Eagles Pound Chile in ARC

The USA Eagles rolled to a convincing 64-0 win over Chile in the 3rd round of the Americas Rugby Championship. The match, played at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale was a one-sided affair that saw the USA run in ten tries in the romp.

The Eagles pressured Chile from the very start, but struggled to finish off a few good scoring opportunities early. Prop Chris Baumann broke the ice at the ten minute mark and there was no looking back for the Eagles. The young side, anchored by vets Todd Clever and Eric Fry, showed initiative as they took every opportunity to push the pace of the match. Flyhalf JP Eloff was next as he cut through the Chilean defense for a score to give the USA a 10-0 lead. Coming into the ARC, flyhalf was a big question mark for the USA. Not so after three weeks, as Eloff and James Bird have both been effective. Eloff proved to be more dangerous in attack and repeatedly took chances to probe the Chilean defense. On the day, Eloff accounted for 19 points with a try and seven conversions.

Long time Eagles 7s player, Nick Edwards was the recipient of the next try. Perhaps the best score of the match, the USA put the ball through a few hands before finding Edwards who finished with a try in his Eagle XV debut. The conversion from Eloff gave the USA a 17-0 lead. Joseph Taufete’e added the final Eagle score of the half as he punched one in from short range. The conversion gave the USA a 24-0 lead, which held for the remainder of the half.

Chile held up to start the second half, bolstered by a man advantage after Olive Kilifi was sent to the sin bin. However, it didn’t last long as the USA eventually got back into the endzone. Lorenzo Thomas added a try on his Eagle debut to give the USA their first score of the second half. Thomas, who played in the USA u20 win over Canada a week earlier, put forth an excellent performance from outside center and showed the growing depth in the Eagles pool. Jake Anderson, on for an injured Nick Edwards, scored just minutes later to add to the USA’s lead. The conversion from Eloff pushed the score to 38-0.

While the Chilean side’s fitness fading, the USA poured it on down the stretch. Mike Te’o scored two tries, both coming via odd circumstances. The first of which came from a broken play where every, except for Te’o stopped after an apparent knock on. Te’o, who played the match at fullback, added a second try that saw him limping into the endzone with what appeared to be a cramp.

Luke Hume set up Chad London for a try with a nice grubber and then followed with a try of his own on a quick tap just meters out from the goal line.

The victory, combined with Argentina’s narrow win over Uruguay, vaults the USA into 1st place in the Americas Rugby Championship. With two matches to play, the Eagles are in solid position. The Eagles now turn to the road as they travel to face Brazil and Uruguay. Brazil may not pose much of a threat, but Uruguay will make the Eagles earn it if they are to win the inaugural ARC title.

USA 64
Tries – C. Baumann (10), J. Eloff (17), N. Edwards (22), J. Taufete’e (35), L. Thomas (52), J. Anderson (55), M. Te’o 2 (64, 75), C. London (66), L. Hume (73)
Cons – J. Eloff 7 (23, 36, 53, 56, 67, 74, 76)
Yellow cards – O. Kilifi (37)

CHILE 0

USA
1 E. Fry 2 J. Taufete’e (M. Sosene-Feagai 68) 3 C. Baumann (O. Kilifi 28) 4 B. Orth (A. Gletzer 61) 5 B. Landry 6 N. Brakeley 7 T. Clever (capt.) 8 D. Tameilau (P. Blair 68) 9 T. Bliss (N. Kruger 39) 10 J. Eloff 11 N. Edwards (J. Anderson 37 {D. Beach 43-47}) 12 C. London 13 L. Thomas 14 L. Hume 15 M. Te’o (R. Matyas 76)

CHILE
1 C. Zamorano (I. Garruchaga 69) 2 T. Dussaillant (R. Moya 45) 3 L. Sepúlveda (J. Munita 67) 4 F. Bassaletti (N. Bursic 56) 5 R. Piwonka 6 I. Silva 7 J. Richard (C. Niedmann 67) 8 B. Soto (capt.) 9 B. Vergara 10 C. Onetto 11 H. Chacaltana 12 F. de la Fuente 13 M. Nordenflycht 14 M. Contreras (J. Larenas 45) 15 P. Casas

Not used: M. Manas, L. Montoya

Referee: D. Schneider (UAR)
Assistants: M. Kelly (USAR) & C. Lopez (USAR)

Attendance: 5, 101