Union | USA Rugby | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Falcons | ||
Founded | 2005 | ||
Coach(es) | Jim Love | ||
Captain(s) | Patrick Bell | ||
Most caps | Jason Pye (6) | ||
Most appearances | Jason Pye (6) | ||
Top scorer | Patrick Bell (29) | ||
| |||
First match | |||
Canada East 14 - 29 Falcons (20 May 2006) | |||
Largest win | |||
USA Hawks 17 - 45 Falcons (26 July 2006) | |||
Largest defeat | |||
Canada West 31 - 20 Falcons (29 July 2006) | |||
Official website | |||
www |
The USA Falcons was one of two national representative rugby union teams from the United States that competed in the North America 4 Series.
The Falcons were founded in 2005 by the NA4 Committee. The NA4 Committee is made up of the International Rugby Board, Rugby Canada and USA Rugby. The committee is charged with operating and financing the four North American teams (the others being the USA Hawks, Canada East, and Canada West. In 2008, however, each franchise will be sold and become privately owned. [1]
The Falcons' first ever match occurred on 20 May 2006 during the inaugural NA 4 Series. They faced Canada East in pool play and won the match 29-14. They finished the competition with a 3-2-0 record and had an average of 29 points scored and 23 points scored against per match. They faced Canada West in the championship final and lost by a score of 20-31 on 29 July. [2] South African native Patrick Bell, of Life University, captained the squad during the inaugural campaign.
The PARMA Select XV is the All-Star squad composed of the best players of the competition as determined by the Pan-American Rugby Media Association. Patrick Bell, Hayden Mexted, Mark Aylor, Vaha Esikia, Andrew “Tui” Osborne, and Brian Barnard were selected to the starting XV. John Tarpoff, Alex Parker, Chad Erskine, and Jason Pye were named as reserves. Of the 22 spots on the PARMA XV, 10 were from the Falcons squad, the most of any NA4 club.
The 2006 NA4 squad is as follows
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Mathew James Murray Tait is a retired English rugby union player who gained 38 caps for England between 2005–2010, including starting in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final; and played 279 club games for Newcastle Falcons, Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers between 2004 and 2018. He was considered a utility back regularly playing at centre, fullback or wing. Tait made his Newcastle debut in 2004 and made his England debut at 18 years old in 2005, at the time the second youngest England player selected since the second World War. He played 87 times for Newcastle before joining Sale in 2008 where he played 49 times. Tait joined Leicester in 2011 and made 143 appearances between his 2011 debut and retirement. Whilst at Leicester Tait started the 2013 Premiership Rugby Final which Leicester won as well as the 2017 Anglo-Welsh Cup Final, which Leicester also won. His final game was on 5 May 2018 against former club Sale.
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