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Key man Paul Emerick
Home stadium: There is no specific home stadium for the rugby team at present.
Nickname: Eagles
Number of rugby players in the country: 63,254
National rugby website address: www.usarugby.org
Current national champions: Belmont Shore
Strengths: The Eagles regularly turn out big-boned players who will always pose a physical challenge.
Weaknesses: Quite a few still, mainly in all the technical areas, and especially the scrum.
History in the tournament: 1987 - group stages, 1991 - group stages, 1999 - group stages, 2003 - group stages
Prediction for this tournament: With England and South Africa awaiting, even the Eagles' size won't make an impression, and Samoa will be too dyanmic. Elimination at the Pool stages.
Coach: Peter Thorburn has been coaching in New Zealand since 1985 and was an All Blacks selector during 2000 and 2001. Thorburn was the forwards' coach at Bristol in England, before becoming Bristol's Director of Rugby and head coach during the 2003 season. He's also a sought after commentator on the game and is used widely by the New Zealand media. "You couldn't get a more worldly, experienced or honest man," said All Black attacks coach Wayne Smith of Thorburn.
Key player: Paul Emerick is a mainstay of the US back line, and one of few Eagles whisked overseas to ply his trade as a full-time professional at the Dragons in Wales. Before he broke into the full national team, he earned his spurs as a part of the sevens team. That says plenty about his pace, but at six feet tall and pushing fifteen stones, he has the bulk to back it up as well.
Captain: Was Frans Viljoen before he pulled out with injury. a replacement is yet to be announced.
Rising star: Inaki Basauri. A monster-sized loose forward at six foot five, Basauri is another who plies his trade overseas, at Massy in France. He has played in 11 of the Eagles' 14 matches this year, despite being the youngest in the squad, and if he can keep his development going - he only took up the game seven years ago - he has a big future ahead of him.
Team Nemesis: There is rarely any love lost when it comes to playing Canada, but aside from the obvious local rivalry there, the Eagles have not really developed any permanent bugbears.
Likely headline(s): 'Eagles have their wings clipped', 'Team America conquers the world'.
Price of a pint: Varies from state to state, but the average is E2.70
Rugby player/sheep ratio: 1: an awful lot
