The impact of the bench in the July 4 test between South Africa and the USA women's Eagles has led to some of those reserve players earning starts this week in the second test of the USA"s trip south.
Head Coach Jack Hanratty and staff have brought in Elizabeth Cook (who usually goes by her middle name, Caroline) to start at tighthead after Cook scored a try on debut coming in off the bench.
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Tessa Hann also impressed as a reserve and she set up a try. She, too, will be starting. Hann Humphreys was another impact player who has put her hand up for a starting spot. Hanratty mentioned all of those players in positive terms after last week's 34-21 loss to the Springboks.
Clearly the Eagles are looking to see what players can do what in starting and reserve roles, and, sometimes, in different positions.
Cook, lock Emerson Allen, Humphries, scrumhalf Ortiz, flyhalf Kristen Bitter, and Hann all move from the bench to a starting role. In addition, last week's flyhalf, Bella Vogel, moves to center with Bitter taking the pivot, and Ashley Codrey, who scored on debut last week, moved from wing to fullback.
Hooker Chloe Hill-Huse gets a chance for her first cap as she is on the bench. Hill-Huse is a dual USA and Canadian citizen and played the bulk of her rugby north of the border at St. Michael's University School, University of Victoria (where she was co-captain), and Castaway Wanderers. She has also played in New Zealand and is currently with Sunnybank in Australia. She has played for the Canadian U18s and U23s. .
“Looking ahead at Pretoria, our focus all week has been on executing excellence and delivering for the full 80 minutes, and we’re excited to see this group chase the result we know we are capable of," said Hanratty. “This group is brilliant at learning from moments and we learned a lot on Saturday. The challenge now will be how much we learned from this week of learning.”
The match will kick off this Saturday, July 11th at 7:30AM and is expected to be on Paramount+, although we at GRR have not seen that game listed as yet.
