WXV Global Series Challenger 2026

By The Rugby Fan Central Team

Twenty-one players from July’s South Africa series return, while Jack Hanratty adds Falcons prospects, sevens talent and returning Eagles as the United States builds greater depth in the new Rugby World Cup cycle.

The USA Women’s Eagles have named a 36-player squad for the 2026 WXV Global Series, retaining much of the team that finished its July tour of South Africa with a victory while significantly expanding competition across the roster.

Only 21 of the 36 players selected for WXV appeared in either of the Eagles’ two Tests against South Africa.

The other 15 enter the WXV group from outside those two matchday squads, bringing together established Eagles, players moving between the 15s and sevens programs and prospects emerging through the USA development pathway.

For head coach Jack Hanratty, that makes the five-match series against Ireland, Wales, Italy and England about more than immediate results.

The Eagles are in the opening stages of a new Rugby World Cup cycle, with Australia hosting the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup before the tournament comes to the United States in 2033.

Developing greater Test-level depth across the player pool is therefore becoming increasingly important.

Building From the Pretoria Win

The Eagles enter WXV having split their two-Test July series against South Africa.

South Africa won the opening match 34–21 in Johannesburg before the USA responded one week later with a 26–19 victory at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Rather than replacing that team, Hanratty has retained much of its core.

That continuity is particularly noticeable in the forwards.

Hope Rogers, Kathryn Treder, Hallie Taufoou, Freda Tafuna and Georgie Perris-Redding started both South Africa Tests.

Tafuna scored in Johannesburg, while Rogers crossed twice in the victory in Pretoria.

Perris-Redding will now serve as co-captain alongside Erica Jarrell-Searcy during the WXV campaign.

Falcons Prospects Earn Their Opportunity

Four players have earned senior Eagles selections following the recent USA Falcons tour to Brazil.

Nina Mason, Lauryn Carlton, Malia Isaacs and Kennedy Feasby have all been called into the WXV squad.

None appeared in either South Africa Test.

Their promotion provides an early indication that the pathway Hanratty has discussed during the opening months of the new cycle is beginning to feed players into the senior squad.

USA Rugby has been evaluating athletes across senior camps, the U20 pathway, Falcons program and the women’s sevens environment.

WXV brings those different strands together.

Sevens and 15s Integration Accelerates

Perhaps the most significant development is the growing connection between the USA women’s 15s and sevens programs.

Hanratty and USA Women’s Sevens head coach Emilie Bydwell are increasingly sharing players between the two environments rather than treating them as completely separate national-team programs.

Olympian Kayla Canett and Tahna Wilfley have been brought into the WXV squad from the sevens environment.

They join players including Ashley Cowdrey, Hann Humphreys, Karina Gauto and Tessa Hann, who have also been part of the crossover between the two codes.

Movement is happening in the opposite direction as well.

Erica Jarrell-Searcy recently joined the sevens setup after the 2025 Rugby World Cup and now returns to the 15s squad, where she will co-captain the Eagles alongside Perris-Redding.

Hanratty described the collaboration as building on integration already seen during the Pacific Four Series and South Africa tour.

“It’s great to have the energy of collaboration with the Sevens program and building off the great integration from PAC4 and the South Africa Tour.”

The roster suggests that collaboration is becoming a meaningful part of how the USA intends to develop its player pool.

Rebuilding the 9–10 Axis

One of the most interesting selection questions entering WXV is at halfback.

The combination that started the Eagles’ victory in Pretoria will not simply carry over into this series.

Olivia Ortiz started at scrum-half and Kristin Bitter at fly-half against South Africa in Pretoria. Neither is included in the WXV squad.

Bella Vogel, meanwhile, started the opening South Africa Test at fly-half before moving to inside center for the second.

That puts Vogel firmly in the conversation at 10, while the arrival of Kayla Canett adds another player with experience operating in the halfback positions.

Cassidy Bargell also returns after starting at scrum-half in the first South Africa Test.

Hanratty therefore has several ways to construct the 9–10 combination rather than simply replacing Ortiz and Bitter player-for-player.

Who controls territory, sets the tempo and connects the forwards with an increasingly athletic backline could become one of the defining tactical questions of the opening matches against Ireland and Wales.

Competition Across the Backline Is Growing

The changes extend beyond scrum-half and fly-half.

Against South Africa, the Eagles used combinations featuring Alev Kelter, Ashley Cowdrey, Bella Vogel, Bulou Mataitoga, Cassidy Bargell, Katana Howard, Telesi Uhatāfe and Tessa Hann.

The WXV squad adds or brings back players including Canett, Wilfley, Jarrell-Searcy, Erica Coulibaly, Karina Gauto, Abigail Paton, Emily Henrich, Nina Mason and Sadie Schier.

That gives Hanratty considerably more competition and positional flexibility than he had during the two-Test South Africa series.

It also means the eventual first-choice backline remains far from settled.

