After our game against Scotland in Leeds, when we played well and led at half-time only to lose steam in the second period, we had a few days away from rugby. Right after the game, last Monday, we travelled to London. At the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday – a whole 10 days after our last outing – we will face South Africa.
There are a lot of ways a team can fill that kind of time away from competitive action: among other things, we’ve visited two castles.
On our way south, we made a stop at Bolsover Castle to have lunch and take a tour of the grounds. It’s an incredible venue and the cottage pie was one of the best meals we’ve had on the trip. The running joke was that it was one of Lord Wyles’ summer homes. Our captain, Chris, was born in Stamford, Connecticut and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania – but he went to school at Haileybury College, which is our training base here in London, so he has that Downton Abbey accent.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, the golfers on the team had the opportunity to mingle with supporters at the BLK and USA Rugby Trust golf outing. The invitation to participate depended on one’s handicap and since I’ve never played a full round of golf, I wasn’t invited. I heard it was a great day on the links, though, with fly-half AJ MacGinty taking the top prize. The prop Chris Baumann, one of our try-scorers so far, admitted he didn’t have his best outing.
On Wednesday, it was back to business with a practice session. Then on Thursday evening we were invited to the residence of US ambassador Matthew W Barzun for a dinner reception followed by a private tour of our second castle, the Tower of London, during the Ceremony of the Keys.
It was an incredible evening and a great way for us to spend time together away from rugby, socialize with American dignitaries and appreciate British culture. We were honored to receive the dinner invitation and in awe of the tradition and history behind the yeoman warders and the Tower itself.
However, even in such a long stretch between games, we have never stepped totally back from rugby. Our medical staff don’t ever really have time off: when we have non-training days they are often spent getting treatment. Other guys spend more time watching film and doing video analysis, and we have mini group meetings to keep focused.
So now we have the Springboks – the last of the big three southern-hemisphere nations we’ll have faced in what has been a memorable year, after the All Blacks and Wallabies came to Chicago.
We need to finish the tournament strong. We are certainly down after two defeats, but we are not out. We are very much still mentally engaged in this tournament and we understand the meaning and importance of these next two games. If we can come third in the group we will not have to qualify for 2019 in Japan.
We intend to fight to the end and enjoy playing alongside each other and representing our country.
We know that both teams we will face need to win to advance – South Africa, after their defeat by Japan, have picked a very strong team to face us.
The stakes are high and we look forward to the challenge. It should be an exciting next six days for the USA Eagles.
USA: B Scully; B Thompson, F Niua, A Suniula, Z Test; S Suniula, N Kruger; O Kilifi, P Thiel, C Baumann, L Stanfill, M Trouville, D Barrett, J Quill, S Manoa (capt). Replacements: J Taufete’e, Z Fenoglio, M Moeakiola, T Lamositele, C Dolan, A McFarland, M Petri, C Wyles.
South Africa: W le Roux; B Habana, J Kriel, D de Allende, L Mvovo; H Pollard, F du Preez (capt); T Mtawarira, B du Plessis, F Malherbe, E Etzebeth, L de Jager, F Louw, S Burger, D Vermuelen. Replacements: S Brits, T Nyakane, C Oosthuizen, P-S du Toit, W Alberts, R Paige, M Steyn, J Serfontein.
Referee: P Gauzère (France)
Kick-off: 4.45pm (UK) / 11.45am US ET
TV: ITV (UK), Universal Sports/rwc2015ppv.com (US)
Scrum-half Mike Petri has 56 caps for the USA and played at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups. His children’s book, R is for Rugby: An Alphabet Book, is now available in the US & UK through Amazon.
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