The

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

has played in all but two

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

s since the inaugural tournament in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. The USA is the second strongest national rugby side in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and the third strongest in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

after

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Rugby world cup countries best results and hosts rev1

The U.S. has played in eight World Cups from the inaugural 1987 tournament to the 2019 tournament—all but the 1995 and 2023 World Cups. The team's best result so far has been to win one game—which they accomplished in 1987, 2003, and 2011.

Summary of results by tournament

Summary of results by opponent

Notes: * Results current through end of

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. * The US has never played Wales or Canada in a RWC, even though those two teams have played in every RWC. * Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Georgia, Uruguay, Spain, and Portugal are the other seven nations that have yet to play the USA at the Rugby World Cup that have previously qualified.

Qualifying

The U.S. has qualified for every World Cup, except for the 1995 and 2023 tournaments. ;Notes

Rugby World Cup hosting

So far the USA has not hosted any Rugby World Cup games, and no Rugby World Cups have been held in the Americas. The United States is, however, interested in pursuing a bid, possibly a joint bid with

, to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Team RWC records

* Most points scored in a single tournament: 86 (2003) * Most points scored in a single match: 39 (39–26 vs. Japan in 2003) * Largest margin of victory: 13 (39–26 vs. Japan in 2003)

Player RWC records

Career

Updated
October 12, 2015
Updated
October 12, 2015
Updated
October 12, 2015

Tries scored

The following table shows all U.S. players that have scored two or more tries in their World Cup career, plus all active players who have scored at least one World Cup try. Note: The U.S. failed to qualify for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. * Most penalties scored:

Mike Hercus Mike Hercus (born June 5, 1979) is a retired rugby union player who played at fly-half for the United States national team and several top level professional clubs around the globe. Hercus is the USA Eagles' all-time leading scorer with 465 poi ...

, 15 (2003 & 2007)

Single tournament

* Most points in a single tournament:

, 51 (2003) * Most tries in a single tournament:

Kort Schubert Kort Schubert (born July 24, 1979 in Sacramento, California) is a former United States, American rugby union footballer who captained the United States national rugby union team, United States national team. He played flanker, number eight and lock ...

, 3 (2003)

Individual tournaments: 1987 to present

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

Pool 1 games ---- ----

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

Pool 1 games ---- ----

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

Did not qualify. The Americas were allotted only two teams for the 1995 tournament. Canada automatically qualified, by virtue of reaching the quarterfinals of the 1991 tournament. Only 1 place remained for the Americas qualifying, to be decided by the winner of the home-and-away series between the US and Argentina (the winner of the Americas South bracket) in 1994. In that series, the US lost their home match 22-28, and also lost their away match 11-16. With the 2-0 record and 44-33 aggregate score, Argentina secured the final qualifying spot for the Americas.

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

Pool E games ---- ----

2003 Rugby World Cup

---- ---- ----

was the leading points scorer for the United States - and 7th leading scorer among all players - with 51 points (2 tries, 9 penalties, 7 conversions).

2007 Rugby World Cup

Pool A games 2007 Squad: Forwards:

Blake Burdette Blake Burdette (born January 19, 1980 in Minneapolis) is a rugby coach and former American rugby union hooker or prop. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team and made his international debut in 2006 against Uruguay. Burdet ...

Owen Lentz Owen Lentz (born 24 January 1980) is a former South African-born American rugby union player. He played for Maryland Exiles The Maryland Exiles were an American rugby union team in Bethesda, Maryland which competed as a member of Division I und ...

Mike MacDonald Michael MacDonald (born June 26, 1987) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2022 to 2 ...

, Matekitonga Moeakiola, Chris Osentowski, Jonathan Vitale, Luke Gross, Mike Mangan, Hayden Mexted,

Alec Parker Alec Parker (born April 10, 1974) is an American former rugby union lock. Parker was born in Aspen, Colorado. His height is . He was a member of the United States national rugby union team and participated in three World Cups 2007 Rugby World ...

Mark Aylor Mark Aylor (born January 11, 1978 in Santa Clara, California) is a former American rugby union flanker. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team that participated in the 2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup wa ...

, Inaki Basauri,

Todd Clever Todd Stanger Clever (born January 16, 1983) is an American retired rugby union player. He became the first American to play Super Rugby. At the international level, he was a member of the United States national team, served as captain, and is t ...

, Fifita Mounga,

Louis Stanfill Louis Stanfill (born May 30, 1985 in Sacramento, California) is an American former rugby union player who last played for San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby. He previously played for the United States national team. He played at flanker or ...

, Henry Bloomfield,

Dan Payne Daniel Payne (born August 4, 1972) is a Canadian actor best known for playing the role of John in the television series '' Alice, I Think''. Career In his early 20s, Payne was a professional volleyball player. After his retirement, he was convin ...

