Did USA Rugby make a mistake in celebrating Paul Emerick’s 50^th Cap on Saturday? (See the update below)

It seems as if someone, although it’s been hard to establish who, did indeed make a mistake. Emerick has 49 caps for the USA, not 50.

Back in the fall, RUGBYMag.com interviewed Emerick and during that conversation the subject of 50 caps came up, and both this writer and Emerick agreed that he would need to play in all three June tests to get to 50.

That assessment was backed up by the USA Rugby record, which currently lists Emerick with 39 caps from 2003 to 2010. USA Rugby’s records for the Men’s National Team have not been updated in 18 months. However, RUGBYMag.com can step in here. Emerick started for the USA in eight test matches in 2011: Tonga, Russia, Canada, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Russia, and Italy.

He did not play against Australia in the Rugby World Cup, and there, perhaps, is where the mistake was made. Could it be that someone at USA Rugby assumed, without checking, that Emerick played in that game, when in fact he was rested?

(A fun side note: Average score of games Emerick played in during 2011: 15-25, score of games he missed: 7-77.)

So add those eight to his 39 previous caps, and you get 47. Emerick started against Canada June 9 (cap #48), and then against Georgia June 16 (#49).

UPDATE: Current rugby columnist and former USA Men's National Team communications manager and unofficial historian, Kurt Oeler, tells us that the reason for the discrepancy is in the 2004 match between the USA and the New Zealand Maori. USA Rugby has tagged that game on their website as a non-cap match. Actually, that game was counted as a capped match at the time (in accordance with tradition in international rugby).

Certainly Emerick should have been celebrated for becoming the USA’s most-capped back, as he passed Mike Hercus and his 48 caps on Saturday.

Either way, it's a notable achievement for one of American rugby’s most hard-working, and dedicated rugby players.

Paul Emerick's USA career (* games means no cap awarded ... but removing the asterisk for the 2004 Maori game.)