Playing their first home game in over a year, the USA Men's 15s National Team beat Stade Toulousain 24-21 in a very entertaining, end-to-end game in Sandy Utah.
Played in front of a loud and enthusiastic crowd, the game was back-and-forth throughout—imperfect in its precision but played with a sense of endeavor that was certainly crowd-pleasing.
The Eagles opened the game playing with serious intent and looked to attack both in tight and out wide. But there were little things they also needed to be careful about little things like being a shade late to the ruck and allowing a holding-on penalty.
As it was, the Eagles worked it wide and Christian Dyer had a few very promising chances—he just needed slightly better follow-up.
Meanwhile, when Toulouse got the ball back they also wanted to play wide and run hard. The USA defense was strong at the point of contact and forced a few knock-ons.
Rookie on locationpic.twitter.com/C7OL3xonke
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) September 17, 2023
There was something new and aggressive about this USA approach. As it was, they came away with no points in that first half. A quick-pass play in the midfield misfired twice. The Stade defense was just good enough.
Finally, Toulouse nabbed the ball on the right wing and raced down the sideline. The USA cover defense was good but the Toulouse forwards got there, recycled well, and a smart kick wide set up the opening try. Somewhat against the run of play Stade Toulousain led 7-0.
This was a situation where the Eagles might have gone into their shell but they didn't. Instead they kept moving the ball and looking to attack. With Luke Carty making big ground on his kicks to touch on penalties, the USA had some good chances. One such lineout resulted in an overthrow and center Bryce Campbell swooped in to rescue the ball and keep the attack going. Good runs from Greg Peterson and Tavite Lopeti got them close again, but Stade halted a maul, and were able to go into halftime up 7-0.