By Kath
April 2 2010

England Saxons return in June to the USA for the 2010 Churchill Cup, facing Russia and the USA Eagles in the pool stages. Russia are newcomers to this tournament and the Eagles were last year's the Saxons opponents

Brad Barritt (Saracens) in action at last year's Churchill Cup 

England Saxons return in June to the USA for the 2010 Churchill Cup,  facing Russia and the USA Eagles in the pool stages.  Russia are newcomers to this tournament and the Eagles were last year's the Saxons opponents.   

In 2009 the Saxons recorded victories against Argentina Jaguars (28-20) and The Eagles (56-17) on the way to the final which saw Ireland A take the trophy, beating England 49-22 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Stuart Lancaster's Saxons' have had a successful start to their season. In January they put their Churchill Cup final disappointment behind them by turning the tables on Ireland with a 17-13 win at Bath's Recreation Ground.   And a week later they travelled to Treviso where they faced a very physical Italy A side to win 31-5.
The Ireland match marked the first outing for a new coaching team consisting of Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Simon Hardy and the three will return for June's tournament.

Churchill Cup: The Churchill Cup is an alliance between the English Rugby Football Union (RFU), Rugby Canada and USA Rugby. The tournament was launched in 2003 and aims to develop and grow the sport of rugby union across Canada and the USA. It is named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who shared close ties with the United States - his mother was American - and with Canada during the Second World War. With support from the International Rugby Board the tournament has grown in success since 2003 when 5,000 people attended to watch the three Alliance nations in Vancouver. Since its introduction, both men's and women's teams from England, USA and Canada have participated although since 2005 it has been a men only event. Invitational sides from Argentina, Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand have all participated, while there was also a women's competition in 2003 and 2004.

2010 Churchill Cup Pools & Schedule
Pool A 
Canada 
Uruguay 
France A 

Pool B
USA
Russia
England Saxons

Schedule
Saturday, June 5
Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado
Canada v Uruguay 
USA v Russia 

Wednesday, June 9 
Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado
England Saxons v Russia 
France A v Uruguay 

Sunday, June 13 
Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado
USA v England Saxons 
Canada v France A 

Saturday, June 19
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
Finals Day triple header