Fijian-born rugby union hooker Cyrille Cama, 23, is on the verge of making his international debut for the USA Eagles in this year’s rebranded cross-regional Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) competition. Cama is among six uncapped players in the USA Eagles squad, which aims for a top placement in the tournament that kicks off on Friday at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, featuring a match between the Flying Fijians and Manu Samoa.
The USA Eagles will host Japan on Saturday, August 31, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles. Originating from Natokalau, Kubulau in Bua, with maternal ties to Bureta in Ovalau, Cama started his rugby career at St Agnes Primary School in Nabua, where he served as captain for two years before his family moved to Los Angeles in 2013.
Two years ago, he signed a two-year contract with the Major League Rugby champions, the LA Giltinis, and has previously been selected for the USA Eagles Under-20s team. He progressed through the High-Performance Programme and was chosen for the Rhinos Tens professional team during the World Tens Series in Bermuda in 2020. Cama also played for the Rhinos Rugby Academy in Sacramento alongside notable African sevens stars.
Cama becomes the first player from the Rhinos Academy and High-Performance Unit to gain selection for the USA Eagles.
World Rugby recently announced that the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup will serve as a qualifying event for the Rugby World Cup 2027, making this year’s tournament essential for the USA’s extended player pool before next year’s qualification process. Fiji and Japan have already secured their spots for RWC 2027.
USA Eagles head coach Scott Lawrence stated, “The five-week Pacific Nations Cup campaign provides an opportunity to expose this Eagles squad to the massive change in preparation and intensity required to play test match rugby. With new faces comes new energy. We expect this group to come into camp with a competitive mindset toward gaining valuable test match experience.”
Cama’s mother, Marjorie Cama, expressed her pride, saying, “Cyrille’s journey is one of blessings and can be summarised as the point of convergence of human benevolence, generosity, and divine providence. We are grateful to the owners of the academy and the professional resources that supported Cyrille’s development towards his goal. It’s a blessing because it was always his dream to play rugby. As they say, America is the land of great opportunities, where the sky is the limit.”
This year’s PNC will feature a unique round-robin format split into two pools, leading to a Grand Final to determine the overall champions. Pool A consists of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga, while Pool B is formed by Canada, Japan, and the USA. Each team will play one home and one away match in the pool stage.
A finals series has been introduced this year, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the semi-finals. The winners will compete in the final, while the losing teams will play for third place. The teams that finish at the bottom of their pools will face off for a fifth-place playoff on the same day as the first semi-final on September 14, with the second semi-final occurring a day after.
The finals will take place in Tokyo and Osaka, with the hosting duties alternating annually between Japan and the USA.