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England completed a bonus point win over the USA Eagles. Played this morning in Kobe the Eagles were defeated 45-7 by the third seeded country to win the Rugby World Cup.
The start of the match was a double disaster for the USA. Teenager David Ainu’u was forced off injured after the first scrum of the match. He would be replaced by Olive Kilifi and with it the scrum would be a serious problem throughout for the Eagles.
Also not favoring the USA was a kick-off. English center Piers Francis collided with Eagles fullback Will Hooley. It was an incident comparable to that from Reece Hodge against Fiji. The was shoulder to the head contact made and serious questions over the us of arms. It would not be picked up by the officials.
Francis would go on to have a good match. He was involved in the opening try as was hooker Jamie George. Smart play from both forced the Eagles deep into their 22. Recycled ball then rapidly found its way to fly half George Ford who strolled over to score.
A second was on the cards shortly thereafter only for USA captain Blaine Scully to stop English winger Joe Cokanasiga. The resilient defense would be breached though. Try number two was all about the forwards with N8 Billy Vunipola scoring from a rolling-maul off a line-out.
14-0 became 19-0 with England scoring their third. Touching down was hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie. This time Ford would fail to convert. It would be the final score of the opening half.
The USA had been unable to make a line break in the opening half. This would not change until the final minutes of the second half. England, meanwhile, were in complete attack mode. This saw magic from center Jonathan Joseph to get a try assist for setting-up Cokanasiga.
Flanker Lewis Ludlam added England’s seventh, and final try, before the Eagles were reduced to 14 men. Flanker John Quill was red carded with ten minutes remaining for a reckless and dangerous no-arms tackle on Owen Farrell. There was no question that referee Nic Berry (Australia) made the correct decision.
England were looking to score again and replacement Ellis Genge went close to doing so. In managing to hold their lines the Eagles then were determined to finish the match with some points of their own.
Replacement Mike Te’o made two clean line-breaks before the Eagles finally succeeded in scoring. The try saw winger Martin Iosefo, replacement scrum-half Ruben De Haas and replacement center Bryce Campbell combining with Campbell getting the try. AJ MacGinty converted to finish the match.
The USA play their second match on Wednesday, September 30. It is to be against France in Fukuoka. England’s next fixture will be their third and will be a decisive showdown against Argentina in Tokyo on Saturday, October 05.
SCORING
ENGLAND (45)
Try: Ford (5′), B Vunipola (24′), Cowan-Dickie (32′), Cokanasiga (47′, 75′), McConnochie (57′), Ludlam (66′)
Conversion: Ford (6′, 25′, 59′, 68′, 76′)
USA (7)
Try: Campbell (81′)
Conversion: MacGinty (82′)
Red Card: Quill
TEAMS
ENGLAND
1 Joe Marler, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 George Kruis, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 8 Billy Vunipola, 9 Willi Heinz, 10 George Ford (capt.), 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 12 Piers Francis, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 15 Elliot Daly
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Anthony Watson
USA
1 David Ainu’u, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Ben Landry, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Tony Lamborn, 7 John Quill, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Will Hooley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Bryce Campbell, 23 Mike Te’o
