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Gold slams pitch size as US Eagles attempt to qualify for RWC
USA Eagles head coach Gary Gold has blasted organisers for allowing the first leg of their 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifier with Chile to be played on the smallest test pitch he has ever experienced with the match halted for 20 minutes for a power failure as torrential rain turned the surface into a quagmire.
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Gold’s team emerged with a slender 22-21 win to take into Saturday’s second leg at Infinity Park in Denver which will be played on a “normal” sized pitch with the winner earning the right to join England, Argentina, Samoa and Japan in Pool D in France next year.
The experienced head coach told RugbyPass: “The whole trip to Santiago was extraordinarily difficult and there is not an unbelievable amount of support from the top of the game for fixtures of this magnitude. It is massive for us trying to qualify and the pitch in Chile was approved at just 94m and 63m wide and I don’t know how that is possible.”
According to World Rugby regulations, a pitch must be a minimum of 94 metres in length and 68 metres wide. In the case of international matches, any variations to these dimensions must be approved by World Rugby beforehand.
“I have never been involved in a match which had a floodlight failure and you could not make it up and it was a concern because we feared the game would be abandoned. We were cool, calm and collected in adversity and while we didn’t play our best rugby it is now all to play for in Denver.
“The conditions were difficult and Chile deserve respect. When you have a guy like Craig White as head of your strength and conditioning you know it will be tough. We hadn’t assembled since October last year and I was very proud of how the boys dealt with all the circumstances on a freak night when a city that gets 10 inches of rain a year seemed to get that during the game.”
Gold is backing AJ MacGinty to ensure the USA Eagles qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup to after the Bristol Bears outside half helped give his country that slender lead. MacGinty, who has left Sale Sharks to join Bristol, returned to test action in Santiago last weekend to kick two conversions and a penalty.
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With the USA having been awarded the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and also the 2033 women’s tournament, it is vital for the sport’s profile at home to be involved in France next year.
Gold said: “We want to get the job done and qualify and having AJ MacGinty fit is really important and after his injury at the end of the season with Sale it was great to give him game time. His experience is going to be vital and we need to be able to start preparing for next year’s World Cup and it would be an unbelievably important achievement to accomplish.
“Until we qualify for France we cannot plan anything moving forward because the loser goes into the Cup repechage.”
The loser in Glendale will enter the Final Qualification Tournament in November, alongside Kenya, Portugal and the Asia/Pacific play-off loser.
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Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
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