The first step toward Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification was taken by the USA Sunday in Dubai.
After a slow start and a few misfires, the Eagles pulled away from Kenya to the tune of 68-14, winning the first of their three-game Final Qualification series.
Slow Start
The Eagles were paced by hooker Dylan Fawsitt and wing Christian Dyer, who both scored three tries. It was, in the end, a comprehensive victory, but it also took a while to get going as the Eagles looked a little shaky in their execution early and defensively still showed they have questions to answer.
In fact it wasn’t until 22 minutes into the game that the USA scored. Several times they worked their way into scoring position—Dyer and then Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz working a move that got them almost to the line, but obstruction on their own maul stopped that chance. In another maul most of the forwards crossed the line but they had left the ball behind. And then Fa’anana-Schiltz appeared to have scored after another Dyer run, but he was short and slid the ball across, which is a knock-on. Their ability to get something going wasn't helped by CC Mahoni getting a yellow card for a dangerous clearout. Mahoni was fortunate not to see another color.
But finally it happened, with the Eagles showing maul off a lineout and Fawsitt peeling around and taking the ball off the back to run in from about eight meters out.
More chances fell by the wayside—a run and short ball from scrumhalf Ryan Rees didn’t connect with Cam Dolan as the tryline sat there waiting to be crossed.
But after that miscue it seemed like the Eagles took a breath and realized they could get into scoring position and needed to relax a little.
Closing Out the 1st Half
"We work on breaking up the halves into four quarters and keeping our focus for those periods," said USA captain Marcel Brache. "Your mind can drift off and we've seen that we can hit some pretty low lows when we drift off."
So the next 10 minutes showed some improvement. Kenya was offside at a ruck by a mile; flyhalf Luke Carty put in an almost perfect kick to touch, and the Eagle forwards made no mistake on the maul and Fawsitt had his second. Carty converted and it was 12-0. And, despite being stopped again just near the line (and Ryan Rees getting marched off another 10 meters for not giving Kenya the ball) the Eagles came right back with a superb 50-22 from Carty and a wide attack off the lineout that ended with Fa'anana-Schiltz picking up and crashing over.
That was more like it with the scoreline 19-0 at halftime.
Opening it Up
But we had not really seen much of the backs, and the question was whether the USA team could execute better, rather than think they had it under control.
The Eagles began to go wide early in the second half and a late-tackle penalty against Kenya set them up for that peel move to be run by Fawsitt again. He was stopped ust short of the line, but after a few more bashes and another penalty, the maul worked and Fawsitt had his third.
"Just really proud of the boys for how they kept working," said Fawsitt after the game. "And as you know you've got to have a few different arrows for your bow."
Carty converted and it was 26-0, and the USA had that four-try bonus point.at 47 minutes.
Now the backs really got into the act. Lasike, who had been a main strike runner early, started passing the ball, fixing defenders and finding free runners. The ball went out wide to the left and wing Nate Augspurger did superbly to keep the ball alive and let it go back to the right. Once again Lasike could have charged into a group of tacklers, but opted for a quick pass that freed up Dyer to cut back for his first. Carty was good on the kick again and it was 33-0.
