The USA U23s beat the UXI Invitational XV at Western Province in South Africa 41-12 on a muddy Wednesday afternoon.

This was had open subs and featured an opponent drawn from the UXI Western Province International Rugby Institute. So there were a lot of similarities between the two teams—both full of talent, both made up of players that had just started playing together.

The USA U23s were perhaps a shade older.

The game began in damp conditions with a muddy area down the middle of the field. The U23s kicked off and put UXI under pressure. Eventually they got a penalty, took the lineout, and with the UXI forwards somewhat on roller skaters thanks to the conditions, the Americans drove right over. Hooker Adam Chadwick touched it down for a 5-0 lead.

Off the restart fullback Corbin Smith wriggled out of contact and took off down the field. He kicked ahead and while the UXI cover defense rescued the situation and kicked clear, the USA U23s still had a lineout not far from the UXI line.

They ran the maul again and this time flanker Aidan King popped off the back and rambled 11 meters or so to the line. He was stopped, but UXI didn’t set their pillars well and USA U23 captain and No. 8 Tomiwa Agbongbon took advantage and was over. Smith converted and it was 12-0.

UXI responded well with an excellent slice through the line by flyhalf Wehan Lume, and he followed that up with a kick wide to wing where Thomas Braun nabbed it on the bounce and was in at the wing for a brilliant try.

The USA U23s almost got that back thanks to a turnover forced by lock Rhys Mitchell and quick hands out to Iosefa Toia'ivao on the wing. They were stopped just short. Later on lock Will Sherman charged over but was held up. The U23s went back to a penalty, but were again stopped. A little impatience by the USA U23s and some tenacious defense from the UXI XV prevented another try.

Finally it was UXI that scored, running a well-taken move off a scrum center with wing Graham Thompson setting up Lume for a well-taken score. That tied it up 12-12.

Once again the U23s threatened the UXI line. Prop Elias Garza and center Coby Baker bother got close, but again UXI held them, and the teams went into halftime tied 12-12.

Clearly the talk for the USA team at halftime was that they needed to be a bit more patient and perhaps move the ball a bit more.

Second Half Surge

The change was immediate.

Scrumhalf Spencer Huntley slid down to field a kick and flanker Tiai Vavao came in to help him. The ball was sent wide and flyhalf Rand Santos fed Sosaia Pongi, who cut through, sold a dummer, and then got it out to flanker Alex Martinez for a well-taken try in the corner.

Soon thereafter wing Keelan Farrell finally got some room to run. His break led to a penalty against UXI and the lineout-and-maul worked well. So well, in fact, that Chadwick couldn’t catch up to it to take the ball at the back and King was the one who took it over.

Smith hit the conversion and it was 26-12 for the USA U23s.

UXI came back to threaten but a smart turnover from Vavao turned the momentum—the second-half reserves were doing a good job in raising the intensity. From there Huntley sent a brilliant box kick to ease the pressure.

Farrell got another chance to run, and he sped down the left side. Support was there and Damian Morley, on as a sub at scrumhalf, sniped around the ruck and found new hooker Campbell Robb available for the offload. Robb fended off some attention and scored in the corner to make it 31-12.

The USA U23s were on the front foot for most of the rest of the game. Their scrum started to show its strength, but again they were a little too pushy in trying to score. However, after a goalline dropout the USA countered perfectly. Huntley, now playing fullback, fielded the kick and fed Agbongbon for a hard run up. From that ruck the ball went through six passes, including a nice little delay and half-break from Pongi allowed Graeme Pedegana to set up Farrell to dive in at the corner.