The USA-based Tiger Rugby team kicked off the Hong Kong 10s on Wednesday with a number of national squad hopefuls on its roster for the two-day tournament.

Tiger Rugby's group of up-and-comers and capped USA players includes Pat Blair, Naima Fuala'au, Bren Broselle, and Tala Talapusi, who have all been training with the Eagles Sevens team. Charlie Brennan, Huluholu Moungaloa, Jay Finau, and Life West's Devereaux Ferris are also playing for Tiger on the trip, as are former internationals Cornal Hendricks (South Africa) and Matt Turner (England).

Mystic River product Chris Frazier is on tour with the squad, along with High School All-American Junior Waqavesi.

Sam McGuffie, who represented the USA as a bobsledder in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, is back playing rugby and with Tiger, as well, and several former Collegiate All-Americans in Nick Boyer (Cal), Harry Higgins (Arkansas State), Lorenzo Thomas (still at Lindenwood), Cody Melphy (Life University), and Zach Bonte (UCLA, now at Life West) are on the tour.

Another intriguing talent is Peni Tagive, an Australian-born Fijian who played rugby league in Australia and football with Baylor. Tagive, 30, recently qualified for the USA 15s team via residency. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound player is a big and powerful wing who could be a useful find for Tiger.

The tour has been made possible in part by additional support from Life West University and also from Phil Tagami, CEO of California Commercial and Investment Group. The Oakland-based CCIG has put considerable resources behind the team, which, said coach James Walker, will allow Tiger to tour more regularly and fulfill its role as a USA development program.

On Wednesday, Tiger started off the tournament by dropping a 17-14 decision against Kings College and then lost to Tradition YCAC.

In the final pool game of the day, Tiger defeated the Devil's Own Shanghai Silver Dragons 15-7 to finish pool play 1-2.

Tiger is into the Bowl Quarterfinals against the Sedbergh School Old Boys on Thursday.