USA Rugby players Tess Feury and Jack Iscaro pose in front of the U.S. Capitol Building. Feury and … [+]
It’s going to be a special year for USA Rugby. America’s national men’s and women’s rugby teams will be playing the biggest set of home test matches ever, taking the game from the West Coast to the East Coast in just over four months.
The six-game, four-city schedule will pit the USA Men against the Netherlands and Spain in Charlotte, while the USA Women play Japan in Los Angeles and Canada in Kansas City. The home series will culminate with a double-header on July 19 at Audi Field in Washington, DC where the men will take on rugby royalty in the shape of England and the USA Women will play Fiji.
Following the home test matches, the men will compete in the Pacific Nations Cup as they aim to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The women will head to the U.K. for the 2025 Rugby Women’s World Cup, which takes place from August 22 to September 27.
The amplified test match schedule is part of World Rugby’s push to tap into the most lucrative sports market in the world and develop rugby in the U.S. World Rugby Chairman Brett Robinson referred to the U.S. as “a rapidly growing rugby market with strong commercial and hosting interest ahead of the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cups.” He stressed that “This test series reflects our ambition to build a sustainable competition calendar that enhances performance, attracts new audiences, and fuels rugby’s growth.”
The landmark schedule was put together by USA Rugby in cooperation with World Rugby, the game’s governing body, and international event manager TEG Sport. It was announced in Washington, DC with executives from each organization in attendance.
TEG North America Managing Director, Matt Kontos, said that the event management company was “lucky enough to be selected as a partner” to host these matches. TEG was responsible for managing the All Blacks vs Fiji game last summer in San Diego, and will also putting together the All Blacks vs Ireland rematch at Soldier Field in November. According to Kontos, what rugby offers that perhaps no other sport does is a “beautiful aggression” on the field and a proper community off the field that is coming together to grow the sport.
Speaking to me after the launch event, USA Women and Women’s Elite Rugby (New York Exiles) player Tess Feury said this type of event is exactly what USA Rugby needs to “get the word out.” Her excitement about the schedule was palpable as she exclaimed “Now is the time to become a fan [of rugby]
.”
Feury will be part of the women’s campaign on home soil in preparation for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in the U.K. In her opinion, the most important element of the announced fixture list is the added game time. Practice cannot substitute for much-needed experience in pressure situations. As she puts it, “Being able to play multiple matches and try out combinations will set us up for success come the World Cup.”
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 29: Team United States celebrate victory as they pose for a photo with the Bell … [+]
Test matches against Japan, Fiji, and Canada will be good measuring sticks for the U.S. women going into a World Cup where expectations are high. The USA Women’s Sevens team won a bronze medal at the Olympics in Paris, and several of those players, including rugby superstar Ilona Maher are expected to cross over and play in the World Cup. Feury says, “The goal is to make it out of pool play and see where we can go from there.” It will be a tough task given the U.S. is in a pool with the number one team in the world, England, as well as Australia, and Samoa, but the American ladies are up for the fight. As Feury puts it, “As Americans, we want a big competitive game in the spotlight and that’s exactly what we got.”
MLR and USA Eagles stalwart Jack Iscaro says the test matches this spring and summer are the result of really good work that USA rugby has done to prepare its players to compete at the highest level.
After a disappointing campaign that saw the U.S. miss out on the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, USA Rugby underwent an overhaul, including bringing in a new head coach, Scott Lawrence. Iscaro says that since Lawrence took over, he’s never worked harder, but adds that transformation has been extremely rewarding.
With so much work going into bettering USA Rugby on and off the field, a double-header matchup against England at Audi Field feels like a just reward to Iscaro. The DMV native grew up a rugby fan watching many of the England players he may go head-to-head with this summer. He says that there is just “a different buzz that comes from playing a Tier 1 country at Audi.”
Having defeated Tonga, Spain, and Portugal in November, the USA men will be looking to continue the momentum through these summer test matches. While the England match is the jewel in the schedule, each game will give the players the chance to get one step closer to 2027 Rugby World Cup qualification, which will allow them to remove the monkey that has been on their back since 2023.
USA Rugby CEO Bill Goren is equally excited about the upcoming schedule. During the announcement event, he said, “This marks a special year for USA Rugby with the initial announcement of our home events series. We’re thrilled to bring the Men’s and Women’s Eagles to fans coast-to-coast, in the largest slate of home matches since 2019. With Rugby World Cup stakes on the line for both teams, rugby fans can expect the very best rugby in stadiums this year.”
With rugby matches popping up all across the U.S. this summer and in the coming years, there has never been a better time to be a rugby fan. The mood around the sport is already shifting, but with some statement wins on home soil, or in the World Cup, the sport could soon cement its position in the U.S. sports landscape.