Backs:

Chad Erskine Chad Erskine (born 8 January 1980 in Pietermaritzburg) is an American former rugby union scrum-half. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United Stat ...

Mike Petri Michael Zachary Petri (born August 16, 1984) is a former American rugby union player who played for Rugby United New York (RUNY) of Major League Rugby (MLR). His position was scrum-half. He is known as "Peaches" by his teammates. He currently i ...

(C),

Nese Malifa Valenese Malifa (born 10 September 1985, in American Samoa) is an American rugby union former fly-half. He has now turned his career to professional coaching in the US for Major League Rugby. He assisted Atlanta’s team, Rugby ATL, from 2018-2020 ...

Philip Eloff Philip Eloff (born 17 September 1978) is an American former rugby union centre. Eloff played for the United States national rugby union team from 2000 to 2007, earning 35 caps. Early life Eloff was born in Thabazimbi, South Africa. He went to ...

, Vahafolau Esikia,

Thretton Palamo Thretton Palamo (born September 22, 1988) is an American rugby union player who plays centre for Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR). When he appeared in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he became the youngest ever player to have played in the Rug ...

Albert Tuipulotu Albert Tuipulotu (born February 27, 1979 in San Mateo) is an American rugby union centre. He is a member of the United States national rugby union team and participated with the squad at the 2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was ...

Paul Emerick Paul Emerick (born January 24, 1980) is the head coach of the American Raptors in Glendale, Colorado. He was the defense and skills coach and the 2019 interim head coach for the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. He was a former USA intern ...

Takudzwa Ngwenya Takudzwa Ngwenya (born 22 July 1985) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for the United States national rugby union team and Biarritz Olympique in the Top 14. He made his mark in the 2007 Rugby World Cup with tries against Sout ...

Salesi Sika Salesi Sika (born 7 July 1980 in Haveluloto, Tonga) is a former Tongan-born American rugby union player and played as a wing or centre. Sika played professional rugby in the French league for Castres Olympique and AS Béziers. He was a member ...

Francois Viljoen Francois Viljoen (born May 16, 1981) is a former American rugby union fullback. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team that participated in the 2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World ...

Chris Wyles Chris Wyles (born 13 September 1983) was an American-English rugby union player. Until his retirement from international rugby in January 2016, Wyles had represented the United States in three World Cups (2007, 2011 and 2015). He was the USA E ...

Head Coach:

Peter Thorburn Peter Robert Tyler Thorburn (19 March 1939 – 26 January 2021) was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played his entire career as a number eight for from 1965 to 1970. He became a coach after his playing career ended, coachin ...

In the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

, the US joined England, Samoa, South Africa and Tonga in Pool A. The Eagles, ranked 13th in the world standings, lost all 4 games in

Pool A Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

, scoring 1 bonus point in the game against Samoa. Coached by New Zealander

, the Eagles started off with tough match against the defending world champions England, losing 28–10. The US was then beaten by Tonga 25–15, lost to Samoa 25 – 21, and lost their final match to highly favored South Africa 64 – 15. The Eagles, however, had a major highlight in the South Africa match. After an interception and a pair of passes,

sped down the sideline and outran

Bryan Habana Bryan Gary Habana OIS (born 12 June 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player who initially played as an outside centre but later on, he shifted to the wing. He most recently played for Toulon in the French Top 14 competit ...

, arguably the fastest man in world rugby, to score a try that received Try of the Year honors at the 2007

IRB Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in rug ...

2011 Rugby World Cup

was the USA's leading scorer of the 2011 tournament with 18 points (1 try, 3 penalties, 2 conversions).

, and JJ Gagiano each scored 5 points (1 try) for the US. 30 Man Squad: * Hooker: Chris Biller, Phil Thiel, Brian McClenahan * Prop: Mike MacDonald, Mate Moeakiola, Shawn Pittman, Eric Fry * Lock: Hayden Smith, John van der Giessen * Loose: Todd Clever (c), Louis Stanfill, Nic Johnson, Scott LaValla, Patrick Danahy, JJ Gagiano, Inaki Basauri * Scrumhalf: Mike Petri, Tim Usasz * Flyhalf: Roland Suniula, Nese Malifa * Center: Andrew Suniula, Paul Emerick, Tai Enosa, Junior Sifa * Wing: Takudzwa Ngwyenya, James Paterson, Kevin Swiryn, Colin Hawley * Fullback: Chris Wyles, Blaine Scully The Eagles showed tremendous fight and power in their World Cup opening match against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The Irish came out strong but the Eagles were stiff in defense. The Irish suffered from poor goal kicking and were only able to gain a 3–0 lead before finally scoring their first try at the 39' mark to take a 10-0 half-time lead. The Irish came out more ready to play in the second half but still ran into stiff Eagles defense. Ultimately the Irish scored two more tries to give a final tally of 22 points. The Eagles succeeded in frustrating Irish expectations to gain a bonus point with a full strength squad and managed to post 10 points led by an interception try on full-time by

