| ||||||
| Team information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Hawks | |||||
| Governing body | USA Rugby League | |||||
| Region | Americas Rugby League | |||||
| Head coach |  Adam Woolnough | |||||
| Mostcaps | Gary Kerkorian (17) | |||||
| Top try-scorer | Taylor Alley Alvin Kirkland (17) | |||||
| Top point-scorer | Gary Kerkorian (171) | |||||
| Home stadium | Hodges Stadium | |||||
| IRL ranking | (Current) 22nd (Highest Rank 2014) 9th (Lowest Rank 2023) 38th | |||||
| Uniforms | ||||||
| ||||||
| Team results | ||||||
| First international | ||||||
 France 31–0United States  (Toulouse, France; October 1954) | ||||||
| Biggest win | ||||||
 Japan 6–78United States (Jacksonville, U.S.; June 27, 2003) | ||||||
| Biggest defeat | ||||||
 England 110–0United States (Orlando, U.S.; 2000) | ||||||
| World Cup | ||||||
| Appearances | 2 (first time in2013) | |||||
| Best result | Quarterfinals (2013) | |||||
TheUnited States national rugby league team represents the United States in internationalrugby league competitions. The team is managed by theUSA Rugby League (USARL).
The United States competed with little success in some international games during the 1950s, but did not return to consistent competition until 1987. Following the establishment of theAmerican National Rugby League (AMNRL) in 1997, the team began to participate in more regular international competition. They reached the quarterfinals of the2013 Rugby League World Cup. In 2014, the USARL became the national governing body for rugby league in the United States.
One of the earliest attempts to introducerugby league to the United States was in 1953, when wrestling promoter, Mike Dimitro was asked to organize an American rugby leaguetour of Australia and New Zealand.[1]
The team, known as the American All-Stars, was given a huge schedule that included 26 matches against Australian and New Zealand sides. None of the 22 American players had played rugby league before the tour, and they presented themselves inAmerican football-like attire early on in the tournament. The team won six games and tied two.
Their second match of the tour, a 52–25 loss toa Sydney side, drew a crowd of 65,453 at theSydney Cricket Ground.[2][3]
Three days later a crowd of 32,554 at the SCG watchedNew South Wales defeat the Americans 62–41.[4] After a consistent lack of competition, crowds were reasonable, but never reached the great height that the match at the SCG did.
The tour did not result in any meaningful growth for American rugby league. However, Mike Dimitro did not give up; he was able to organize two exhibitions againstAustralia andNew Zealand in California that did not turn out to be a big success.
In an attempt boost rugby league's popularity in America, a1987 State of Origin series match was held in theLong Beach, California.[5] The Blues won 30–18 in front of 12,349 atVeterans Memorial Stadium.[5] That same year the United States played their first international game since 1954 againstCanada. The also competed as the USA Patriots in theRugby League World Sevens tournaments between 1992 and 1997.[5]
In 1997Super League America formed to organize anational team, establish an amateur domestic competition, and build the sport in the United States.[6] The organization was initially established byRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation in an attempt to spread rugby league to the United States.[7] The United States Tomahawks warmed up for the2000 Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament with a three-match tour of New South Wales, Australia. On Friday August 11, they took on Forster XIII, drawn fromForster's two clubs, the Hawks and the Dragons. The Americans were defeated 32–12. They also played theSouth Sydney Rabbitohs at the old Redfern Oval during Souths' appeal to return to theAustralian NRL.
In 2001, as a response to theSeptember 11 attacks, the AMNRL set up a rugby league match between local U.S. born players (USA All Stars) and AMNRL players who were born overseas (World Allies All Stars).[citation needed] The match was won by the USA All Stars 27–26. Proceeds from the game were donated to the Red Cross to help with cleanup operations.[citation needed] Since 2002, the Tomahawks have been playing regular international competition in the United States. In 2002, the United States were defeated by Russia 54–10 in front of over 5,000 spectators in Moscow.
On December 1, 2004, the Tomahawks played their first ever international game against the Australian Kangaroos, the reigningWorld Cup champions.[5] The game was known as theLiberty Bell Cup and was played atFranklin Field at theUniversity of Pennsylvania and was played on a grid iron size synthetic field (Fox Sports Australia commentators Warren Smith and former Australian captainLaurie Daley reported that the Kangaroos were not too enthused about playing on the synthetic turf). It was also played in 20 minute quarters rather than the normal 40 minute halves. The Tomahawks shocked the Australians by quickly racing to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. A third converted try just 4 minutes into the 2nd quarter saw Americans lead by the unbelievable score of 18-0 until replacement forwardPetero Civoniceva sent fullbackMatthew Bowen on a 60-meter run to score under the posts with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. However, a fourth converted try saw the home side lead by the World Champions 24-6 at half time.[5] The Americans actually led for most of the game until the Kangaroos' superior fitness saw them rally in the last quarter of the game to win 36–24.[5][8] Although they lost the game, many consider this to be the American's finest moment in international rugby league competition.[5]
In October 2006, the U.S. were placed in a four team Atlantic World Cup qualifying pool along with South Africa, West Indies and Japan. South Africa and the West Indies withdrew from qualifying so therefore the group was reduced to a single game between the U.S. andJapan which the U.S. won 54–18. They then advanced to the Repechage Semi Final where they lost 42–10 toSamoa. Despite playing well against Samoa and coming within two games of qualifying for the World Cup, the United States were dropped from 14th down to 15th place when the new world rankings were released after the tournament.
