USA Women's Rugby Announces WXV 1 Squad
By Priscilla Jepchumba
In a recent training session, Head Coach Sione Fukofuka revealed the 30 players who will be heading to WXV 1 in British Columbia. The team is scheduled to play in Vancouver for three series, facing off against England, France, and Ireland.
Kate Zackary will lead the team, marking Hope Rogers' return to the 15s team since the Pacific Four Series against Australia in May. Additionally, Alev Kelter will make her first appearance in the 15s squad since the Rugby World Cup 2022 after securing a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and the commencement of the Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification process.
The roster for the Eagles will also include several players from the USA Women’s Sevens program. Notably, Kris Thomas, who served as a traveling reserve for the Paris Olympic team, will join the team. Cheta Emba, Atumata Hingano, Joanne “Nana’ Fa’avesi, and Summer Harris-Jones will also move from the sevens team to join the Eagles.
“The squad was selected on the basis that WXV is a performance tournament for us, and we wanted to select the strongest squad we had available. The players selected from their Pacific Four Series and Japan form have demonstrated development in their physical, technical, and tactical ability, and we are excited to test them in WXV 1,” said Fukofuka, the Eagles head coach.
“Kris, Cheta, and Alev join us from the Sevens program ready to make their mark back in the fifteens game after a successful time with the sevens program. We also welcome back the experience and on field presence of Kate, Rachel, and Hope, excited with the leadership that provides the team,” she added.
Sophie Pyrz, Tessa Hann, and Emerson Allen will travel to Canada to join the Eagles after earning their first international test cap in Japan last month during two warm-up matches for WXV.
“Results are obviously important, but we are also looking to continue to build key elements of our game and compete with the best teams in the world. We want to challenge ourselves to create a platform off our set piece and our ability to win collisions, and we want to keep expressing that Eagles DNA that the team wants to be known for,” said the Eagles coach.
The Eagles will convene this month in Bellingham, WA, at the de Wilde Rugby & Polo Fields for a training camp in preparation for their first WXV 1 test match against England on Sunday, September 29, at 3:30 pm ET, to be aired on Peacock.
JUDY ROTICH