USA start European tour with strong win over Romania

The USA got their European tour off to an impressive start with a resounding 31-17 victory over Romania in Bucharest on Saturday. In their first match with Scott Lawrence in charge the Eagles ran out to a stunning 31-nil lead before slipping away in the final quarter.

It was an ambitious start from the Eagles, who probed wide on each of their first two attacking opportunities. The second was a cross-kick that didn’t quite pay off but resulted in a throw-in on the Romanian 5-meter line. Nick McCarthy darted from the maul and was stopped a couple meters short, but a couple phases Cam Dolan went low enough to drive in for the opening try. Luke Carty converted from wide out to make it an ideal start for the visitors.

A set move from a lineout near halfway saw the USA scoring a second try at the 25-minute mark. Paddy Ryan broke to the openside and passed back inside to a trailing Nate Augspurger. The winger tore through the gap and after fixing two defenders popped a short pass to McCarthy, and the scrumhalf did the rest with a runaway into the corner. Carty couldn’t find the uprights but the Romanians now trailed 12-nil.

The Oaks had nowhere to go against an aggressive Eagles defense. A turnover put the ball back in the hands of the visitors and they want through the phases, attacking wide right and then pulling it back to the left. Mika Kruse took on the line and got his pass away to Christian Dyer just before the tackle arrived, with Dyer scything in for a third try. The kick from Carty made it 19-0 at halftime leaving the partisan crowd stunned in silence.

New halfbacks were summoned at halftime for Romania with Florin Surugiu and Mihai Muresan entering, but there was little change in fortunes to start the second half. Dolan stole a throw-in and then a penalty gave the USA strong field position. The forwards couldn’t quite make it over the line with the maul but it was illegally collapsed by Alexandru Savin, and the referee issued a penalty try and yellow card to the loosehead prop.

With Savin still off the pitch, and captain Mihai Macovei off to allow a front row substitute, the nightmare continued for the Oaks. Another penalty gave away field position and the American forwards did the rest. This time it was Ryan who snuck around the short side of the maul and with Dylan Fawsitt on his back the flanker piled over for 5 more points.

Romania finally got on the board just after the hour mark. The ball spilled loose at a breakdown and Surugiu snapped it up. Mitch Wilson slipped up when Surugiu stepped back inside but Augspurger arrived to make a try-saving tackle. The pressure stayed on, however, and it was Surugiu who found a gap on the edge of a ruck to score the try, with Muresan chipping over the extras.

Soon after a cross-kick from Muresan bounced awkwardly and ricocheted off Wilson into the hands of Sikuea Taliuli for an easy finish. The final say would also go to the Oaks when Marius Simonescu dove into the corner on the end of an attacking sequence. It was too little, too late, however and the Eagles celebrated victory in their first match of the year.

Portugal is the next opponent for the Eagles, who take on Os Lobos in Algarve next Saturday. Romania head to Tbilisi to square off against Georgia earlier that same day.

 

SCORING

ROMANIA 17
Tries (3) – F. Surugiu (62′), S. Taliauli (66′), M. Simionescu (75′)
Cons (1) – M. Muresan 1/2 (63′), I. Melinte 0/1
YC (1) – A. Savin (47′)

USA 31
Tries (5) – C. Dolan (7′), N. McCarthy (25′), C. Dyer (39′), Penalty try (47′), P. Ryan (56′)
Cons (3) – L. Carty 2/4 (8′, 40′), No kick (47′)

 

TEAMS

ROMANIA
1 Alexandru Savin (17 Iulian Hartig 63′), 2 Ovidiu Cojocaru (16 Florin Bardasu 55′), 3 Gheorghe Gajion (18 Alex Gordas 57′), 4 Marius Iftimiciuc, 5 Andrei Mahu (19 Stefan Iancu 52′), 6 Mihai Macovei (capt.) (17 Iulian Hartig 50′-57′), 7 Cristi Boboc (20 Vlad Neculau 57′), 8 Cristi Chirica, 9 Alin Conache (21 Florin Surugiu HT), 10 Gabriel Pop (22 Mihai Muresan HT), 11 Sikuea Taliuli, 12 Manumua Tevita, 13 Jason Tomane (23 Ionel Melinte 64′), 14 Marius Simionescu, 15 Hinckley Vaovasa

USA
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Jake Turnbull 63′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Joe Taufete’e 63′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Takaji Young Yen 79′), 4 Cam Dolan, 5 Greg Peterson (capt.) (19 Nate Brakeley 67′), 6 Sam Golla, 7 Paddy Ryan, 8 Luke White (20 Thomas Tu’avao 67′), 9 Nick McCarthy (21 Ruben de Haas 60′), 10 Luke Carty (22 Chris Mattina 76′), 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Tommaso Boni (23 Tavite Lopeti 63′), 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Mitch Wilson

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistants: Anthony Woodthorpe (England) & Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)