England Past USA 40-5 But Some Things to Point To
England Past USA 40-5 But Some Things to Point To
England beat the USA Saturday night in front of over 19,000 in yet another lightning-interrupted test match, putting two different kinds of exclamation points on the midsummer games for both teams.
For England, this capped off a 3-0 tour of Argentina and the USA in which they blooded about 10 new caps and put several more in key pressure situations. For the USA, it was a loss, yes, but one that showed fans and coaches alike a little something.
The game kicked off late due to lightning delays, but the delay wasn't especially long.
The USA started out aggressive and looking to make something happen. Wing Rufus McLean found a bit of space early and the pod runners in midfield push England back a bit. However, they were not careful with the ball (on a steamy, hot day) and found themselves losing the ball in contact.
England looked to play when they got turnovers but the USA defense was fairly solid. Certainly there was plenty of grit and tenacity on the defensive side of the ball. England broke through only be called back for a forward pass. Eventually, however, with USA flyhalf Chris Hilsenbeck in the sin bin for an intentional knock-on, England was able to maul it over.
With 100-cap flyhalf and captain George Fordpulling the strings, England was happy to use the boot when the option presented itself, and it worked fairly well. One such kick pinned fullback Erich Storti back on his goalline and Storti tried an offload to Toby Fricker, who just barely stopped a try being scored. However, the offload was forward, England got a scrum, and they scored fairly easily from there.
From 14-0 it was 19-0 after England mauled it over again, however upon further review the try was disallowed for obstruction. The Eagles were still in the game, making England work for every meter. At the same time, England was making the USA earn a lot more meters, by pinning them back.
About 29 minutes into the first half the lightning returned and the players took a 45-minute-or-so break.
Once back England. once again was over the line, this time off a ball toed ahead and chased. However, there was a clear knock-on, and the TMO brought that one back, too. Finally, as halftime approached, England went wide off a scrum, and some slick passing and a loop move set up a 3-on-1. The Eagles covered that, but the ball was shipped left quickly and wing Cadan Murley unleashed a couple of sidesteps and was in.
So it was 19-0 at halftime.
The second half was played primarily in the USA end. The Eagles had few scoring chances, but at the same time, they met England at the collision point and in set piece quite nicely. England was called for a balk in one lineout and should have been called for another, as they tried to avoid disruption by the USA.
Murley was very good and so was wing Emmanuel Feyi-Waboso, while lock Athur Clark was a powerhouse on debut.
The outside backs sliced through to set up scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet. Later on they did the same kind of move and replacement scrumhalf Harry Randall was the one to score.
Ford kept kicking the ball deep, but Storti at fullback, along with scrumhalf Ruben de Haas, did well to find ways to relieve pressure. And they had some scoring opportunities. The best one might have been when Jamason Fa'anana-Schulz grabbed a loose ball off an England lineout and charged on. He had Vili Helu with him and the USA had numbers to punish the English. But England did enough to stop them, partly thanks to a couple of lazy runners who might well have been offside when they made a key tackle.
England led 40-0 late when the Eagles forced a loose ball and wing Lauina Futi toed the ball ahead, chased it down, and recovered the ball inside the England half. England was badly offside as the Eagles tried to recycle, and the USA got the penalty with time expired.
They took the lineout, set up a maul, and flanker Christian Poidevin spun off the back of that nascent maul and ran down the weak side. He was covered but popped a perfect offload for hooker Shilo Klein to go over in the corner.
That finished it off, 40-5.
The try was fair reward for the work that the Eagles had done and England skipper Ford was quite effusive in his praise of the USA team.
"I thought the whole team for the USA, the way they went out, were so competitive and made the game difficult for us at times and caused us some problems," said Ford. "I thought the back row, the way they carried the ball, all of them, 6, 7, and 8, was great. I thought Ruben de Haas at 9, the way he kicks the ball, and his experience there [was good]. And you think the young lads in the centers and the athletes they had running against you. Across the board we had a lot to deal with against the USA team."
As for how the Eagles felt about the Eagles? Head Coach Scott Lawrence said he was pleased to see the team fight until the end and added "if you want to back up from it for a moment you just go: 'we got a really good chance to get our D right and we learned a lot of lessons from the contest. And we were brave when we defended and we learned a lot about our players."
The USA team takes a bit of a break before facing Canada and going into the PNC (which is also the Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifier). Those games are very important. What we saw this weekend was a USA team with several playing getting major minutes and being asked to do more. What they did was battle, and sometimes that's all you can ask.
