Encouraging Opening Half as Eagles fall to Australia

The USA’s final outing before the Rugby World Cup offered reasons to believe that the Eagles can achieve better results in England than has been the case in World Cups of the past. Ranked 16th in the world the USA played host to the 2nd ranked Australia at Chicago’s Soldier Field and quickly made the 2014 test against New Zealand appear as a distant memory.

Unlike against the All Blacks the Eagles proved more than capable of playing against elite opposition this evening but lacked the resources to compete toe-for-toe throughout the duration of the contest, ultimately losing 47-10. Australia’s replacements had a profound impact on the second half as the home side faded.

Despite the venue being the same the match was played in front of a notably smaller crowd but the 23,212 people in attendance was nonetheless large enough to make it the second highest attendance in the USA of all time. The 61,500 crowd for the Eagles vs All Blacks is substantially larger but this evening’s crowd is larger than the previous next best sizes of 20,181 and 20,001 for home tests against Ireland and Scotland in Houston, Texas in 2013 and 2014.

Early pressure from Australia had the Eagles tested as the Wallabies were able to control play throughout the opening quarter. Fly half Bernard Foley opened the scoring by going in under the posts for a try which he converted. Shortly thereafter he broke the Eagles defensive line and linked with captain James Slipper who put scrumhalf Nick Phipps over for a try.

A motivated home side led by Saracens’ veteran Chris Wyles responded with intent. Earning his 50th cap Wyles’ team got on the board in the 19th minute with the highly promising AJ MacGinty kicking a penalty. The fly half had been involved in two near breaks in the lead-up to being awarded the penalty and his performance tonight was that of a player of Tier 1 abilities.

The 14-3 scoreline became 14-10 when veteran scrumhalf Mike Petri crossed for a try in the 31st minute. It came from a turn over won by prop Eric Fry which saw Wallaby winger being left for dead by Taku Ngwenya. The try saw the crowd jumping for joy in what was the final scoring act of the opening half.

Changes to the Australian team saw the Stade Français bound Will Genia replacing Phipps and seizing control of play. Starting in place of Michael Hooper and David Pocock Sean McMahon made a strong case for regular game time in the World Cup with a strong showing. His 48th minute try from a lineout drive was the first of three second half tries created from Eagles’ errors.

Also scoring was replacement second-rower Dean Mumm, fullback Kurtley Beale, replacement fly half Quade Cooper and debutant Taqele Naiyaravoro who, remarkably, scored with his first touch in international rugby. Beale’s try summed up the importance of knowing what decisions to make at what times as a handling error with the tryline in sight resulted in a Wallaby counter-attack and a 100 metre try.

Before the score Wyles had gone very close to scoring after latching onto a wayward pass and being stopped agonizingly short by Joe Tomane. Rather than kick for three certain points to make it 28-13, the Eagles went for the try but lost control of the ball.

It was the home side’s best try-scoring opportunity of the half but far from being the only handling error. MacGinty looked to create space and put players in the clear only for a lack of control from the receivers to prove fatal. Center Seamus Kelly being guilty on more than one occasion.

Both the Eagles and Wallabies are now to prepare to fly across the North Atlantic and settle in for the World Cup. The USA Eagles will begin their campaign on day two of the tournament when they take-on Samoa in Brighton. The Pool B match is one in which the lower ranked North Americans had a clear shot at an upset. Australia will start on day five against Fiji who will be backing up from the opening match against England.

Scorers
USA Eagles
Try: Petri
Conversion: MacGinty
Penalty: MacGinty

Australia
Tries: Foley, Phipps, McMahon, Mumm, Beale, Cooper, Naiyaravoro
Conversions: Foley (6)

USA
1 Eric Fry, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Cam Dolan, 5 Greg Peterson, 6 Al McFarland, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Samu Manoa, 9 Mike Petri, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Chris Wyles (captain), 12 Thretton Palamo, 13 Seamus Kelly, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 15 Blaine Scully

16 Phil Thiel, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Louis Stanfill, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Folau Niua

Australia
1 James Slipper (captain), 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3 Greg Holmes, 4 Kane Douglas, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Ben McCalman, 7 Sean McMahon, 8 Wycliff Palu, 9 Nick Phipps, 10 Bernard Foley, 11 Rob Horne, 12 Matt Giteau, 13 Henry Speight, 14 Joseph Tomane 15 Kurtley Beale

16 James Hanson, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Toby Smith, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sam Carter, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Will Genia, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

Venue: Soldier Field – Chicago, Illinois
Referee: Jaco Peyper