NEW PLYMOUTH, New Zealand (AP) — Eight hours before their opening Rugby World Cup match against Ireland, the U.S. Eagles attended a memorial service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Eddie O’Sullivan’s 30-man squad and support staff filed into New Plymouth’s St. Andrew’s Presbyterian church as a group shortly before the service began, joining local residents, American rugby fans, local politicians and the U.S. Marine Corps Pacific band.
David Huebner, the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, sat alongside the players near the front of the church on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
He paid tribute to the thousands of people killed in the 9/11 attacks.
