National Team
USA Rugby's national team is nicknamed the Eagles. The National Men's Team first took the field in 1976. Competing in international tournaments like the Churchill Cup and the Pan American Championship, as well as specially scheduled matches against rugby powers such as France and Ireland, the Eagles have qualified for six of the seven Rugby World Cups, most recently at the 2011 Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand. The United States are currently a tier-2 rugby nation. Through professionalism, the Eagles have been making improvements in coaching, management and player development, and as a result have improved on the field. The US has been consistently ranked one of the Top 20 teams in the world since the IRB developed its rankings in 2003.
Read more about this topic: Rugby Union In The United States
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or team:
“There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; anything that is national is not scientific.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)