Black Ferns Rain 50 Down on USA Women

Negatives for the USA

This USA team cannot score tries. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Since Rob Cain took over the team in 2018, the Eagles are 3-13. That in itself isn't all that surprising given that the USA plays very tough teams. But in those 16 games they have been held tryless six times, and scored only one try in six others. The continuity of attack options out wide just isn't there. They run a play, win a ruck, run something else, and lose the ball. When something promising gets going, someone intercepts a pass or a tackle pops the ball loose (this was an especially harsh moment for the Eagles on Saturday). When they do have continuity, they don't have consistent go-forward.

The ball is excruciatingly slow out of the ruck, and so in the end the USA scoring chances come off penalties committed by an impatient defense. This is exactly how the USA's best try-scoring chance came.

This was midway through the first half. The USA got a penalty and took the lineout to set up a maul. Kate Zackary was hit while she was in the air, so another penalty for the USA. There followed then a slow decision-making process that resulted in a couple of scrum penalties from New Zealand. Another nation might have seen a yellow card at this point (the scrums were five meters from the New Zealand line), but we all know that there are varying standards on that. Had the USA been playing Italy, one Italian prop would have been in the sin bin.

Regardless, finally Zackary took a tap and went for the line. One of the very best USA players, Zackary we are sure would tell you herself she was too high in contact. The Black Ferns stopped her. They stopped the next couple of charges, and then Foster let a pass slide through her hands and that was it.

The lesson there is that the USA either has to dance with the one that brung them (lineout and maul), or have a real, concerted plan for how to score off a tap penalty. But options were limited, and ball presentation and use was slow.

Players

Hope Rogers is a world-class prop. Jordan Matyas at lock is an inspired choice and her work rate was impressive. Carly Waters brings a dose of energy at scrumhalf and her delivery was quicker and more direct than we saw vs England last fall.  Rachel Johnson was immense at openside flanker.

Most of the other players did some very good things and had trouble elsewhere. A couple of players played poorly, couldn't tackle, and raised serious questions as to whether they should be picked in the future.

Most of the issues within the backline can be traced to unity. Cain had three different scrumhalf-flyhalf combinations in the Pacific Four. He shifted around other combinations as well, clearly looking for some answers to who would be best for the World Cup later this year. But what that developed was mistakes of unity—Alev Kelter is an excellent player, who was out of position defensively at key moments. Katana Howard is a devastating strike runner at inside center, trying to develop a relationship with two very different flyhalves. 

The Upshot

New Zealand won the Pacific Four. Canada beat Australia to finish 2nd, and the USA was third over Australia. Shockingly, the USA is ranked #5 in the world. They won't lose any rankings points for this loss (the formula World Rugby uses has New Zealand so far ahead this result was expected by the system), but it's weird to see them ranked that highly despite the losses (especially November loss to Ireland). 

But what you will probably see from this team is that it is tougher and more resilient than you might expect. In the World Cup, one would expect them to be able to beat Italy and Japan, and then we can see how they handle Canada in their final pool game. Those two wins, however, would put them in the quarterfinals.

The bones of this team are good. The pack is strong and the scrum, lineout, and maul are all functioning nicely. Defensively, despite the 50 New Zealand scored, the Eagles are not in a bad place.

The kicking game and the number of players who can get points under pressure (Foster, Kelter, and Gabby Cantorna) is a good thing. The flesh that needs to be put onto those bones is the ability to open up defenses in open play. Right now we haven't seen much of that since the 2019 Super Series. So that's the work-on for the next three-and-a-half months.

The USA Women's National 15s team has to find the right combination of talent in the backline that is athletic, yes, but, more importantly, works together. The team needs to replace the defensive gaps they have. They need to find a way to get turnovers in the breakdown. And whether it's by battering ram or stealth, flare or grit, they need to score tries.