In2009 and2010 the United States hosted other emerging North American teams in theAtlantic Cup.[9]
In 2011, seven teams in the AMNRL domestic competition broke away to form theUSA Rugby League. The AMNRL denied selection to players affiliated with USARL teams, including players who had been selected for the Tomahawks previously.[10]
In 2012, the U.S. entered World Cup qualifying for the second time in another bid to qualify for their first World Cup in 2013. They began with a comprehensive 40–4 victory over the South Africa in Philadelphia,[11] and followed it up with a 40–4 victory overJamaica to qualify for the2013 Rugby League World Cup for the first time.[12]
The Tomahawks won a warm-up match against 4th-ranked France, defeating them 22–18 in Toulouse in the U.S. best victory to date.[13]
In the finals, they were drawn in a group with theCook Islands andWales as well as an inter-group game againstScotland. They began by beating the Cook Islands 32–0[14] and then Wales 24–16,[15] before losing 22–8 to Scotland, although they still ended up winning their group.[16] As group winners, they advanced to the quarter finals to face Australia, losing 62-0 to be eliminated from the tournament.
Following the World Cup, the national team was put on hiatus while the governance dispute between the AMNRL and theUSARL was resolved. The team subsequently lost the right to automatic qualification for the2017 Rugby League World Cup. In November 2014, stewardship of the national team was transferred to the USARL, and the team was rebranded fromTomahawks toHawks.[17]Brian McDermott was subsequently appointed head coach[18] and his first job was to help the U.S. re-secure the World Cup qualification that they first won four years earlier. The team performed thequalification tournament, held in the United States, in December 2015. The team qualified for their second consecutive World Cup after winning both their matches.
The United States were drawn in a tough group with Fiji, Italy and Papua New Guinea. They lost their first game against Fiji 58-12, following it up with a 46-0 thumping by Italy and finally losing 64-0 in their final pool game against Papua New Guinea.[19][20]
| No. | Name | Years | G | W | L | D | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norm Robinson | 1953 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Rob Balachandran | ||||||
| 3 | Bob Brhel | 1993 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 4 | Mike Sutila | 1993 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 5 | Greg Gerard | 1994 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| 6 | David Niu | 1996 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Shane Millard | 1999 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.7 |
| 8 | Matthew Elliott | 2001 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 9 | Bill Hansbury | 2002 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| 10 | John Cartwright | 2004 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | David Niu | 2009 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 12 | Matthew Elliott | 2011 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | David Niu | 2011 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Matthew Elliott | 2011 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 15 | Ben Kelly | 2013 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75 |
| 16 | Brian Smith | 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Terry Matterson | 2013–2014 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50 |
| 18 | Peter Illfield | 2015 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Brian McDermott | 2015 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 20 | Robin Peers &Dustin Cooper | 2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 21 | Sean Rutgerson | 2017 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 22 | Brian McDermott | 2017 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Sean Rutgerson | 2018 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| 24 | Brent Richardson | 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Sean Rutgerson | 2019–2025 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 50 |
| 26 | Adam Woolnough | 2026–onwards |
Head coach:Sean Rutgerson
Squad selected for the2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s:
Squad selected for the2021 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers:[21]
| Official rankings as of December 2025 | |||
| Rank | Change | Team | Pts % |
| 1 |  | Australia | 100 |
| 2 | |  New Zealand | 82 |
| 3 | | England | 74 |
| 4 | |  Samoa | 56 |
| 5 | |  Tonga | 54 |
| 6 | |  Papua New Guinea | 47 |
| 7 | |  Fiji | 34 |
| 8 | | France | 24 |
| 9 | |  Cook Islands | 24 |
| 10 | |  Serbia | 23 |
| 11 | |  Netherlands | 22 |
| 12 | |  Ukraine | 21 |
| 13 | |  Wales | 18 |
| 14 | |  Ireland | 17 |
| 15 | |  Greece | 15 |
| 16 | |  Malta | 15 |
| 17 | |  Italy | 11 |
| 18 | |  Jamaica | 9 |
| 19 |  1 |  Poland | 7 |
| 20 | 1 |  Lebanon | 7 |
| 21 | 1 |  Norway | 7 |
| 22 |  3 | United States | 7 |
| 23 | |  Germany | 7 |
| 24 | |  Czech Republic | 6 |
| 25 | |  Chile | 6 |
| 26 | 1 |  Philippines | 5 |
| 27 | 1 |  Scotland | 5 |
| 28 | 2 |  South Africa | 5 |
| 29 | 1 |  Canada | 5 |
| 30 | 1 |  Brazil | 3 |
| 31 | 1 |  Morocco | 3 |
| 32 | 1 |  North Macedonia | 3 |
| 33 | 1 |  Argentina | 3 |
| 34 | 1 |  Montenegro | 3 |
| 35 | 4 |  Ghana | 2 |
| 36 | 5 |  Kenya | 2 |
| 37 | 3 |  Nigeria | 2 |
| 38 | 2 |  Albania | 1 |
| 39 | 2 |  Turkey | 1 |
| 40 | 2 |  Bulgaria | 1 |
| 41 | 1 |  Cameroon | 0 |
| 42 | 1 | Japan | 0 |
| 43 | 1 |  Spain | 0 |
| 44 | 3 |  Colombia | 0 |
| 45 | |  Russia | 0 |
| 46 | |  El Salvador | 0 |
