USA coach Lawrence targets World Cup readiness over results as Eagles face Zimbabwe

USA Eagles head coach Scott Lawrence has made clear that building towards Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia matters more than winning matches, as his side prepares to face Zimbabwe at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday in the inaugural World Rugby Nations Cup.

The Eagles edged Portugal 30-29 in their opening fixture, with fly-half Chris Hilsenbeck slotting a long-range penalty in the dying moments to secure the result on Independence Day in front of a home crowd. Lawrence acknowledged the significance of the occasion but kept his focus firmly on what the result revealed about his squad.

“The win was nice to get, it was nice to get on our Independence Day and in front of a home crowd. That piece is nice, it’s the cherry on top,” Lawrence told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “What we’re most pleased with is we set our stall out to get a bit of a gut check of where we are and did we find the right guys? We got an answer on that.”

Saturday’s match against Zimbabwe will be the first-ever meeting between the two nations. Zimbabwe arrive having lost their opening Nations Cup fixture to Tonga by 10 points and will be looking to respond. Lawrence sees the varied opposition across the tournament as deliberate preparation for the demands of a World Cup pool stage.

“The way that we’re approaching each game is that each of these teams provides a different performance challenge in and of themselves,” he said. “If you look at Zimbabwe, they’re a very athletic, creative side — they create a different unstructured game than Portugal. Everything we’re doing is preparing to perform for the World Cup. We like wins but we like to get better more than we like wins right now.”

California Legion backrower Jason Damm captains a 23-man squad that carries 201 Test caps in the starting XV alone, with a further 60 appearances among the replacements. Lawrence has handed a debut to former HSBC SVNS Series star Lance Williams, who comes straight into the run-on side. Williams, a backrower who spent several seasons with the Utah Warriors before joining California Legion, has made 68 Major League Rugby appearances over five seasons, including 12 starts for the Legion in 2026 as they reached the MLR final before falling 35-17 to an undefeated Chicago Hounds side on 22 June.

Williams and Cory Daniel are set to start at flanker, with Makeen Alikhan at number eight completing the back-row. The USA’s Nations Cup schedule continues with a third consecutive match against World Cup-bound opposition when they face Spain in Cary.