| Date of birth | August 5, 1964 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Palo Alto, California | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Rugby player, Coach | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Christopher Patrick O'Brien (born August 5, 1964) is an American retired rugby union player who played at fly-half and centre and later served as an assistant coach for the United States national rugby union team.
O'Brien was born in Palo Alto (CA), United States on August 5, 1964. [1]
He made his debut for the United States national rugby union team on June 11, 1988. [2]
He made a total of 22 official appearances for the USA Eagles, including two games at the 1991 Rugby World Cup and one game for the 1995 Rugby World Cup Qualifier.
O'Brien is fifth on the USA Eagles' list of all-time leading scorers with 144 points. [3]
He served as the kicking coach for the USA Eagles in 2015. [4] [5]
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having defeated the one other competitor in 1920 and the two other competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Tom Billups is an American former rugby union rugby player, who played for the USA Eagles as an international and Blackheath Rugby Club, Harlequin F.C., and Pontypridd RFC as a professional. After retiring as a player in 1999, he joined the staff of the United States national team and was the head coach from 2001 to 2006. In addition to coaching the Eagles, Billups managed the U.S. national sevens team program and coached the 2005 U.S. sevens team. In 2015 Billups was inducted into U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, and was the first person to be inducted as both a player and coach. In 2018 Billups became the 14th recipient of the Craig Sweeney Award which was first award in 1979 in memory of former United States national team member and captain, Craig Sweeney. The Sweeney Award is presented to a former national team player who has contributed significantly to the game while displaying exemplary character on and off the field.
The USA Women's National Team XVs represents the United States in women's international rugby union. The team was officially formed in 1987 and is nicknamed the Eagles.
Luke Gross is an American former rugby union player and current rugby coach and administrator. A lock who played for various club sides, he earned 62 caps for the United States between 1996 and 2003. Gross was the all-time caps leader for the United States, until Mike MacDonald broke his record in 2011.
Mike MacDonald is a retired rugby union footballer who previously played for Leeds Carnegie in the RFU Championship and English Premiership. He represented the United States national team and predominantly played at the prop position.
Louis Stanfill is an American former rugby union player who last played for San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby. He previously played for the United States national team. He played at flanker or No. 8, and could also play lock.
Todd Stanger Clever is an American retired rugby union player. He became the first American to play Super Rugby. At the international level, he was a member of the United States national team, served as captain, and is the most capped player in United States rugby union history.
Thretton Palamo is an American rugby union player who plays centre for Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR).
Gideon "Kees" Lensing is a former Namibian rugby union player and former head coach of the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR). He played as a prop for six different teams over more than 11 years.
Chris Wyles is a former American-English rugby union player. Until his retirement from international rugby in January 2016, Wyles had represented the United States in three World Cups. He was the USA Eagles Captain in the 2015 World Cup. In the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 season, he was Captain of the USA National Sevens team, a core team in the World Rugby Sevens series. In 2015, he was selected for the USA Olympic team to compete in the Sevens rugby event at the Rio Olympic Games.
The United States national rugby union team has played in all but two Rugby World Cups since the inaugural tournament in 1987. The USA is the second strongest national rugby side in North America, and the third strongest in the Americas after Argentina and Canada.
Valenese Malifa is an American rugby union former fly-half. He has now turned his career to professional coaching in the US for Major League Rugby. He assisted Atlanta’s team, Rugby ATL, from 2018-2020 and has since moved to Dallas to coach the Dallas Jackals in their inaugural year. As a professional player, he was a member of the United States national rugby union team from 2007 until 2012, and competed in three Rugby World Cups including participating with the squad at the 2007 Rugby World Cup
John van der Giessen is an American former rugby union player. He played lock for the USA Eagle XV side. John earned a captaincy role for the USA and represented the side in the 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cup. Van der Giessen played professional rugby in the English Premiership and French Top 14. John has since retired.
Mike Tolkin is a rugby union coach who served as head coach of the United States national team from 2012 until 2015. He was the head coach for Rugby United New York for the Major League Rugby 2019 Season. He is the current General Manager of Premier Rugby Sevens.
The 2013 Pacific Nations Cup rugby union tournament was held between five national sides in the Pacific Region: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Tonga, and USA.
John Everett is a former American rugby union player. Everett played at the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup. He debuted for the Eagles against Canada in Chicago on June 9, 1984. He made his last appearance for USA against England at the 1987 World Cup in New Zealand.
Scott Lawrence is an American rugby union coach and former player who played as a flanker. He currently serves as the head coach for the United States national rugby union team. He previously coached Rugby ATL in Major League Rugby (MLR) from 2020 to 2022.
San Diego State Aztecs Rugby Club is the rugby union club of San Diego State University in San Diego, California. It fields both men's and women's teams, the men compete in Division 1-A in the California conference and the women play in the Pacific Desert conference of Division II. The Aztec men's team won the US National Collegiate Rugby Championship in 1987.
Matt Alexander is a South African-born retired rugby union player who played at fly-half for the United States national rugby union team and the English rugby union club Sale Sharks.
Christopher Lippert is an American retired rugby union player who played at prop for the United States national rugby union team and the Barbarian F.C.
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