The Fijian Drua’s successful model in the Super Rugby Pacific competition is being adopted by World Rugby to enhance the level of rugby in the United States. Alama Ieremia, a former All Blacks and Manu Samoa star, is leading this initiative. He serves as the back and attack coach for the USA national rugby team, which is set to compete against the Flying Fijians in the Pacific Nations Cup semi-final in Tokyo on Saturday at 10:05 PM.
Ieremia has recently taken on the role of head coach for the Anthem Rugby Carolina franchise in the American Major League Rugby (MLR). This team, announced earlier this year, is a collaborative effort with World Rugby, which is providing partial funding to establish the team in Charlotte.
Ieremia emphasized the importance of creating pathways for American players to progress to the Eagles, stating, “I’ve got a lot of the academy players which I am passionate about bringing through. The team will focus on developing young American players, modeled on the Fijian Drua’s approach in Super Rugby.”
World Rugby stated that this new team could significantly bolster the high-performance goals for the USA men’s national team as they prepare for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2031 World Cup, which will be hosted in the USA. The partnership aims to replicate the success seen with Fiji’s Drua and enhance the potential of Anthem RC as a key franchise in MLR.
Additionally, USA Rugby is actively recruiting eligible American players from around the globe. Ieremia has already reached out to some players based in New Zealand who would meet the requirements to represent the Eagles. He mentioned, “We’re definitely casting the net to say, hey we’re out here now if you’re keen and have any American blood.”
However, according to USA Eagles head coach Scott Lawrence, the process of integrating eligible players is still in its early stages. He remarked, “Do we look at that type of player, yes, but they have to have a strong desire to play for the USA. They have to really want to do it, especially when they want to play for the USA which is an affair of the heart, not the wallet.”
Following their failure to qualify for last year’s World Cup in France, the USA is now focused on the upcoming 2027 and 2031 tournaments, the latter marking the first time the World Cup will be held in North America. Lawrence drew a parallel with former President John F. Kennedy’s ambitious goal to land on the moon, commenting, “In 1962 JFK said we’d go to the moon and seven years later we did that, seven years from now we have a World Cup and we will be in a quarter-final. That’s our moon shot, that’s what we’re going to do.”