Chisel Away, Be Patient, and the Space Will Open Up
Chisel Away, Be Patient, and the Space Will Open Up
Patience may well be the key tool in the USA's toolbox this weekend.
Their forwards can win ball, win scrums, and use lineouts as a launching pad; they can defend; they can score tries through their backs and as a team ... but it could all come very slowly against Hong Kong. Goodness knows it came slowly against Kenya.
And yes Hong Kong lost 42-14 to Portugal, but around 30 minutes it was 14-7. Hong Kong, as USA Head Coach Gary Gold said, will want to bash you up front. The Eagles will have to weather that storm and not expect to run in five tries by the end of the first quarter.
After a slow start the Eagles did put 68 on Kenya last week. Captain and flyhalf AJ MacGinty certainly needs his side to be quicker out of the blocks this time, but recognizes this is a different opponent.
“We weren’t executing the way we wanted in the first half, but there was a lot of space coming up late and shape was good and comms were good so we were able to move the ball about, said the captain. “It’s definitely going to be a lot tougher [vs Hong Kong]. Those opportunities won’t come so freely so we’ve just to got to be prepared to take them when we do have them.”
“Towards the end of that game in the last 20 minutes started to open up,” added fullback Mitch Wilson. “I think we had to chisel away up front for a large portion of that game. So when AJ came on to his benefit we were able to to move the ball around a bit more and play with the rugby ball.”
What about those guys up front? Cam Dolan has made a move from No. 8 to lock, partly to fill in for an injured Nick Civetta but also because that’s where he’s moving to anyway.
“It’s not anything new to me; back in 2015 in the leadup to the World Cup and in the World Cup I was playing in the second row,” Dolan told Goff Rugby Report. “And really it’s kind of a natural transition for me as I get a little longer in the tooth, a little slower. It was always a bit of the plan.”
He laughed a little at the “slower” comment, but Dolan has embraced the job, and also says the forwards as a group have embraced their jobs.
This is just a thing of beauty @DylanFawsitt pic.twitter.com/cA2MJkbTBj
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) November 6, 2022
“I’ve been calling the lineouts in New Orleans and teams in the past it’s something i’ve done; I quite enjoy being in the row, which maybe is quite rare for most back-rowers, and I think it helps get some more dynamic runners in the back row and—some youth!”
Overall, “I think our forward pack’s really coming together. We’ve formed those bonds in the last few weeks and we’re in a really strong place and our set piece has been going well. As long as we can keep that trend, we’re going to be in a good place.”
All of that is hugely important against Hong Kong. The Eagle pack may well have to, as Wilson said, chisel away for a bit longer before the space opens up.
Dolan and the pack know that (and the unspoken implication that it might get a bit chippy and the pack will have to roll with that, too).
“Hong Kong’s going to be very set piece dominant,” he said. “They have a good lineout, good maul, and a good scrum that they rely on. So we’ve got to kind of bring it there and if we can do that I think we’ll be in good shape.
Team Run and done.
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) November 11, 2022
Match day on deck. pic.twitter.com/PjGsdPV4A2