Uhatāfe Carries Momentum Into WXV

One player carrying significant momentum from South Africa is Telesi Uhatāfe.

Uhatāfe started at center in the opening Test before moving to the wing in Pretoria.

She then scored two tries in the 26–19 victory, accounting for half of the Eagles’ four tries.

Rogers scored the other two, while Vogel converted three.

Uhatāfe’s ability to operate in multiple backline positions could become increasingly valuable as Hanratty experiments with combinations around the additional attacking options entering the squad.

Five South Africa Players Not Included

Five players who appeared in at least one of the two South Africa Tests are not included in the WXV squad:

Elizabeth Cook, Emerson Allen, Kristin Bitter, Olivia Ortiz and Paige Stathopoulos.

There is an important distinction to make with those absences.

USA Rugby’s squad announcement does not specify whether individual omissions are related to selection, injury, availability, club commitments or other circumstances.

They therefore should not automatically be described as players who have been dropped.

What can be established is that the personnel available to Hanratty — particularly at scrum-half and fly-half — will be different from the group that won in Pretoria.

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The schedule gives Hanratty an unusual opportunity to test combinations.

After facing Ireland and Wales in Europe, the Eagles will play Italy twice in consecutive weeks, giving the coaching staff an opportunity to see how the team adapts against the same opponent.

Then comes England.

England Provides the Ultimate Benchmark

The October 30 finale in New Jersey is more than simply the final match of the series.

It will be the first meeting between the teams since England defeated the USA 69–7 in the opening match of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. England subsequently went on to reach the final and win the world title.

For the Eagles, that 69–7 defeat provided a stark measure of the distance between the USA and the leading team in the women’s game.

Fourteen months later, the New Jersey rematch provides another benchmark.

No single result will determine the progress of a program still early in a new cycle, but facing England after four preceding WXV matches should provide Hanratty with valuable evidence of where the Eagles have improved — and where the gap remains.

The Bigger Target Extends Beyond WXV

The Global Series is not simply a collection of five Tests.

It is part of the next stage in the development of this Eagles program.

Hanratty was appointed at the beginning of the new Rugby World Cup cycle with USA Rugby emphasizing the need to build an ambitious high-performance program capable of progressing through 2029 and beyond.

For the USA, there is an even longer-term target on the horizon: the 2033 Women’s Rugby World Cup on American soil.

That makes expanding the player pool now particularly valuable.

The objective cannot simply be to identify a starting XV capable of winning the next Test. The Eagles need competition throughout the squad and a growing number of players capable of performing at international level as the cycle progresses.

The integration of the Falcons, U20 and sevens environments gives USA Rugby several potential routes for finding those players.

The 2026 WXV squad provides one of the clearest demonstrations yet of that approach.

USA Women’s Eagles WXV Squad

Full 36-Player Roster

Forwards:
Alivia Leatherman, Chloe Hill-Huse, Erica Jarrell-Searcy, Freda Tafuna, Georgie Perris-Redding, Hallie Taufoou, Hann Humphreys, Hope Rogers, Kapoina Bailey, Kate Zackary, Kathryn Treder, Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele, Kennedy Feasby, Lauryn Carlton, Malia Isaacs, Mona Lisa Tupou, Rachel Ehrecke, Reece Woods, Sam Brackett.

Backs:
Abigail Paton, Alev Kelter, Ashley Cowdrey, Bella Vogel, Bulou Mataitoga, Cassidy Bargell, Emily Henrich, Erica Coulibaly, Karina Gauto, Katana Howard, Kayla Canett, Nina Mason, Sadie Schier, Tahna Wilfley, Taina Tukuafu, Telesi Uhatāfe, Tessa Hann.

USA Women’s Eagles Coaches and Staff

Jack Hanratty — Head Coach
Sarah Chobot — Assistant Coach
Lou Meadows — Assistant Coach
Jon Humphreys — Assistant Coach
Jeremy Steinbach — Head of Athletic Performance
Sam Malette — Lead Athletic Trainer
Hannah Reid — Team Manager

While Hanratty leads the 15s program, the squad announcement also highlights the broader coaching collaboration with Emilie Bydwell and the USA Women’s Sevens program, particularly around identifying players who can move between the two environments.

A Bigger Test Than a Squad Announcement

The most significant part of this selection is not simply the number of players Hanratty has chosen.

It is where they are coming from.

The core that won in Pretoria remains. Falcons prospects are entering the senior environment. Sevens players are moving into 15s. Players from the 15s program are spending time in sevens. And competition is developing at positions occupied by different players only two months ago.

Ireland and Wales provide the first tests. Two matches against Italy offer an opportunity to measure adaptation from one week to the next.

Then the Eagles get England.

For a USA program at the beginning of a new World Cup cycle — and with a home Rugby World Cup waiting further down the road in 2033 — those five matches should tell Hanratty considerably more than simply who belongs in his starting XV.