AJ MacGinty chasing World Cup bucket list moment with the USA

Bristol Bears fly-half AJ MacGinty admits that playing in a third World Cup in Australia in 12 months’ time is an ambition aimed at firmly erasing the memory of the United States’ failure to qualify four years ago.

MacGinty, 36, who played in the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, missed out in France after the Eagles’ hopes were sunk by a last-minute Samuel Marques penalty, which secured a 16-16 draw for Portugal and their qualification.

The 43-cap veteran, who made his Eagles debut against Samoa in July 2015, was rested from the USA’s Nations Cup squad in the summer after returning from an Achilles injury sustained in the Bears’ opening match of the season against Leicester Tigers.

MacGinty, out of contract at the end of the season, hasn’t ruled out extending his career beyond the World Cup and has been in majestic form during the Bears’ unbeaten start to the new Gallagher PREM campaign.

“Going back to the very first World Cup when I got into the American squad, and then I looked at the World Cups over the next decade, I would have looked at 2027 Australia and thought, yeah, that’s what I want to do.

“And that was prior to even having a professional contract or signing in Connacht, or then to going over to Sale. So before I’d sort of settled in my mind that I wanted to be a professional rugby player because I was still an amateur, I wanted to go to four World Cups.

“Sadly, I didn’t get to go to the one in France. So it is an ambition of mine to go to the next World Cup. I guess you’re taking it game by game, and you want to win a World Cup game, and I’ve yet to do that,” he said.

The 2031 World Cup tournament will be held on home soil, and MacGinty believes Eagles Head Coach Scott Lawrence is benefiting from players spending more time together, as well as having players like Jack Iscaro playing in France and Italy.

“They have a long-term vision for it for 2031. The team has been together for a while: the summer, the PNC (Pacific Nations Cup), and now they spent a lot of time in Japan playing against Japanese sides and Australia A.

“In terms of the money that’s been put in and the time spent together, that’s something that he’s really been working on because you usually only have the summer tour and the November tour. So more time together than for the last two years.

“The MLR, I can’t really comment on the state of the MLR at the moment, but obviously, there’s been a few teams that have pulled out, which is unfortunate,” he added.

“But then there’s a lot more guys that are in professional environments. So it’s still in a growth stage and hopefully we can keep that going into 2027 and beyond.”