US Eagles in US Cellular Field last night to see the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox.

Earlier in the day coach Declan Kidney, team manager Shaun Payne, tour captain Anthony Foley, forwards coach Jim Wlliams and Anthony Horgan attended a joint press conference at The Gage when the sides for the game on Sunday were officially announced. Attending on behalf of the Eagles were Head Coach Peter Thorburn, their forwards coach Marty Wiggins, Captain Mike Hercus and players Paul Emerick and Mike Mangan.

Thorburn speaking about Sunday’s game said, “Its a very important game. It will be seen by a lot of American people for the first time Its important the game on Sunday should have quality about it, it’s the way the game should be played because Americans love physicality in their sports. And I could see people getting converted very quickly when they see rugby.  So Sunday’s game is hugely important for so many reasons.

“With that in mind and the World Cup coming up, I think we’ve prepared as well as we can considering the limitations we have in US rugby, (such as)  people having to work for a living and the diversity of the rugby population. We think we have the best group that we can put together. We’ve had enough opportunity to be as good as we can be  at this stage. We need to have professional competitions before we can really stand up in the world of rugby. And so to take on a professional side such as Munster at this point is really hugely beneficial for us.” 

USA Eagles: Chris Wyles; Salesi Sika, PaulEmerick, Vaha Esikia, Takudzwa Ngwenya; Mike Hercus capt, Chad Erskine; Mile MacDonald, Blake Burdette, Chris Osentowski; Luke Gross, Mike Mangan; Louis Stanfill, Todd Clever, Henry Bloomfield.