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The USA held on to secure a thrilling 21-17 victory over Portugal in Coimbra on Saturday. A late try combined with a desperate defensive stand with time up on the clock sealed the result and gave the Eagles a perfect start to their European tour.
Both teams looked to establish field position in the early minutes, with tactical kicking eventually leading to a penalty opportunity for Hugo Aubry. The Lobos flyhalf made no mistake to open the scoring and give the home side a 3-nil lead after a dozen minutes.
Possession on Portugal’s side of halfway gave the Eagles a chance to reply. Quick ball put the visitors on the front foot and a charging Paddy Ryan brushed off a would-be tackler on the way to a 30-meter solo gallop for a try. AJ MacGinty converted and it was 7-3 to the Americans.
A reply from the Lobos came through their backline. Clean hands down the line ended with Raffaele Storti sliding over in the corner. The USA had a response, however, and after two carries from Conner Mooneyham made ground on the right side, the ball was flung wide left to an open Nate Augspurger to leave the score 14-10 to the Eagles at the intermission.
For the next 20 minutes the two sides jostled for superiority but neither could break though until a knock-on while trying to run from their end gifted the Lobos an attacking platform. The defense was stretched on the left, and when it came back to the right the Eagles were outnumbered and José Lima curled around to put the home side back in front.
With time ticking down on the clock the USA pushed into Portuguese territory and the forwards did the rest. After several phases in tight, Kapeli Pifeleti burrowed over with MacGinty tacking on his third conversion of the day to make it a four-point game. With a minute to go the Eagles turned over possession deep in their end, but their discipline held and eventually Ryan got his hands on the ball in a tackle to win a turnover with the clock three minutes into stoppage time.
The result will push the USA up to No16 on the World Rankings come Monday. They now prepare for a neutral venue clash against Tonga in Chambéry, France next Saturday. On the same day Portugal will travel to Edinburgh to face Scotland at Murrayfield.
| SCORING |
PORTUGAL 17
Tries (2) – R. Storti (26′), J. Lima (62′)
Cons (2) – H. Aubry 2/2 (27′, 63′)
Pens (1) – H. Aubry 1/1 (12′)
USA 21
Tries (3) – P. Ryan (16′), N Augspurger (34′), K. Pifeleti (77′)
Cons (3) – A. MacGinty 3/3 (17′, 35′, 78′)
| TEAMS |
PORTUGAL
1 David Costa (16 António Machado Santos 65′), 2 Luka Begic (17 Santiago Lopes 59′), 3 Cody Thomas (18 Diogo Ferreira 56′), 4 Steevy Cerqueira (19 José Rebelo de Andrade 65′), 5 António Rebelo de Andrade, 6 José Madeira, 7 Nicolas Martins, 8 João Granate (20 Diego Pinheiro Ruiz 69′), 9 Hugo Camacho (21 António Campos 57′), 10 Hugo Aubry, 11 José Paiva dos Santos (22 Manuel Vareiro 63′), 12 Tomás Appleton (capt.), 13 José Lima, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Simão Bento
Not used: 23 Gabriel Aviragnet
USA
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Jake Turnbull 63′), 2 Shilo Klein (16 Kapeli Pifeleti 57′), 3 Alex Maughan (18 Pono Davis 53′), 4 Jason Damm, 5 Greg Peterson (capt.), 6 Vili Helu (19 Tomás Casares 71′), 7 Cory Daniel (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 71′), 8 Paddy Ryan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Tavite Lopeti (22 Erich Storti 71′), 13 Dom Besag, 14 Conner Mooneyham, 15 Mitch Wilson
Not used: 21 Ethan McVeigh, 23 Luke Carty
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, November 9
Venue: Estadio Cidade, Coimbra
Kickoff: 16:00 local
Weather: sunny, 64°F (18°C), wind NW 7-10mph (11-16km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistants: Takehito Namekawa (Japan) & Ruairidh Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
