The USA Men’s National Team gets on an airplane in about five hours to fly to New Zealand.

After a somewhat embattled year full of plenty of uncertainty for many, the time has finally come.

Of the group of 30 that embarks, along with a staff of coaches and support staff numbering 14, ten have World Cup experience. Of those, two, Mike MacDonald and Paul Emerick, are headed to World Cup #3.

So for most it’s a new experience, and one where the message among the group is clear: we’re not there just to make up the numbers.

The Eagles had a productive run in Santa Barbara today (Thursday) and worked out the kinks before the long flight in to Auckland. They then fly into Wanganui, where they will be warmly welcomed by the locals.

Everything is cool in Wanganui now that the USA team has accepted an invitation to ride a traditional canoe, a Waka, in to town. The team had initially passed on the invitation because they didn’t understand what was asked (the players aren’t about to canoe down an unknown river just before the World Cup, but a community welcome parade on the water is different and, once they understood the community meaning of the event, the Eagles were happy to participate.

Once they get there, the USA team will have three days of intense training, the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th. That is the key time for them to fix the team cohesion issues. The players have been consistent in saying they just need a little time to convert all the possession they seem to be able to produce into points.

Key for the group is health. Officially all the players are healthy to play. Chris Wyles participated in training on Thursday and is expected to play at either fullback or center. He was the one big question-mark. Also a question might be Nese Malifa. The flyhalf is patched together, and he has the reputation of playing hurt, which means in this case he will probably say he’s good to go until he can’t walk.

There may be some concern about Malifa’s ability to negotiate all four matches, and so Roland Suniula has had plenty of training time at flyhalf.

The Eagles play Ireland at 6pm September 11, which ends up being 11pm September 10 PST, and 2am September 11 EST.

The game will be shown live on Universalsports.com (click here to order) or tape delay on NBC at 1pm EST, 10am PST.

Syracuse is just one year removed from reaching the DI Sweet 16, which they did before the creation of the College Premier Division and the watering down of DI, but last year they were unseated in the New York State Conference by Buffalo.

read more

The Cuse has struggled most since the spring of 2010 in the pack, where they’ve seen several of their stalwarts graduate each season.

“We lost a lot up front. Tight five players is what’s really been the challenge,” said Syracuse coach Bob Wilson. “Over the last two years we’ve lost pretty much all our tight five players, so we have pretty much new players in all those positions.”

Luckily for Wilson, his ever-changing pack is led at the back by captain David Delaney.

“He really has to perform, and he will,” said Wilson. “I’m comfortable with what he’s done in the offseason and how things have gone in the preseason.”

Syracuse also took a hit in the midfield over the summer, losing three in the heart of the backline.

“We have a couple sophomore centers in John Wilson and Evan Johnson who were the strongest of the backs,” said Wilson.

“They’re two converted wings, because our two centers both graduated, so they’re going to have to really play well, because we lost our halfback also, so we’ve got a new 10 and a new 12 and g13, so we’ve just got to see what we can do and hope we can get them into a decent pattern as soon as possible.

“We’re going to have a lot of people either stepping into positions or playing in new positions, so it’s been a little bit disrupted and was certainly, in terms of team play, not where we need to be, because we’ve been putting people in different positions and looking at a few spots due to some graduation challenges, so much to be decided over the next week and a bit.”

Syracuse is heading north of the border this weekend on a Canadian tour, where they’re sure to find out more about what they have. The following week the bullets start to fly as the Cuse opens league play Sept. 10 against St. Bonaventure.