USA Men’s arrive Tokyo for Pacific Nations Cup round 2

Immediately after defeating Canada from Los Angeles on Saturday, the USA Men’s Eagles jet off to Tokyo for the latter half of this year’s Asahi Dry Pacific Nations Cup, ready to face Japan for the Pool B finale.

This will be the first time in over five years that the USA and Japan will meet, last clashing in 2019 from Fiji for the previous edition of the Pacific Nations Cup. Head Coach Scott Lawrence and staff have selected the match day 23, with a few positions seeing changes. USA vs Japan kicks off from Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, 6:05 AM ET and live on Peacock.

When asked about the keys to this game, Head Coach Scott Lawrence said there are three pillars, “Our discipline, our physicality and how brave we are when we take our opportunities. That’s what it will come down to.”

Captain Greg Peterson echoed the sentiment, “I think it will be first 20 min and that last 20 min of the game, that is very much going to be the decider. With how we play and how Japan played against Canada, you can see where the team strengths and weaknesses are. It this team starts off hot and they finish strong, we think that will be the game.”

Ruben de Haas gets the start in the #9 jersey, his first match back from injury since 2022. Viliami Helu and Jasom Damm swap starting roles to fill out the changes from last week's match against Canada.

The Men’s Eagles have competed against Japan on a number of occasions, dating all the way back to 1985. This Saturday will be the 25th test match between the two nations, with most historical fixtures staged before the Rugby World Cup and Pacific Rim Championship. 2024 sees the return of regular contests with Japan as the Asahi Dry Pacific Nations Cup looks to renew the meeting between both rugby nations. The 2019 Pacific Nations Cup was the last match, where Japan won 34-20. Four of the 23 stepping onto the field in Kumagaya were named to that match day roster, in Paul Mullen, Nate Augspurger, Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz and Captain Greg Peterson.