O'Sullivan: Eagles lack experience

Eddie O’Sullivan has called for regular top-flight competition for his USA Eagles following successive Test defeats for his new charges.

The former Ireland coach, who became USA head coach in March, saw his competitive reign begin with back-to-back losses to his old team and Wales, and the Irishman believes his mostly amateur squad need exposure to Test rugby on a consistent basis if the Americans are to compete at the highest level of world rugby.

“We went out against Wales short of seven or eight of our front-liners against a professional team and you could see the price we paid for small mistakes,” O’Sullivan said following the 48-15 loss to the Welsh in Chicago last Saturday.

“These guys certainly need that exposure but you need to expose them at regular intervals and in a competitive fashion.

“We’re happy to have it but it happens too infrequently and haphazardly and it’s hard to build a rhythm.

“But it is what it is.”

O’Sullivan, who tomorrow will see the USA head straight back into action at the Churchill Cup in Denver against Argentina A, will at least have captain Todd Clever back in the ranks having been unavailable for the two Tests due to commitments with South African Super 14 outfit Golden Lions.

Reflecting on the loss to Wales, when the tourists outscored the Eagles by six tries to two, O’Sullivan said his players had to learn international rugby was a game of narrow margins.

“In these games, when you get exposed, it really costs you seven (points), and three mistakes and there’s 20 points on the board and it looks like the game has got away,” he continued.

“Those are the harsh realities of professional rugby and, in some ways, we can’t be too sorry for ourselves, we’ve got to learn these lessons. They’re harsh but they’re fair lessons and we’ve got to pick ourselves up and move on from them.

“We’ve a game Wednesday against the Argentina Jaguars and a game with the England Saxons on Sunday so I don’t think it’s going to get any easier.”

With seven games in seven weeks concluding with a home and away 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifier against Canada, O’Sullivan is having to manage his squad very carefully and has made 14 changes, including four debutants, from the side that played Wales for the team to face the Jaguars.

“We’ve got some young lads in the squad that we’ve got to push in for Wednesday and see what they can do,” he said.

“It’s a pretty big shuffle around in the team but this is just two games in, we went two steps forward last week (against Ireland) and this is one step back this week.

“I think we’re still improving but we need to learn lessons quickly.”

O’Sullivan revealed he is intending to bring back a much stronger side against the Saxons in Denver on Sunday.

“We’ll need to get a strong team back on the field again for the weekend against the Saxons before we get some guys back for the week after and hopefully that will strengthen the pool even further,” he added.

“There will hopefully be six or seven guys coming in after the Saxons game and hopefully that will give us a boost for the end of the Churchill and heading into Canada.”

O’Sullivan is impressed with the quality of the England side, which includes Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani – on standby for the British and Irish Lions but overlooked by Martin Johnson for the senior England squad’s series against Argentina.

“They’ve got a pretty sparkling back line, there is some real quality in the backs and there’ll be a bit of grunt up front, and again, a bit like Wales, if they get a good platform they’ll cause us all sorts of trouble,” he said.

“But we’ve a small issue with the Jaguars before that and we’ll have a young team out against them.”

O’Sullivan was not entirely surprised by Cipriani’s inclusion in the Saxons squad.

He added: “I think he’s a very talented guy and he’s certainly a man for the future but obviously Martin Johnson feels he needs a bit more time in the trenches, and who am I to argue with Martin Johnson?”