Eddie urges his Eagles to keep emotions in check

USA coach Eddie O’Sullivan appears to have hammered home the message that emotions must not ground his Eagles when they take on Ireland on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Former Ireland boss O’Sullivan takes his side into its opening World Cup Pool C contest against his former charges at Stadium Taranaki tomorrow having warned his players they have to keep a lid on their feelings on such a poignant day for the American people or risk blowing their chance of an upset.

And the message seems to have sunk in, with scrum-half and vice captain Mike Petri, a native New Yorker who a decade ago was at school in Manhattan on the day two hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.