The US made wholesale changes for the team to play Australia in a World Cup Pool C match in Wellington tomorrow from the one that beat Russia last week.
Among 14 changes, coach Eddie O’Sullivan unveiled a completely revamped backline, with only Mike Petri, Roland Suniula and Chris Wyles making the bench from the backs that were part of the 13-6 victory over Russia.
Australia-born scrum-half Tim Usasz takes the captain’s armband from openside flanker Todd Clever, who misses out on the match-day 22 altogether, as does another key player, prop Mike MacDonald.
Photo: AFP
The only player to retain his spot in the starting line-up from the Russia game is second row Hayden Smith, while last week’s forward starters Matekitonga Moeakiola, Louis Stanfill and Nic Johnson are named among the replacements.
Six of the players that were not chosen in the first 22 against Ireland and Russia were promoted to the starting lineup. Another, Brian McClenahan, was chosen among the replacements.
“There’s quite a few changes. It’s a fairly mixed bag,” O’Sullivan said. “But the guys are bringing lots of energy. A lot of the guys haven’t suited up yet.”
“We’re not throwing a bunch of rookies in there, there’s quite a bit of experience running through the team. There are a lot of guys who were close to starting against Ireland or against Russia but didn’t get the start,” he added. “We’ll have to keep our heads, keep the tempo and stick with it.”
O’Sullivan said that the US team’s World Cup focus had been built around their two opening games.
“We strategized around a big performance on 9/11 [Sept. 11] against Ireland to start and Russia was the game we had to win,” he said. “We couldn’t really repeat that rotation, with a four-day turnaround for the guys, so this game was always the game where we were going to have the chance to put fresh legs on the field.”
However, O’Sullivan warned that his team were girded for a potential Wallaby backlash after their surprise loss to the Irish.
“There’s no question about it, any team that comes off a defeat will always want to make a statement and I have no doubt that will be the intent of Australia against us, to lay down a marker,” the coach said. “We’ll try to stick to our plans and system, and under presssure will look to not abandon ship.”
“Particularly in the last 20 minutes, [it’s about] staying within striking distance as long as we can and staying on the horse as long as we can,” he added. “At times, we’ve been a bit punchdrunk. We just need to hang in there and keep swinging and stay in the game until the last quarter.”
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