When the US Eagles play the Wallabies at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday, coach Mike Tolkin will have no fear about playing at the same venue where they were thrashed by the All Blacks last November.
Furthermore, Tolkin said the Eagles will not feel intimidated by the Wallabies, who only last weekend moved up from No.3 to No.2 behind New Zealand in the World Rugby rankings.
"To play at this level and get ready to walk into a World Cup you can't be intimidated," Tolkin said. "Our guys won't be, with all due respect to the Wallabies."
If anything, Tolkin believes the Eagles, ranked 16th in the world, will draw on the experience of having played the All Blacks before a packed 61,500 crowd as motivation for Saturday's Test. "The main thing is the experience itself," Tolkin said on Wednesday after naming his World Cup squad. "You can look at film of the All Blacks and … they do what they do and you are chasing. But playing that game gives you the idea of, 'Yup, this is exactly what it is going to be like in the pace [of the game].'"
Tolkin said he has no idea what line-up Wallabies coach Michael Cheika would select. "He might want to put out a team who he really wants to get a final hit-out, a good shot to get them prepared for their first game," Tolkin said.
"Maybe he wants to get his bench guys games. I couldn't begin to speculate what is going on his mind. Whatever it is, we are going to play for the style of game the Wallabies play."
Tolkin has yet to select his line-up, but pledged: "We are going to put on a strong side."
The Eagles have only recently played the Pacific Nations Cup series – recording one win against Japan and two against Canada (one of those games not being a PNC game) and losses to Samoa and Tonga. Last weekend, they also played English club side Harlequins, losing 24-19.
Like many coaches, Tolkin has followed the mantra of having to instead "focus mainly on ourselves".
Hence, when asked how closely he had reviewed the Wallabies' game with a view to Saturday's Test, Tolkin said: "We have kind of taken big strokes from the Wallabies – the main themes and stuff. It is a fast-paced game. They are going to play up-tempo. They are good in the air. We have to be up for it and do what we can to come out with some impact and physicality. Every time we get on the field we want to play our game, we want to dictate terms.
"Once you don't, you start chasing the game, and you never want to be in a position to chase games."
As with Cheika, Tolkin's ultimate goal is to get his squad ready for the World Cup in England, which starts on September 18.
The Eagles' first pool game is against Samoa on September 20, followed by Scotland on September 27, South Africa on October 7 and Japan on October 11.
And the Eagles will go to the World Cup with plenty of ambition. "You go to a World Cup you want to aim to get out of your pool," Tolkin said. "So right now we can say that is the goal. But we also know how hard it is to win any World Cup game. We understand that. We know that we have to work our asses off for every game, even the ones where we have teams that are closer to us like Japan or maybe Samoa."
