(Jose Lagman photo)

The US men’s national team has spent the last four days studying game film and in two-a-day training sessions, and has officially named the lineup for its second Test against Japan.

"When we communicate and organize ourselves we can play some pretty good footy,” head coach Scott Johnson said.

“We had some excellent moments in the first game. Now we need to grow on that, put the mistakes behind us and learn how to get better as a team. We have the individual talent, but now we need to bring out the team talent."

The Eagles have had the past week to learn and move past those mistakes from the first game, spending numerous hours studying and breaking down game film.

In small position-specific groups, the team has deconstructed the game from a variety of perspectives including defense, strategy, first phase ball off set pieces, line-outs, and all aspects of Japan’s attack and defense decisions.

“It's critical that the entire team see the game and its result from a shared perspective,” Johnson added. “This last week has not been the best I've seen of these players. I think we dipped a little bit mid-week and came back to life somewhat today.

“I expect to see tremendous effort from a handful of young players if they want to be included in the Eagle pool going forward. I've seen that kind of effort from some of the younger players on tour already and the selection for the second match was very difficult.

“In the end, I have to weigh what is best for the team in the long run and not just the result on Saturday. I'm looking specifically at a couple of positions to see if my choice in players was the right decision. This is a turning point for some of these guys and I want to give them the chance to lead.”

The lineup Johnson has chosen for the second USA/Japan match is fairly similar to the first lineup, except Brian Lemay will get a chance to start at tighthead prop and John Van der Giessen and Junior Sifa are back in the starting lineup at lock and inside center, respectively.

In addition, Courtney Mackay will likely get a chance to see some time at lock from his reserve position. The match kicks off at 7pm (JST) on Saturday at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo.

USA
1. Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie)
2. Mark Crick (Potomac Athletic Club)
3. Brian Lemay (Boston Irish Wolfhounds)
4. John VanderGiessen (Denver Barbarians)
5. Hayden Smith (Saracens)
6. Inaki Basauri (Agen)
7. Todd Clever (Xerox Lions) *Captain
8. Pat Quinn (Denver Barbarians)
9. Mike Petri (NYAC)
10. Mike Hercus (IBM)
11. Gavin DeBartolo (Eastern Suburbs)
12. Junior Sifa (Middleton)
13. Paul Emerick (Overmach Parma)
14. Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz)
15. Chris Wyles (Saracens)

Reserves
16. Joseph Welch (Cal)
17. Matekitonga Moeakiola (Unattached)
18. Courtney Mackay (Auckland Development)
19. J.J. Gagiano (University of Cape Town)
20. Chad Erskine (Rotherham)
21. Thretton Palamo (Biarritz)
22. Valenese Malifa (Belmont Shore)