Steve Borthwick’s England team will play in Washington DC in July, World Rugby and USA Rugby will formally announce on Tuesday, in a double-header that may see the superstar Ilona Maher run out for the US Eagles women against Fiji.
Brett Robinson, chair of World Rugby, announced a 12-game summer schedule for the US men’s and women’s teams. He said that the schedule “reflects our ambition to… enhance performance, attract new audiences, and fuel rugby’s growth.” He stated, “The US is a rugby market that is rapidly growing with strong commercial and hosting interest ahead of the Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033.” The Washington double-header will take place on 19 July at Audi Field, home of DC United in Major League Soccer. The US men played at the venue last summer, losing 42-7 to Scotland on a predictably swampy evening by the Anacostia River.
England finished the Six Nations last weekend with a 10-try, 68-14 victory over Wales in Cardiff, a much less humid environment. They lost to France for the title but gave the national game new hope. On June 21, England will play a non-cap match at Twickenham against a France XV. They will then play Test matches against Argentina on July 5 in Buenos Aires and July 12 in San Juan. When Washington plays the US Eagles, who are getting better and are now ranked 15th in the world, the summer tour will come to an end. Borthwick will be without top players selected for the British and Irish Lions in Australia but could still field exciting talents such as Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old Northampton back-rower who scored twice on debut in Wales.
When questioned by the Guardian, sources at the US game expressed fervent hope that Maher would play for the Eagles against Fiji, tempered by realistic expectations. Maher, who won bronze in the Olympic sevens in Paris last summer and is one of the athletes with the most social media followers in the world, finished second on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars reality show. Maher recently completed a successful stint with the Bristol Bears, where she attracted record crowds to the English women’s game and generated valuable coverage and buzz. She is currently competing for a spot on the US roster for the 15-a-side World Cup in England in August and September. Announcing the Audi Field occasion, Bill Goren, chief executive of USA Rugby, said he was “thrilled to bring the men’s and women’s Eagles to fans coast-to-coast, in the largest slate of home matches since 2019”.
That summer schedule begins on April 26 when the women’s Eagles take on Japan at UCLA in California in a second doubleheader against the professional men’s San Diego Legion and RFCLA of Major League Rugby. On 2 May, the women will face Canada in Kansas City.
The men’s Eagles will warm up for England with two games in Charlotte, North Carolina, both against lower-ranked opposition: the Netherlands on 5 July and Spain a week later.
In pool play for the Pacific Nations Cup, the United States will compete against Canada and Japan in August and September. With Japan and Fiji already qualified for the World Cup in Australia in 2027, the US, Canada, Samoa, and Tonga will contest three final spots available without further play-offs.
