Eagles Book Place in 2027 RWC With Win over Samoa
Eagles Book Place in 2027 RWC With Win over Samoa
The USA men's national 15s team has qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia after a 29-13 defeat of Samoa Sunday afternoon at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver.
This game was for 5th in the Pacific Nations Cup and also doubled as the final qualification decider for the teams in that competition. Samoa will now look to a two-match series with Chile, starting in Salt Lake City next week. Tickets still available>>. This match was much closer and more tense than the score might indicate. Only in the final 10 minutes were the Eagles able to put it away.
For the third game in a row, a player had to leave the game early because of injury, forcing a reserve who expected, perhaps, to play 20 minutes to go on much earlier. In this case, flyhalf Christopher Hilsenbeck had to leave in the 15th minute for a Head Injury Assessment that he ultimately failed. Luke Carty came on to replace him, and ended up having a huge game.
Interestingly enough, because this had happened to Cory Daniel against Canada and Makeen Alikhan against Japan, GRR asked USA captain Jason Damm about this issue and what the mindset for a player is.
"It's a tough balance sometimes because you don't want to be sitting on the bench amped up the whole time, because then you'll sort of mentally burn out," said Damm. "But you want to be ready and you need to stay focused and in the moment. There is certainly a shot of adrenaline that you get when your number's called to sub in. You've been prepping you for this moment, so just being confident in your preparation, and knowing your role, and knowing that you're ready to rise to the occasion."
Carty certainly struck that balance.
Circling Boxers in the Ring
Both teams played conservative rugby early on to see who might be a little too tense and who might make mistakes. The Eagles wanted to rain high balls down on the Samoans, and, for the most part, Samoa handled those kicks well.
Within five minutes, however, the Eagles were penalized (Jack Iscaro was rolling away "wrong" according to Damien Schneider). Flyhalf Rodney Iona put the long-range kick over sweetly for a 3-0 Samoan lead.
Samoa's plan was to be physical in contact and over-stress the USA defense, hoping to create a gap in the middle. It seemed to work well. The Eagles tackling was very strong and consistent, however Samoa was able to work a loop move and find space down the sideline. Desperate cover work from Rufus McLean and Mitch Wilson prevented a try.
The original plan worked nicely when prop Aki Seiuli broke through. He had just Wilson to beat and that was a significant weight disparity, but Wilson was up for it. The Eagles were, ultimately, penalized however, but Iona's much simpler kick hit the post.
It was just after this that Hilsenbeck had to leave the field. Samoa was still on the front foot and Iona kicked a brilliant touchfinder to set up his forwards for a lineout and maul. The USA defense was excellent, stopped the maul, and after six well-executed double tackles. the Americans got the ball back when Marno Redelinghuys forced a holding-on penalty.
The USA moved on from there. A box kick from scrumhalf Ruben de Haas was chased well by Cary Daniel and Carty. Daniel made the tackle and Carty was over quickly to force another penalty, and that put the USA in the Samoan 22. There followed a very good peice of refereeing, as Schneider initially called Samoa for tackling USA center Dom Besag in the air. But on TMO review he saw that this was Besag jumping to catch a pass just as the Samoan defender was coming in to tackle. It would have been a very harsh penalty indeed, and Schneider decided to reverse his call, and simply give the USA a scrum since they had held the ball when he blew his whistle.
It turned out OK for the Americans as they kept the pressure on, worked their way to the tryline, and when Samoa was offside, the Eagles spun it wide from de Daas to Carty to Toby Fricker for the opening try of the match.
Up now 5-3 the USA seemed determined to give the lead right back. De Haas had a box kick charged down. They gave up penalties they didn't need to give up, and eventually Iona was good on a penalty to regain the lead for Samoa at 6-5.
We were now late into the first half and after the USA scrum forced a penalty, Carty put over a well-taken kick to nudge his side ahead.
Once again the USA helped put themselves under pressure. Running back to cover a kick prop Pono Davis was called for obstruction and yellow carded. Iona missed the kick but Samoa was still on the doorstep. Somehow halftime came without further scoring.
2nd Half Concerns
Down a player and with their second half performances having not lit the world on fire in recent matches, the USA appeared to be in trouble. Samoa, for their part, would have been unhappy with leaving some points on the table, but ultimately both teams did this.
Samoa started the game with the ball and worked back and forth across the field. They drove the USA back but couldn't break the Eagles. A steal and a clearance kick, followed by a massive tackle from Paddy Ryan, turned the tide. And once Davis returned to the field the Eagle scrum was in a good position. They shmushed the Samoan eight and earned a penalty, only for Carty's long-range penalty kick effort to get pulled left. This choice to kick for goal was a weird decision. it was still early in the second half, and the kick was 40 meters away. Even had it been successful it would have only put the Eagles up by five points—a try negates that.
Had the penalty been inside the 22 and in front of the posts, then perhaps three points would make sense. But that far out, it seemed like going for a lineout would work. And it would work in part because the USA lineout was functioning very well. After a couple of games where they had all sorts of trouble, the pieces were coming together, with Vili Helu the main target.
