USA Falcons head coach Ray Lehner is demanding maximum effort and commitment from his players in their first taste of IRB North America 4 action in 2008 against USA Hawks at Mount Hood Community College in Oregon on Thursday.

The Falcons, twice runners-up to Canada West in the cross-border tournament involving two representative sides from Canada and USA, has selected a squad which combines the youthful talent of Under 20 prop Shawn Pittman – recently returned from the IRB Junior World Championship in Wales – with Rugby World Cup 2007 veterans such as Mate Moekiola, Louis Stanfill and Valenese Malifa.

Rikus Pretorius will captain a Falcons side which also boasts experience from the IRB Sevens World Series with Malifa, who has been named on the replacements bench to face the Hawks in this all-American affair in Portland, and starting full back Jone Naqica having played for USA Sevens this year.  

“We have three matches to play in a fairly short amount of time,” explained Lehner. “We tried to mix it up a bit, using a pretty experienced forwards lineup and a few newcomers in back line to hopefully balance it out.

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“So far our strategy has been to keep it simple. We’ve had four training sessions with these guys before heading into our first game. There is a good core of guys that have played together on the Pacific Grizzlies, which we can use to our advantage, but really all I want to see in this first match is effort. I want everyone to play really hard. If we lack in effort, we will certainly lack everywhere else.”

USA Hawks head coach Marty Wiggins has also opted for a blend of youth and experience, combining Under 20 full back Nate Ebner with the likes of senior internationals John Vitale, John van der Giessen, Mark Aylor, Justin Boyd, Chad Slaby and captain Mike Petri, as they look to avenge a 48-17 loss to the Falcons in last year’s competition.

“The whole idea is to get in a position to get the ball out to our backline. The backs just need opportunities and I think our pack will be able to provide those,” explained Wiggins.

“While a lot of these younger guys don’t necessarily have the NA4 experience, there is a lot of talent on both ends, and we’ve put a couple of systems into place which is a trickle down from the National Team structures.”

Mixing youth and experience 

The all-American affair marks the first of three match days in the next 10 days with all four representative teams in action on Canadian soil at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex in British Columbia on Tuesday 15 and Saturday 19 July. They then move on to Glendale in Colorado for the semi-finals on Tuesday 29 July and finals day on Saturday 2 August.

Canada West head coach Tony Medina, whose two-time defending champions beat Canada East 20-15 a last gasp try on 17 May, and his East counterpart Simon Blanks have therefore this week named their squads for their respective contests with the USA Hawks and USA Falcons.

Medina, who missed the East victory because of personal commitments, has named a squad with a mix of youth and experience, combining players who were on duty with Canada Under 20s at the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship in Wales last month with those boasting experience of Rugby World Cup 2007 and the recent Barclays Churchill Cup.

Canada Under 20s finished 12th at the Junior World Championship and fly half Matt Evans, hooker Ryan Hamilton, full back Harry Jones, scrum half Sean White and second row Struan Robertson are now given an opportunity to show what they can do playing for the West representative side in the cross-border tournament.

Switching from West to East

They will be joined by the likes of flankers Nanyak Dala and Adam Kleeberger, centre Bryn Keys, prop Hubert Buydens and hooker Pat Riordan – the match-winning try scorer against East – who were all members of the Canadian side who beat the USA Eagles 26-10 in the Bowl final at the Barclays Churchill Cup last month.

The East squad also boasts a number of players to have represented the Canadian national side, including number 8 Aaron Carpenter, second row Stu Ault, full back Ciaran Hearn, front row Mike Pletch and Steve Piatek – the fly half who returns from a one-game stint with the West and 15-point haul against the East in the 2008 IRB North America 4 opener.

Carl Pocock impressed for East with a try in that defeat and retains his place in the squad, while Canada Sevens player Phil Mackenzie returns after a long-term hand injury to stake his claim to represent his country in the 15-a-side game.

Canada West tackle USA Falcons in a repeat of the two previous NA4 finals at 17:15 local time on Tuesday, followed by the USA Hawks v Canada East at 19:15. The sides then switch with the Falcons facing East at 14:00 on 19 July and West tackling the Hawks.

USA Falcons: 1. Mate Moeakiola 2. William Brazier 3. Shawn Pittman 4. Jared Wolfgramm 5. Louis Stanfill 6. Peter Dahl 7. Rikus Pretorius 8. Naki Angilau 9. Mose Timoteo 10. Volney Rouse 11. Zachary Pangelinan 12. Gary Golding 13. Luke Council 14. Tyson Meek 15. Jone Naqica.

Replacements: 16. Mark Kernen 17. Mone Laulaupeaalu 18. Jonathan Kollerer 19. Mark Litke 20. Timothy Usasz 21. Valenese Malifa 22. Vaha Esikia.

USA Hawks:  1. Jon Vitale 2. Phil Abraham 3. Chad Slaby 4. Brian Doyle 5. John Van der Giessen 6. Travis Meidinger 7. Nic Johnson 8. Mark Aylor 9. Mike Petri 10. Brendan Thompson 11. Justin Boyd 12. Mike Graham 13. Owen Collins 14. Shawn Rafferty 15. Nate Ebner.

Replacements: 16. Phil Thiel 17. Brian Olmes 18. Pat Quinn 19. Josh Dean 20. Taylor Howden 21. Justin Hundley 22. Keikiokalani Misipeka.

Canada West squad:
Nick Blevins, Hubert Buydens, Beau Chapman, Emil Christensen, Nanyak Dala, Spencer Dalziel, Matt Evans, Ben Grant, Ryan Hamilton, Sam Jenkins, Ben Johnston, Harry Jones, Bryn Keys, Adam Kleeberger, Tony La Carte, Tom McKeen, Neil Meechan, Nolan Miles, Brock Nicholson, Pat Riordan, Struan Robertson, Sean White, Steve Woodward.

Canada East squad:
Stu Ault, James Buchanan, Jermey Campbell, Aaron Carpenter, Stefan Chapheau, Mark Cuglietta, Scott Dunham, Ciaran Hearn, Jordan Kozina, Phil Mackenzie, Dave Neilson,
Chauncey O’Toole, Nolan Ott, Steve Piatek, Mike Pletch, Steven Shortly, Adam Shouten, Jebb Sinclair, Devin Stubel, Alex Tapscott, Dion Varvarikos, Rogan Verboven, Dan West, Tyler Wish, Doug Wooldridge.