| 47 | |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 |
| 48 | |  Hong Kong | 0 |
| 49 | |  Solomon Islands | 0 |
| 50 | |  Vanuatu | 0 |
| 51 | |  Hungary | 0 |
| 52 | |  Latvia | 0 |
| 53 | |  Denmark | 0 |
| 54 | |  Belgium | 0 |
| 55 | |  Estonia | 0 |
| 56 | |  Sweden | 0 |
| 57 | |  Niue | 0 |
| Complete rankings at www.internationalrugbyleague.com | |||
U.S. national side's competitive record up to date as of 28 February 2025.[22]
| Opponent | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % | For | Against | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 24 | 98 | –74 |
| Canada | 28 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 78.57% | 914 | 448 | +466 |
| Chile | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 62 | 0 | +62 |
| Cook Islands | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 33.33% | 56 | 122 | –66 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 110 | –110 |
| Fiji | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 12 | 58 | –46 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50% | 22 | 49 | –27 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 10 | 46 | –36 |
| Ireland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 50 | 112 | –62 |
| Ireland A | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 66.67% | 150 | 100 | +50 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 22 | 120 | –98 |
| Jamaica | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 77.78% | 299 | 144 | +155 |
| Japan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 252 | 44 | +208 |
| Lebanon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 8 | 62 | –54 |
| Morocco | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 50 | 10 | +40 |
 Māori | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 23 | 40 | –17 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 14 | 74 | –60 |
| Papua New Guinea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 64 | –64 |
| Russia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0% | 70 | 209 | –139 |
| Samoa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 50% | 38 | 88 | –50 |
| Scotland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 24 | 60 | +36 |
| South Africa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 122 | 54 | +68 |
| Tonga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 20 | 28 | –8 |
| Wales | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 33.33% | 38 | 174 | –136 |
| Total | 87 | 47 | 1 | 39 | 54.02% | 2,280 | 2,316 | –36 |
The U.S. have competed in 2 World Cups. In 2007 they entered into qualifying for the 2008 World Cup but were unsuccessful. However, they qualified for the following 2013 World Cup and reached the quarter finals.
| Rugby League World Cup Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA |
| 1954 | did not participate | |||||||
| 1957 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1968 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1972 | ||||||||
| 1975 | ||||||||
| 1977 | ||||||||
| 1985–88 | ||||||||
| 1989–92 | ||||||||
| 1995 | ||||||||
 2000 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||
| 2013 | Quarter final | 5th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 122 |
| 2017 | Group Stage | 14th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 168 |
| 2021 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 2026 | ||||||||
The Colonial Cup is an international Cup competition between the U.S. and Canada.
| Colonial Cup Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Pld | W | D | L | |||
| 2010 | Winners | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2011 | Winners | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| 2012 | Winners | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2013 | Winners | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |||
| 2014 | Runners up | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
| 2015 | Runners up | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 2016 | Winners | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2017 | Winners | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2024 | Draw | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Rugby League World Cup 9s Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA |
| 2019 | Group stage | 12th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 114 |
Biggest winning margins
| Margin | Score | Opponent | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 62–0 |  Chile | Hodges Stadium | 13 Nov 2018 |
| 50 | 54–4 |  Jamaica | Philadelphia | 23 July 2016 |
| 42 | 48–6 | Jamaica | Hodges Stadium | 22 July 2017 |
| 36 | 40–4 |  South Africa | Campbell's Field | 15 Oct 2011 |
| 36 | 40–4 | Jamaica | Campbell's Field | 23 Oct 2011 |
Biggest losing margins
| Margin | Score | Opponent | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 | 0–110 |  England | Disney WWOS | 21 Oct 2000 |
| 64 | 0–64 |  Papua New Guinea | Santos National Football Stadium | 12 Nov 2017 |
| 62 | 0–62 |  Australia | Racecourse Ground | 16 Nov 2013 |
| 46 | 12–58 |  Fiji | 1300SMILES Stadium | 28 Oct 2017 |
| 46 | 0–46 |  Italy | 1300SMILES Stadium | 5 Nov 2017 |
Since 2009, the U.S. have primarily usedHodges Stadium inJacksonville to host international rugby league matches.[23]Garthwaite Stadium inConshohocken, Pennsylvania has also hosted several international rugby league fixtures.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| National sports teams of the United States | |
|---|---|
| |
| Federation |
|
|---|---|
| National teams | |
| International competitions | |
| Representative teams |
|
| National competitions | |
| Unsanctioned competition |
|
| National Level Domestic Teams | |
| Domestic seasons | |