And it was Helu, in fact, that made the next big play, forcing a holding-on penalty around midfield. This time the Eagles did opt for the lineout. They ran six phases before Ryan was able to break through for about 15 meters and get deep into the Samoa 22. More forward crashes and while a low pass wasn't handled well by Danial, they were backing the Samoans up.
Samoa did get out of it and then got a penalty in the scrum. They took the lineout, mauled it, were stopped, and went wide. Aggressive, hard running and smart attack lines were all they needed and Melani Nanai charged through for the try. Christian Leali'ifano converted and it was suddenly Samoa 13 USA 8. With the USA's slow finishes of late, you would have been forgiven for thinking it was all going south.
But they got a lifeline. Prop Ezekiel Lindenmuth came on and his main job right then was to scrum Samoa into submission. He did exactly that, forcing a penalty and another chance for the Eagles to score. It all went to plan. Clean lineout win, a good maul drive, and then the forwards went to work. Damm made two key carries and a nifty snipe by de Haas helped, too. With the penalty advantage for the Americans, de Haas then found Carty, who was over. As he scored a Samoan defender came into his nether regions with two knees and Carty was seen writhing on the ground. He was in enough of a bad way that Wilson had to step up to kick the conversion, which he did to give the USA a 15-13 lead.
And the late hit was penalized with a penalty at midfield. This was a crucial error for Samoa, because they had given up the lead, and we now given up another scoring opportunity. From midfield Carty kicked to touch. The lineout was solid, but when they went wide Tommaso Boni lost the ball in contact. Samoa had recovered, but only temporarily as Boni redeemed himself with a strong tackle and poach to get a penalty. Once again Carty lined up a long-range kick. Once again the tactics of this decision deserve to be questioned. It was not an easy kick and the USA was only ahead by two points.
Carty's effort drifted wide.
Two Big Plays
With the game still in the balance the USA players were slow to guard the short 22-meter dropout and Samoa got the ball. On another day, the Eagles might have flailed around and given up a soft try. Today, however, they got to work. Tackles were made, players got into position, and Damm forced another holding-on penalty. This one was massive. The Eagles opted for the lineout instead of the penalty kick and had a good plan. When the maul slowed, Caleb Geiger, now on at hooker, popped off the back and almost scored. The forwards went to work, and finally Damm crashed over to score.
It wasn't confirmed for a while, however, as Referee Schneider was unsighted and needed the replay to show him. But the try was a try. Wilson converted and now it was a two-score game at 22-13.
Samoa had time. There were six minutes left and they have quick-strike ability. The Eagles defense, however, had been monumental all day. The commitment, power, and accuracy of the tackling, combined with (mostly) smart decisions around the breakdown meant that Samoa had to work awfully hard to find meters.
So they tried something fancy, didn't connect, and the ball hit the deck. de Haas hoofed the ball down the field and the chase was on. McLean on the wing got there just as fullback Lolagi Visinia did. Visinia was unable to scoop the ball up and McLean grabbed it. He was tackled but Wilson was there to clear out, and a quick pass to Geiger put the hooker over for the try that iced it.
Wilson converted again to make it 29-13, and after a few more minutes, the USA team was able to finish it off.
Overall, this was a very strong team effort, and the fact that the USA was able to raise their game in the second half is good news. They fixed their lineout by going a bit simpler, and they laid a foundation of unflinching defense to get things done. On attack they weren't flashy, but this was one of those test matches where so much is at stake that flashy wasn't what was needed.
"Every morning for the last three years I've woken up visualizing this moment," said Head Coach Scott Lawrence. "I'm just glad that it happened. The fact that we fought for 80 and we hadn't scored a try in [the 4th quarter] for a couple of games ... it was good to do that. Now we'll start building to '27."
"It's incredible," added Damm. "We knew we were going to get it done. To do it I front of a home crowd with that support, it's incredible."
Well, it doesn't literally strain credulity, but it is a good thing. After not qualifying last time, and after losing the last four matches, the USA has won a game with a ton on the line, and done it by putting the game away late. And they did it with players stepping into crucial roles at crucial times. Carty's work on defense and slotting into the attack was very important. Wilson stepping up to take some very important kicks was key—and Wilson, who had struggled this year, also put in one of his stronger games. Helu in the lineout; Daniel on defense; de Haas keeping calm in the storm; the front row fronting up. It all worked. Australia 2027, here they come.
USA 29
Tries: Fricker, Carty, Damm, Geiger
Convs: Wilson 3
Pens: Carty
Samoa 13
Tries: Nanai
Convs: Leali'ifano
Pens: Iona 2
Next week Samoa now plays Chile on PNC Finals Day in Salt Lake City. And while they are sacrificing the home match of their two-match series with Chile, it's a worthy tradeoff. They won't have to travel the 17-hour, 6,000-mile flight to Apia, and they will have close to a home crowd in Utah, where the Polynesian population is pretty big.
