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Pete Steinberg has named an unchanged lineup for the USA’s Women’s Rugby World Cup Semi Final match against New Zealand at Kingspan Stadium on Tuesday. The head coach was pleased with his team’s performance against England despite losing the encounter by 47-26. A four-try bonus point put the Eagles in prime position to make the final four though in the end it wasn’t needed as both Canada and Ireland dropped their final pool matches in convincing fashion.
Since recording their first and only win against New Zealand at the 1991 World Cup, a 7-0 win at Cardiff Arms Park, the Eagles have dropped all eight of their meetings with a combined score of 47 points score, 413 conceded. Their most recent outing saw the Black Ferns come away 47-14 winners at the 2015 Women’s Rugby Super Series in Edmonton.
While the enormity of the task will not be lost on the players, the USA has improved with each match in the tournament and is likely the only team in the tournament capable of matching New Zealand’s firepower out wide. Whether they can win the collisions up front and keep up with the pace of the Black Ferns attack will be question in need of answering.
Kickoff in Belfast is set for 5pm local time, noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. The match will be broadcast live on NBC Sports with a live stream provided by World Rugby for those outside the USA.
USA
1 Catie Benson, 2 Katy Augustyn, 3 Tiffany Faaee (capt.), 4 Stacey Bridges, 5 Alycia Washington, 6 Sara Parsons, 7 Kate Zackary, 8 Jordan Gray, 9 Deven Owsiany, 10 Kimber Rozier, 11 Kristen Thomas, 12 Alev Kelter, 13 Nicole Heavirland, 14 Naya Tapper, 15 Cheta Emba
Replacements: 16 Sam Pankey, 17 Hope Rogers, 18 Nicole James, 19 Abby Gustaitis, 20 Kristine Sommer, 21 Kayla Canett, 22 Sylvia Braaten, 23 Jessica Wooden
