United States national rugby league team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname Tomahawks
Association American National Rugby League
Region Americas
Head coach Flag of Australia Australia Matthew Elliott, Flag of Australia Terry Matterson
Flag of the United States David Niu
Captain Matthew Petersen Flag of the United States
Home stadium Franklin Field
RLIF ranking 14th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
National Uniform
First international
Flag of France France 31 - 0 USA Flag of the United States
(Toulouse, France; October 1954)
Biggest win
Flag of Japan Japan 6 - 78 USA Flag of the United States
(Jacksonville, USA; 27 June 2003
Biggest defeat
Flag of England England 110 - 0 USA Flag of the United States
(Leeds, England; 2000)

The United States National Rugby League team represents the United States in the sport of rugby league, and is nicknamed the Tomahawks.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The American All-Stars

One of the earliest attempts to introduce rugby league to the United States was in 1953, when Mike Dimitro, a wrestling promoter, was asked to organize a tour of Australasia by an American rugby league team.

The team, known as the American All-Stars, was given a huge schedule that included 26 matches against Australian and New Zealand sides. None of the 22 American players had ever played rugby league prior to this tour, they presented themselves in American football-like attire early on in the tournament. The team only won six games and tied two.

Their second match of the tour, against a Sydney side, drew a crowd of 65,453 to the Sydney Cricket Ground. After a consistent lack of competition, crowds were good but never reached the great height that the match at the SCG did.

The tour did not in turn bring any benefits to American rugby league. Mike Dimitro did however, not give up, he was able to organise two exhibitions against Australia and New Zealand in California that did not turn out to be a big success.

[edit] The return of the United States

The current USA team shirt
The current USA team shirt

The United States played their first international in 1987 against Canada. They have participated in the World Sevens (1992-1997), Superleague World Nines (1996, 1997), Emerging Nations World Cup (2000) and Victory Cup (2003, 2004) competitions.

The United States Tomahawks warmed up for the 2000 World Cup with a three-match trip to New South Wales. On Friday 11 August they took on Forster XIII, drawn from Forster’s two clubs, the Hawks and the Dragons. The Americans were defeated 32-12.

In 2001 as a response to the September 11 attacks incident, the AMNRL setup a rugby league match between local USA born players (USA All Stars) and AMNRL players who were born overseas (World Allies All Stars). The match was won by the USA All Stars 27-26. Proceeds from the game were donated to the Red Cross to help with cleanup operations.

Since 2002, the Tomahawks have been playing regular international competition in the United States. In 2002, the United States were defeated by Russia 54-10 in front of over 25,000 spectators in Moscow.

In 2004 they shocked the Rugby League world by leading the World Cup and Tri-Nations champions Australia for most of the game. Australia rallied in the last quarter of the game and won 36-24.

[edit] USA Tomahawks Team for World Cup Qualifying

[edit] Run-on Team 2007

USA Tomahawks Run-on Team

Subs

[edit] 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying

In October 2006 The Tomahawks were to participate in a four team Atlantic qualifying pool for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, but South Africa and the West Indies withdrew. The Atlantic qualifying pool, as a result, was reduced to a single game between the Tomahawks and Japan. The USA won 54-18. They then played Samoa in the Repechage Semi Final. Samoa won this match 42-10, which was a fair result as the USA team played well in patches and came up with two fantastic tries.

[edit] USA Representative Results

[edit] International Results

[edit] World Nines Results

  • Tonga def. USA 26-4 (1997)
  • Fiji def. USA 18-8 (1997)
  • Cook Islands def. USA 24-6 (1997)
  • Papua New Guinea def. USA 38-8 (1997)
  • Western Samoa def. USA 30-10 (1997)
  • Australia def. USA 24-0 (1997)
  • Cook Islands def. USA 22-0 (1996)
  • USA def. Morocco 18-4 (1996)
  • Western Samoa def. USA 14-6 (1996)
  • Australia def. USA 30-16 (1996)
  • Scotland def. USA 12-6 (1996)

[edit] World Sevens results

  • Illawarra def. USA* 18-6 (1997) *unofficial team
  • USA* def. Japan 18-14 (1997) *unofficial team
  • Italy def. USA* 22-0 (1997) *unofficial team
  • Gold Coast def. USA* 40-8 (1996) *unofficial team
  • USA* def. Japan 20-8 (1996 *unofficial team
  • Melbourne def. USA* 18-14 (1996) *unofficial team
  • Australian Aboriginals def. USA* 28-0 (1996) *unofficial team
  • Tonga def. USA 20-4 (1995)
  • USA def. Russia 28-8 (1995)
  • USA def. Italy 22-4 (1995)
  • USA def. Russia 20-6 (1995)
  • Sydney Tigers def. USA 24-10 (1995)
  • South Africa def. USA 20-8 (1994)
  • New Zealand def. USA 20-12 (1994)
  • France def. USA 18-12 (1994)
  • Wainuiomata def. USA 34-8 (1993)
  • South Sydney def. USA 28-6 (1993)
  • Illawarra def. USA 28-4 (1993)
  • Fiji def. USA 30-10 (1992)
  • USA def. CIS Red Arrows 12-8 (1992)
  • South Sydney def. USA 12-0 (1992)
  • Newcastle def. USA 16-0 (1992)

[edit] Student Results

  • USA def. Japan 54-10 (1996)
  • Wales def. USA 22-18 (1996)
  • Western Samoa def. USA 82-8 (1996)
  • New Zealand def. USA 62-10 (1996)
  • USA def. Ireland 22-20 (1996)

[edit] USA U/21 Results

  • BARLA def. USA U21s 64-14 (2001)

[edit] Other Representative Results

  • USA All Stars def. World Allies All Stars 27-26 (2001)
  • Sydney def. USA All Stars 52-25 (1953)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links