2009 BERMUDA TEAM SELECTION
The Classic Eagles are comprised of former US Eagles and or Eagle Pool Invitees over the years. The Classics have played in Bermuda since the tournaments inception in 1988 and has proven that it can go toe to toe with any classic rugby team in the world! Having beaten England, Scotland, Wales, France, New Zealand and South Africa, Team USA is always up to the challenge! The Classic Eagles filed a squad of proven veterans of 25 men, this year the number has been limited to 22 with tough financial times limiting sponsorship for an expensive event. Team America has also given back to the rugby community by sponsoring the USA U19 team to a South Africa Tour in 2002, The USA 7’s team to Hong Kong, development sides to Hawaii, USA 7’s camps and numerous youth development programs!
The Classic Eagles have a great deal of respect in this prestigious tourney from the other countries involved and the crowd support is awesome! We must thank our many sponsors and a huge thanks goes to the famed 5 star resort where the team stays called The Elbow Beach Resort, (check out www.elbow beachresort.com) for further info. The stories are endless as the players who have rarely got to play with each other embark on the island. Something about 25 men being on a scooter and taking in great rugby bonds the team together amazingly. Quiet nights and great corporate sponsored events while partaking in the Bermuda National beverage called the Dark n’ Stormy helps the bonding experience as well!
The Classic Eagles have their hands full this year as always but having our 1st game against last years champions the British Lions will be intense to say the least. We then have either the Classic Wallabies or France depending on the pool game results. The Lions upset favored South Africa last year in a finals thriller. South Africa came to the tourney with guns a blazin’, they had their dangerous weapons in the likes of Robbie Fleck, Bobby Skinstad, Breyton Paulse and countless others! Argentina beat France in a hotly contested semifinal with the trophy going to The Argies 7-5! We won’t get into the number of infractions called and superb defense by those two teams but it was exciting to watch.
The Classic Eagles 1st opponent in 2008’ was against the Classic All blacks and the emotions were high after the All Blacks finished their Haka, we belted out the loudest most emotional rendition of the Star Spangled Banner ever heard! That set the tone for the game as well, we immediately took the 1st points of the match within 5 minutes off a well placed chip kick and followed that up with 2 more tries! The Classic All Blacks were quite flat and got their wind late in the second half. Looking from the field, the scoreboard read with under 7 minutes left, USA 17 – All Blacks 15. We had momentum, were winning the hard battles but let them back with a multi phase All Black drive for a try followed by a quick tap off a penalty that caught us off guard and the final score was 29-17 to the All Blacks. The crowd was into it the entire time and were very proud of the Eagles as were we but we knew we let that one get away.
The next game was against the Classic Argentinian’s. We knew going in that it was going to be physical but it got down right dirty. The Argies were known for some cheap play in the rucks, mauls and breakdowns. With some punching under the piles and some eye gouging going on by them, instant retaliation on our part kept us in the “sin bin” too often. We held our ground in this 60 minute punch up but with 2 very late beautifully placed chip kicks they nipped us 27-15! That was the end of the road for us and even more fun was to be had. A golf tourney is held amongst the 8 countries involved and takes place on the last Friday of the weekend before the championship Saturday games. This is as highly contested as the Rugby games and the USA looks to do well in the event this year. Last years individual round was won by Mike “Whitey” Nelson and the team took 4th overall. This year will surely be a better showing! In other news, the USA placed 2 players in the Tennis event and we took 2nd place. Mike French and Corne Cronje combined to be the largest mixed doubles Tennis team EVER! Great job USA on all levels…
