Cama Eyes USA Eagles Debut
He had signed two year contract with major league champions LA Giltinis two years ago and was a USA Eagles Under-20s selection.
Wednesday 21 August 2024 | 02:35
Fijian-born rugby union hooker Cyrille Cama, 23 is a step away from making his international debut in the United States of America Eagles side in this year’s rebranded cross-regional Pacific Nations Cup competition.
He is one of the six uncapped players in the USA Eagle side chasing top PNC placing that kicks off on Friday at the HFC Bank stadium in Suva with the Flying Fijians taking on Manu Samoa.
USA Eagles host Japan on Saturday, August 31 at the Dignity Health Sports Park, Los Angeles.
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Originally from Natokalau, Kubulau, in Bua with maternal links to Bureta in Ovalau, Cama who plays hooker had played rugby at St Agnes Primary School in Nabua where he was captain for two years as a line-backer before his family migrated to Los Angeles in 2013.
He had signed two year contract with major league champions LA Giltinis two years ago and was a USA Eagles Under-20s selection.
He then progressed to the High-Performance Programme; selected for the Rhinos Tens professional team for the World Tens Series in Bermuda in 2020. He played for the Rhinos Rugby Academy, in Sacramento alongside African sevens greats Collins Injera, Andrew Amonde and Cecil Africa.
He is the maiden product of the Rhinos Academy and HPU to gain USA Eagles selection.
QUALIFICATION
World Rugby recently announced that the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup will serve as the qualification bracket for Rugby World Cup 2027, where this year’s inaugural tournament will be a positive marker for the USA’s extended players’ pool ahead of next year’s qualification.
Fiji and Japan have already qualified for RWC 2027.
USA Eagles head coach Scott Lawrence said, “The five-week Pacific Nations Cup campaign provides an opportunity to expose this Eagles squad to the massive change in preparation and intensity required to play test match rugby.
“With new faces comes new energy. We’re expecting this group to fire into camp with a competitive mindset toward winning valuable test match minutes,” he said.
His mother Marjorie Cama yesterday said, “Cyrille’s journey is one of blessings and can be summarised as the point of convergence of human benevolence, generosity and divine providence.
“Our gratitude to the owners of the academy, professional resources for Cyrille’s development and his ultimately achieving his goal,” she said.
“It’s a blessing because it was always his dream to play rugby. As they always say, America is the land of great things, where the sky is the limit.”
FORMAT
For the first time, this year’s PNC is played in a round-robin two-pool format with a Grand Final deciding the overall champions.
Fiji, Samoa and Tonga will compete in Pool A, while Canada, Japan and USA make up Pool B. Each team will play one home and one away match during the pool stage.
A finals series has been introduced this year to decide the destination of the title, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semi-finals. The winners of those matches will contest in the final, while the losers play off for third place.
The two teams who finish bottom of their respective pools will compete in a fifth-place play-off on the same day as the first semi-final on September 14. The second semi-final will take place a day later.
This year’s finals will be played in Tokyo and Osaka, with hosting duties alternating between Japan and USA on an annual basis.
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