SURREY, England – England scored three tries in the first 50 minutes and held on the beat the USA women's national team 17-13 Sunday at Surrey Sports Park.

The Eagles traveled from Wales earlier in the week after defeating Wales Women, 10-7, at Paddy Park. A four-period scrimmage against England was held behind closed doors on Wednesday, during which Head Coach Pete Steinberg evaluated several players.

In that scrimmage, they didn't even keep score, but they kept score on Sunday, and the Eagles got into trouble early. They weathered that storm, and had a shot at taking an early lead, however, flyhalf Kimber Rozier’s penalty attempt from 35 meters fell victim of the stiff wind and was pushed wide.

England fullback Danielle Waterman gave the Eagles a scare with a break wide, and then did it again to devastating effect in the 23rd minute, scoring the opening try of the game. Emily Scarratt missed the conversion and the England lead held at 5-0.

Shaina Turley was sent to the sin bin in the 32nd minute after multiple infractions for not rolling away in the ruck. With a player advantage for the remaining minutes of the first half, England doubled the lead with a try from Claire Purdy after the Eagles failed to clear from a five-meter scrum. Scarratt’s second conversion attempt was successful to give England a 12-0 halftime lead.

The Eagles offered more go-forward in the opening minutes of the second half, but fell further behind in the 47th minute when second-half substitute Katy Mclean was the beneficiary of neat English passing to dot down.

Sadie Anderson gave the Eagles a lifeline minutes later with a penalty kick to bring the score to 17-3 before Vanesha McGee scored a try in the 58th minute. The Eagles won a lineout and moved the ball through multiple phases before the wing broke through the line to score.

Down 17-8, the Eagles had plenty of work to do in the remaining 20 minutes. Much like the Eagles’ first-half play, England had trouble getting out of their own half against the wind. This was neatly demonstrated when McGee caught a long clearance kick and ran 60 meters to score the Eagles’ second try and make it 17-13.

Despite the obvious swing in momentum, the Eagles could not complete the comeback. Missed kicks and set-piece mistakes helped England get the win, but Steinberg saw some good signs from an improving team.

“Our performance was very good, but we had an opportunity to win the game and did not take it,” he said. “However, we leave this tour confident that we are continuing to improve and our pre-World Cup camp will be important to enhance our execution.”

“This tour has been a really great platform for us to fine-tune our game plan leading up to the World Cup,” McGee said. “Today’s match against England was winnable for us as we played some really great rugby. We didn’t finish on top, but we know we are stepping up into the right place as we continue our preparations. It’s a great feeling to see our hard work play out on the field and to build our team confidence.”

The Eagles kick off their IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 campaign Aug. 1 against Ireland. Kazakhstan and reigning World Cup champion New Zealand are also in the Eagles’ pool in France.

USA Lineup v England
1. Sarah Chobot
2. Kathryn Augustyn
3. Hope Rogers
4. Carmen Farmer
5. Sarah Walsh
6. Shaina Turley
7. Jillion Potter
8. Kate Daley
9. Jocelyn Tseng
10. Kimberly Rozier
11. Nathalie Marchino
12. Emilie Bydwell
13. Akalaini "Bui" Baravilala
14. Vanesha McGee
15. Sadie Anderson

Reserves
16. Kittery Wagner (@ 74')
17. Jamie Burke (@ 70')
18. Naima Reddick
19. Sharon Blaney (@ 74')
20. Lauren Daly (@ 70')
21. Deven Owsiany (@ 70')
22. Hannah Stolba (@ 74')
23. Caroline White

England | Starting XV
23. Claire Purdy
10. Mercedes Foy
16. Laura Keates
3. Emily Braund
19. Joanna McGilchrist
11. Hannah Gallagher
8. Heather Fisher
31. Alexandra Matthews
18. La Toya Mason
17. Ceri Large
32. Natasha Brennan
4. Rachael Burford
25. Emily Scarratt (C)
28. Lydia Thompson
29. Danielle Waterman

Reserves
9. Vicky Fleetwood (@ 40')
5. Rochelle Clark (@ 60')
13. Sophie Hemming (@ 55')
2. Margaret Alphonsi (@ 40')
15. Sarah Hunter (@ 38')
12. Georgina Gulliver (@ 40')
20. Katy Mclean (@ 40')
26. Michaela Staniford (@ 40')

USA 13
Tries: McGee (2)
Pens: Anderson

England 17
Tries: Waterman, Purdy, Mclean
Cons: Scarratt