. The Eagles came into the World Cup with their measuring mark for success as being a win over Russia. The Eagles did not disappoint. Russia leaped out to an early 3–0 lead after a penalty goal from inside the 22 set up by a block on a

box kick. The Americans took a 10–3 lead into the half after a break by

Andrew Suniula Andrew Suniula (born 1 May 1982) is a former rugby football player who played rugby union as a center (rugby union), centre for the United States national rugby union team, United States national team (USA Eagles XV's). He last played for the A ...

set up a try for

. The kicking duty fell upon

who capitalized on his first kick, a deep strike in poor conditions from the 10 meter line. Wyles was also successful on a conversion and with his last attempt at goal. He did, however, miss 3 kicks at goal and a drop goal. Russia would land once more on the board to snatch a bonus point from the match but fell to the final tally of USA 13–6 Russia. Both Wyles and

had amazing matches as McDonald scooped up the man of the match accolades. The Eagles were absolutely dominant at the lineout winning 7 of Russia's 13 throws and winning all 12 of their own throws. The win elevated the Eagles back up to 17th in the IRB rankings and dropped Russia one spot to 21st. For their third match the Eagles trotted out a squad with 14 changes from the one that met Russia, ensuring that each player on the roster received a cap in the tournament. Australia got on the board early with tries at the 7- and 10-minute marks, but the Eagles answered with a JJ Gagiano try at the 22nd minute that cut the deficit to 10–5. Australia quickly responded with two more tries to take a 22–5 lead into the half along with clinching a bonus point. In the second half the Wallabies jumped on the Eagles leading to the final result of 67–5. This was the worst defeat a US team has ever suffered to Australia. The final match saw the Eagles playing for a 3rd-place finish in Pool C and an automatic qualification into the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. The Eagles faced Italy (the Azzurri) and the scoring began early by the Azzurri, but the Eagles struck back with a

try and conversion to level the match 7-7. The Italians struck quickly with their second try, and scored their third try on the stroke of halftime to lead 20-10 at the half. Italy focused their second-half efforts on scoring a fourth try and the bonus point. The US second-half defense held for 25 minutes, but after tremendous pressure by the Italian scrum - which Italy dominated all match - the Azzurri got their fourth try and the bonus point in the 65th minute. That try and conversion were the only points for the Azzurri in the second half. The defeat marked the end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2011 season for the Eagles.

2015 Rugby World Cup

U.S. summer preparations for the World Cup included four matches at the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup plus two additional World Cup warm-up matches. The U.S. earned three wins and three losses over these matches, with wins against Canada (twice) and Japan. At the World Cup, the U.S. lost its first match against Samoa 16–25. The Eagles suffered from ill discipline, committing 14 penalties (compared to 7 for Samoa); and from poor tackling, with a 79% tackle success rate and 29 missed tackles, (compared to Samoa's 86% tackle rate and 19 missed tackles). The team entered World Cup play with the highest hopes in years. The pool draw placed the Eagles alongside Japan, a team they had beaten earlier in the summer, Samoa, a team they've played well in the past, and Scotland. Scotland, though a tier 1 nation, had struggled in recent years. The last team was South Africa, a team that lost its first match of the World Cup to Japan. In their opening match against Samoa, the United States trailed 14–8 at the half, and ultimately fell 25–16, after finding tremendous difficulties at the lineout and in the scrum. Carrying a tough 0–1 start into the team's second match, the Eagles made history by claiming a first ever halftime lead over a tier 1 nation (13–6), on the back of a strong showing in the scrum. The second half was less kind, as Scotland quickly overcame the deficit and pushed the final score well out of reach: Scotland 39, USA 16. With a winless campaign becoming a real possibility, the coaching staff chose a roster that drastically differed from the starters in the first two matches. Against South Africa, the Eagles struggled early and were dominated in the scrum, but kept the match close at the break with South Africa holding a 14-point lead. In the second half, the Springboks blew the match open, running the match to 64–0. The defeat is the fifth largest in USA Rugby history and the largest in a World Cup."Second Half Sees USA to Historic Loss"
Pat Clifton, October 7, 2015.
Source: World Rugby
Rank is as of the end of the pool stages, and does not include the knockout rounds.

2019 Rugby World Cup

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...

Did not qualify. Finished second to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the cross-regional playoff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States At The Rugby World Cup

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Rugby World Cup by nation