stephen paea
A nice story from Sam Worthington of Fairfax Media about Stephen Paea, a Kiwi who’s with the Chicago Bears outfit. The full story can be read here.
Stephen Paea could easily have been playing for the All Blacks or Tonga at the Rugby World Cup – instead the Auckland-born man mountain finds himself living the American dream as a National Football League rookie for the Chicago Bears.
The 23-year-old stands 1.85m and weighs a whopping 137kg, with that bulk a prerequisite for his position as a defensive tackle.
Paea, who was drafted as a second-round pick, is yet to play after four games of the NFL season but has signed a four-year deal with the Bears.
Paea said from Chicago that his family moved from Auckland to Tonga when he was two months old but a visit to New Zealand, aged 12, sowed a sporting seed.
“My dream was to play rugby for the All Blacks but fortunately I found my way here to America to play football,” Paea said.
“I was there when Andrew Mehrtens was the No10. But Jonah Lomu, he was my favourite, I wanted to be just like him growing up.”
Paea played either No8 or second five-eighth as a schoolboy star in Tonga before relocating to the United States in 2004 as his family sought more opportunities for their children.
It was initially a shock to the system as the Tongan clan spent time in Kansas, Utah and California, but as Paea’s body grew so did his reputation on the football field.
He was recruited by Oregon State University where he gained YouTube infamy with a video that showed him bench-pressing 225 pounds 44 times.
Continue reading »
While USA Eagles kept it close in the first half – and even had the chance to go ahead before the whistle – Tonga pulled away in the second to hand the Eagles their second defeat of the Churchill Cup.
Viliami Iongi scored four tries himself and almost single handedly nailed shut the Eagles Churchill Cup coffin. Paul Emerick was the lone try scorer for the U.S.
The 44-13 loss was a disappointment, as the Eagles fielded a stronger team for this fixture.The Eagles will have one more game on Saturday – against yet-to-be-named opponents – to salvage something useful out of this tournament.
Adrian Pratt, Rugby USA
NORTHAMPTON, England – The USA Eagles went down to a record-breaking defeat in their opening game of the Churchill Cup, losing 87-8 to the England Saxons.
The Saxons are the second England team, usually made up of young, promising talent being eyed for potential full-squad duty. The USA, too, started mostly domestic players to give them experience against a Saxons team that was fully professional.
Head Coach Eddie O’Sullivan tried some experimental combinations and gave domestic players an opportunity to play at a very high level. The Eagles were starved of possession by the Saxons and the English side was able to capitalize on turnovers, scoring seven tries from turnover ball.
USA struck first after solid phase play resulted in a penalty which outside center, Tai Enosa, converted with ease in the 3rd minute. England answered back quickly through the very lethal Miles Benjamin, who ended up scoring a hat trick in the encounter.
The first 20 minutes would see the Saxons run rampant and the Eagles were up against it to the tune of 33-3 at halftime.
“The game got away from us early on and we were struggling early. On some occasions we held onto the ball and did some good things,” said O’Sullivan.
“It was a very big ask of our team to go against the fully professional England Saxons side and a lot of our problems were of our own making.”
Unfortunately, the Churchill Cup has not been kind to the Eagles. They’ve been on the wrong end of both the other largest trouncings: The New Zealand Maori’s 74-6 victory in 2006 and a 62-10 loss, also to the Saxons, in 2008.
The coach continued to say that mistakes and turnovers were compounded by the Saxons’ speedy backs and defensive lapses by the Eagles.
Next up for the Eagles are Tonga, on June 8.
CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Eagles Head Coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, was extremely pleased with his squad at the recent camp held at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in San Diego. The camp was the first for the Eagles fifteens team in their preparations for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in September.
EaglesXV Domestic Camp Credit: USA Rugby and EaglesXV.com
During the camp, held from May 4-8, the players had several chances to impress O’Sullivan, the most obvious opportunity being a controlled scrimmage on the Saturday afternoon.
“It was a very successful camp for us. The players really applied themselves, with us getting seven very tough sessions done between Thursday and Sunday,” O’Sullivan said.
With the Rugby World Cup only months away, this domestic camp proved a valuable selection tool for O’Sullivan and his coaching staff.
Newly appointed technical experts Fiore Screnci (Scrum Coach) and Chris O’Brien (Kicking Coach) had a chance to work with the 35 players, while Matt Sherman (Backs Coach), Dave Hodges (Forwards Coach) and Mike Tolkin (Defensive Coach) imparted their expertise to the group.
“The work ethic was excellent and we got a lot of quality reps done. We also got a lot of information that we didn’t have before, particularly some of the new players,” said O’Sullivan, “The next job now is to pick the Churchill Cup pool.”
The Eagles will travel to England in June to compete in the 2011 Churchill Cup, where they will take on the England Saxons (June 4) and Tonga (June 8), before the Elimination round (June 18).
The Eagles’ Churchill Cup opponents will be challenging and so too will be their training and match schedule.
“We hit the ground on the 30th of May and have to play on the 4th of June. It’s then a very short turn-around till we play Tonga,” said O’Sullivan.
The coach will select his Churchill Cup team over the next few weeks.
Continue reading »
HONG KONG – Japan defeated the USA 14-12 in the final minutes of the Hong Kong Sevens Bowl Semifinal and eliminated the Eagles from the tournament.
The Eagles had defeated Tonga 26-21 in the Bowl Quarterfinals to advance to the semifinal round.
Japan pulled an upset defeating Scotland in the Bowl Quarterfinals to earn a spot in the semis. Four of the last six matches the Eagles have played in the HSBC Sevens World Series have been against Japan, so the two sides knew one another very well. The USA also beat Japan in Shield Final at the USA Sevens in Las Vegas last month, something the Japanese were sure to remember.
Staunch Eagle defense and disciplined attack defined the first half for the USA and it looked to be going the way of the Eagles early.
Justin Boyd started the scoring, getting good ball at pace, sizing up the defense and slicing through two drifting defenders for a try. Boyd looked to be playing with plenty of confidence and was a threat the entire game.
Continue reading »
