Wait What? USA Women Put Massive Scare Into NZ
In a game that perhaps ended predictably but was a shocking turnabout for about 60 minutes, the USA Women's 15s team lost 39-17 to the New Zealand Black Ferns.
On the face of it, the scoreline was a massive improvement for the USA, which had not looked particularly strong against Canada in April or Australia last week. But that doesn't even consider the fact that the USA led for most of the game, and even with 17 minutes to go were behind just 22-17.
USA U18s Hope to Take Canada Lesson into Corendon Finale
The USA U18s will be looking to pick themselves up after a tie they feel they should have won.
Sitting 1-0-1 at the Corendon Summer Tour, the USA squad learned a lesson in how the other team wants to beat you, even if they lost earlier. And they also learned a lesson ins staying chill while closing out the game. Once time is up, you need to be calm, and make sure everyone is still treating any play, a scrum, a kick to touch, anything, as they normally would.
The replay of the game against Canada, by the way, is here>>
When you look at the final play, which resulted in Canada scoring to tie the game, you will see several mistakes. Yes they probably should have tapped the ball and kicked it dead—backwards—to end the game.
USA U20s Get Set for World U20 Trophy
The World Rugby U20 Trophy kicks off Saturday with four games on the slate.
The USA, after beating Canada in convincing fashion, is back in this competition and will take on a very tough Uruguay side in the first game of Pool Play.
Head Coach Kyle Sumsion said he would not necessarily be locked into the lineup of players after the Canada qualifiers, and indeed there are changes, especially in the backline.
Women Eagles Picked to Face New Zealand
The USA women's 15s team caps off their Pacific Four run Friday at 4PM against New Zealand and they know it's going to be a tough ask.
New Zealand has beaten Australia 50-0 and Canada 52-17 already, and since the USA gave up 50 each to both of those teams, then, yes, this will be a difficult game. The USA is going to finish 4th out of the four in the Pacific Four and will track to the Tier 2 of the WXV this fall. So in a way this game brings with it a nothing-to-lose aspect.
Interim Head Coach Rich Ashfield has made some changes following the Eagles' comprehensive loss to Australia.
Canada U18s Tie USA in Dramatic Finish
The USA U18s tied Canada 32-32 Wednesday in a wild game at the Corendon Summer Tour.
The game was certainly one of momentum and, in the end, the USA have only themselves to blame for not winning the game. But for a U18 team, that can be taken as a lesson and even though the game ended on a somewhat disputable note.
The USA started the game scoring very quickly. They pressured off the kickoff, got a penalty, won the lineout, and mauled it over. Hooker Seth Smith touched it down for a 5-0 lead.
Moments later the U18 Eagles ran a play off a lineup and put No. 8 Papa Matelau through a gap. He charged on for about 35 meters before being hauled down just before the tryline. The Americans swarmed in and after a couple of surges to the line Smith picked up and was over. Jonty Lee converted and it was 12-0.
College Stars Get Close-Up Look at Sevens Eagle Life
While the USA Men's 7s team has some immediate concerns this summer, namely qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, there has to still be an eye toward the future.
The 7s program Development Camp brought in 10 players who have a shot at the USA team in the future. They aren't the only players who are in contention, however.
"We made a decision not to bring in a lot of the boys that we know a lot about," said USA Head Coach Mike Friday. Donovan and Darius Law, EJ Freeman, Will Chevalier, and Noah Brown were not there.
"We had Orrin Bizer because he's had some injuries and we had Nic Hardrict in because he's had a number of injuries that he's had to contend with, But overall we have a number of guys who we haven't had a lot of time with."
The list of the young players in camp is:
USA U18s Get Set for Round 2 at Corendon Summer Tour
It's been a hard couple of days' work and intense examination of performance for the USA U18 boys as they look ahead to Wednesday's Round 2 of the Corendon Summer Tour.
The Americans are coming off a 43-26 defeat of Belgium in Round 1, with the more pessimistic observers pointing to four tries given up as something to work on. Don't let the Belgium tag fool you, however. While Belgium is not a major player in the World Rugby scene, many of their U18 players are in professional academies in France.
For Wednesday's matchup with rivals Canada, Head Coach Dominic Wareing has made a few changes.
