Eagles storm past Spain to lift La Vila Cup

It was a memorable night for the Eagles on Saturday as they stormed to a 42-12 win over hosts Spain to claim the La Vila International Cup. On the flipside Los Leones endured a thoroughly forgettable second half that saw them repeatedly throw away possession, conceding three tries and 22 unanswered points in the final half hour of the contest.

Iñaki Mateu had a chance for points just a minute into the game but his kick was well off-target and the flags stayed down. The Leones then lost Ekain Imaz to injury, but a minute later a flowing team attack from the left side all the way to the right resulted in points. Martiniano Cian was stopped just short of the line and his offload found Matt Foulds for the try. Mateu made up for his earlier miss with a well-struck conversion from the sideline.

The Eagles got on the board at the 20-minute mark through the boot of Luke Carty. A try looked to be in the works when the flyhalf then dummied his way through the line and burst upfield, but the support wasn’t quite there fast enough and the ball was turned over.

Carty’s second penalty closed the gap to a single point, and then the Eagles took the lead just before halftime when Nick McCarthy sniped around the corner and slid in under the posts. A second try was almost on the cards when Carty spotted Joe Mano in space, but his cross-kick slipped through the winger’s fingers and the score stayed 13-7 to the Eagles at the intermission.

The pendulum swung both ways early in the second half. A loose pass was picked off by Nate Augspurger, the winger showing a clean pair of heels to the chasing defense. At the restart, however, McCarthy’s clearance attempt was charged down by Mario Pichardie who regathered to score in the corner. The conversion was no good and left it a two-score differential.

A raking kick from Carty into the corner nearly put Augspurger in for a double, but the result was an Eagles throw-in. The lineout worked as planned and Dylan Fawsitt was driven over for the try. When the ball fell off the tee Carty attempted a drop-kick but the conversion was no good.

The killer blow for Spain came when Tavite Lopeti kicked ahead to put the back three under pressure. John-Wessel Bell wildly flung the ball infield with Mano in hot pursuit. Before he could get to the ball the USA flyer was taken out by Facundo Domínguez, giving the referee no option but to send the Spaniard to the bin and award a penalty try.

Mano would get his name on the board anyway when he picked off an errant pass from Mateu with 10 minutes to play. Thomas Tu’avao was then shown yellow for a late tackle, but the last scoring act would nonetheless go to the Eagles. Lopeti snapped up yet another loose ball leading to a Chris Mattina penalty goal. Nate Brakeley then signed off on his international career by lifting the cup high in front of his cheering teammates.

 

SCORING

SPAIN 12
Tries (2) – M. Foulds (16′), M. Pichardie (48′)
Cons (1) – I. Mateu 1/2 (17′)
Pens (0) – I. Mateu 0/1
YC (1) – F. Domínguez (57′)

USA 42
Tries (5) – N. McCarthy (37′), N. Augspurger (46′), D. Fawsitt (51′), Penalty try (57′), J. Mano (69′)
Cons (4) – L. Carty 2/3 (38′, 47′), No kick (57′), C. Mattina 1/1 (70′)
Pens (3) – L. Carty 2/2 (20′, 33′), C. Mattina 1/1 (78′)
YC (1) – T. Tu’avao (73′)

 

TEAMS

SPAIN
1 Thierry Futeu (17 Nicolás Fernández 74′), 2 Santiago Ovejero (16 Vicente Del Hoyo 52′), 3 Joaquín Domínguez (18 Marcos Muñiz 68′), 4 Mario Pichardie (capt.), 5 Alejandro Suárez (20 Mathéo Triki 62′), 6 Matt Foulds, 7 Facundo Domínguez, 8 Ekain Imaz (19 Pepe Borraz 15′), 9 Tani Bay (21 Ike Irusta 54′), 10 Iñaki Mateu, 11 Martiniano Cian, 12 Álvar Gimeno, 13 Federico Casteglioni, 14 Jordi Jorba (22 Joaquín Gali 57′), 15 John-Wessel Bell (23 Pau Aira 67′)

USA
1 Jake Turnbull (17 Nathan Sylvia 61), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Peter Malcolm 61′), 3 David Ainu’u (18 Alex Maughan 61′), 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Cam Dolan (20 Siaosi Mahoni 67′), 6 Sam Golla, 7 Paddy Ryan (19 Bailey Wilson 67′), 8 Luke White (21 Thomas Tu’avao 56′), 9 Nick McCarthy (22 Mitch Wilson 57′), 10 Luke Carty, 11 Joe Mano (23 Bryce Campbell 74′), 12 Tommaso Boni, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Nate Augspurger, 15 Chris Mattina

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)

 

Venue: El Pantano, Villajoyosa