MATAIYASI Leuta will make his Men’s Eagles sevens debut and Nate Augspurger will pull on a USA jersey for the first time in over two years at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens as Mike Friday’s team continues to push for an Olympic-qualifying position.
Explaining his selection, Friday said: “Matai’s physical transformation has been simply unbelievable and testament to the guidance by Chris and the work ethic of Matai, who’s come so far in these last two months. He has also worked hard on his tactical and technical aspects and, whilst he is still raw in some areas, he is a beast of a man with an x-factor whether deployed on the wing or at prop.”
Leuta replaces Martin Iosefo in the squad. Iosefo was unavailable for last week’s Men’s Eagles Sevens High Performance Camp and selection to both of the upcoming Asian legs.
Augspurger, meanwhile, was last selected to the Eagles in Dubai during the 2012-13 Series.
“Nate has earned his recall and has been outstanding all week after impressing in Las Vegas for New York,” Friday added. “He is a clever attacking player and, although small in stature, very aggressive and tenacious in defense in both action and communication.”
USA squad: Nate Augspurger, Perry Baker, Danny Barrett, Garrett Bender, Andrew Durutalo, Nic Edwards, Madison Hughes (captain), Carlin Isles, Mataiyasi Leuta, Folau Niua, Zack Test, Maka Unufe.
