England & Ireland to face USA Eagles in July tests
- 2330
In the wake of Ireland’s tour to Fiji being cancelled amid Covid-19 concerns, it has been confirmed that Andy Farrell’s charges will meet the USA Eagles in Dublin for a test on 10 July.
In a recent podcast interview, USA’s head coach Gary Gold said that his side will go up against Ireland and England in July:
"What our schedule is that has just been confirmed is that on July 3rd we'll be playing England at Twickenham in our first game that we play since returning from Covid and the Rugby World Cup and a week later we're due to play Ireland at the Aviva," Gold said.
The Irish last met the Americans in 2018, posting an easy 57-14 victory on the back of their historic win over the All Blacks.
The cancellation of the Fiji tour was announced on Friday and performance director David Nuciforna made the following statement:
"A great deal of effort has gone into the planning of the Tour which was predicated on a safety first approach. Fiji up until this point had been relatively untouched by the pandemic but that picture has quickly changed and unfortunately it is no longer viable to proceed with the tour.
"The rugby challenge in Fiji would have been formidable and would have exposed our players to the athleticism and skillset that the Fijians are famous for. It would have provided a significant developmental window for the national group considering that they also missed out on a summer tour in 2020.
"I would like to thank the Fijian Rugby Union, the Fijian government and World Rugby for their support over the past few months and I have no doubt it would have been a successful and fantastic touring experience.
"We will continue to explore alternative arrangements with our partner Unions."