Māori thrash Eagles at Soldier Field

The USA were beaten in Chicago this evening by the Māori All Blacks, losing 59-22. It was not a good night for the Eagles who were forced into late changes including replacing captain Nate Augspurger.

The Māori came to play at that they did. A dominant opening half display saw them leading 26-8 at half time. The USA Eagles were not helping themselves as indicated with Rob Thompson latching on to a pass to score from an intercept.

The USA’s opening half scoring began in the 14th minute. A penalty to fly half Will Hooley came in response to two early Māori tries. A third came in response to Hooley’s kick with flanker Mitch Karpik going over.

At the completion of the opening quarter more points would come. Captain Ash Dixon went over from a score following a lineout. Prop Ben May would score in the 28th minute to put the Māori All Blacks in total control.

Discipline, though, worked against the visitors as Dixon was yellow carded for pulling down an Eagles maul. His 30th minute yellow carding was followed by another. Joining Dixon on the sideline was second-rower Pari Pari Parkinson. He was arguably lucky not to have been shown red for a dangerous tackle on Shaun Davies.

Following the yellow carding of Parkinson the USA Eagles scored their opening try. Looking to the short side the ball was spun to speedster Ryan Matyas who went over.

Despite playing with 13 men the Māori would silence the Chicago crowd to open the second half. In the opening minute Brad Weber found winger Jonah Lowe who attacked before linking with Isaia Walker-Leawere who showed great pace to score from inside his own half. Minutes later Walker-Leawere had a double. This time he went over from a pick-and-go.

The third quarter belonged to the Maori All Blacks while the fourth saw better play from the USA Eagles. Hooker Dylan Fawsitt broke the line before passing to Will Magie. The fullback then off-loaded to winger Tim Maupin to score.

Further infringement from there Maori All Blacks led to another yellow card. This time the man caught out was replacement hooker Robbie Abel for slowing the ball down.

The Eagles capitalized with Cam Dolan scoring. The Florida no 8 was on hand to finish off smart work from Matyas and replacement Ruben de Haas.

Dolan’s score set up the final 10 minutes. It would not, however, see further points from the home side. Instead the Māori All Blacks scored two late tries through Akira Ioane and Stevenson.

 

SCORING

USA 22
Tries – R. Matyas (39’), T. Maupin (59’), C. Dolan (70’)
Cons – D. Audsley 0/1, W. Hooley 2/2 (60’, 71’)
Pens – D. Audsley 1/1 (13’)

MᾹORI 59
Tries – R. Ware (4’), M. Karpik (15’), A. Dixon (21’), B. May (24’), I. Walker-Leawere 2 (41’, 46’), R. Thompson (54’), J. Lowe (72’), S. Stevenson (76’)
Cons – O. Black 5/7 (5’, 22’, 25’, 47’, 55’), J. Ioane 2/2 (73’, 77’)
Yellow cards – A. Dixon (31’), P. Parkinson (36’), R. Abel (62’)

 

TEAMS

USA
1 Chance Wenglewski (17 Tony Purpura 77’), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 James Hilterbrand 73’), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Dino Waldren 73’), 4 Ben Landry (19 Greg Peterson 47’), 5 Nick Civetta, 6 John Quill (21 Psalm Wooching 66’), 7 Tony Lamborn (capt.), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies (22 Ruben de Haas 36’), 10 Will Hooley, 11 Ryan Matyas (23 Mika Kruse 78’), 12 Dylan Audsley (20 Hanco Germishuys 56’), 13 Gannon Moore, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 Will Magie

NEW ZEALAND MᾹORI
1 Chris Eves (17 Ross Wright 73’), 2 Ash Dixon (capt.) (16 Robbie Abel 58’), 3 Ben May (18 Marcel Renata 56’), 4 Isaia Walker-Leawere (19 Hoani Matenga 64’), 5 Pari Pari Parkinson, 6 Reed Prinsep, 7 Mitchell Karpik (16 Robbie Abel 32’-42’) (17 Ross Wright 65’-73’) (20 Billy Harmon 73’), 8 Akira Ioane, 9 Brad Weber (21 Jonathan Ruru 64’), 10 Otere Black (22 Josh Ioane 60’), 11 Regan Ware (23 Matt Lansdown 64’), 12 Teihorangi Walden, 13 Rob Thompson, 14 Jonah Lowe, 15 Shaun Stevenson

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Alexandre Ruiz (FFR) & Chris Assmus (RC)
TMO: Andrew McMaster (RC)

 

Attendance: 35,051