RMA: Playing Chicken with Mike Dabulas
A start with the Union County Mudturtles, and then Penn State, and now Old Glory DC, capped Eagle Mike Dabulas is out next subject on the RuggaMatrix America podcast.
The highly-skilled flyhalf/fullback sits down with Bruce McLane to talk about team-building, on-field skills, off-field skills, leadership, and more.
USA National Team Scores and Standings So Far This Year
With three international 15s competitions going on right now here's a look at how the USA's representative sides are fairing, with results and standings.
Standings for competitions this summer.
Australia Slams USA in Pacific Four Women's Test Match
Australia put the USA to the sword 58-17 in the women's Pacific Four Series test match in Ottawa.
The Wallaroos controlled field position from the get-go and were able to convert that pressure into points, leading from post-to-post. Australia camped out in USA territory for the first six or seven minutes and on a very wide pitch made it difficult for the Eagles to kick clear. The Eagle defense was solid and debutante flanker Frede Tafuna was a force throughout, making massive tackles and powering to the gain line when she carried.
Brilliant Second Half Sees USA U20 Women Past Canada
Playing an entertaining and wide open brand of rugby, the USA U20 women defeated Canada's U20s 40-24 Saturday in Ottawa.
Played at the same stadium where the Pacific Four senior women's games will be played, this game provided some fireworks from both sides, and was anyone's game until late in the second half.
Canada looked to play wide and use turnovers to cause the USA trouble. The Canadians were very quick over the ball and when the Americans weren't careful with their work on the ground or clearing out, Canada created chances.
In addition, outside center and Saskatchewan native Carissa Norsten was outstanding—whether on attack or playing defense Norsten was hugely effective. But Canada's connections were sometimes a bit slow and the USA defense took advantage.
USA U18 Boys Defeat Belgium
The USA Boys U18s defeated Belgium U18s 43-26 Saturday in the opening game of the 2023 Corendon Summer Tour.
Granite Bay wing Thomas Koi scored two tries for the USA team and so did West Houston Lions hooker Seth Smith. Padraig Long, Jake Schumacher, and George Hemmen added tries, with captain and flyhalf Jonty Lee converting four.
"It's been a long and excellent week of practice with huge strides made across all areas, most importantly in the bonds and chemistry between the players," USA U18 Head Coach Dominic Wareing said leading up to the game. "We want to go from a group of exciting individuals to a pretty tight-knit unit that can play some holistic rugby in all areas of the field. We talked about how win, lose, or draw let's come off the pitch with no ifs, buts, or wondering what might have been."
USA U18s Named to Face Belgium
In what has been a busy summer for USA national teams, the Boys U18s kick off their second visit to the Corendon Summer Tour in the Netherlands.
The U18s will play Belgium at 7AM Eastern Time (Netherlands is six hours ahead). Netherlands will play Canada three-and-a-half hours later.
The games will be live-streamed on EyeCons with the direct link here>>
Head Coach Dom Wareing has named San Diego Mustangs / Torrey Pines HS flyhalf Jonty Lee as the gameday captain. Lee will work with his regular San Diego Mustangs halfback in Spencer Huntley.
USA U23 Women to Play in Border Series with Canada
Add two more fixtures to the summer list of national team games, as the USA U23 Women will play Canada in a two-match Border Battle hosted by the New England Free Jacks Major League Rugby team.
The games will be held July 26 (7PMET) and July 30 (Noon ET) at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Mass., where the Free Jacks play.
A New Approach as USA Women Face Australia?
The USA Women's 15s team faces a key game in the new international competitive format as they take on Australia in Ottawa Saturday.
This is the Pacific Four, with the top three going in the fall's WXV Tier 1 along with the top three from the Six Nations. So what that means is the team that finishes 4th out of those four gets tracked in the Tier 2.
Since the USA has already lost to Canada 50-17 in April, and, let's face it, are not favored against New Zealand, then this game against Australia is the pathway to that Tier 1 spot. In 2022 the Eagles defeated Australia 16-14, so that indicates this year's clash will be close as well. But it's worth pointing out that the players who delivered all the points for the USA in 2022—Hope Rogers with a try and Gabby Cantorna with a conversion and three penalty goals—are not in the Eagle lineup for Saturday.
