Did the USA Teams Really Have a Discipline Meltdown?

07.13.2026Eagles

Japan was on the front foot most of the second half thanks to USA penalties.

Japan's U20s were on the front foot most of the second half thanks to USA penalties. Photo Levan Verzeuli for World Rugby.

Author: Alex Goff

So we decided to hve a look at some of the discipline issues two USA teams encountered Saturday.

And the important thing is to avoid going in with preconceived notions. But whether it's from observation or statistics or just a feeling, one's conclusions can show up before you look at the evidence.

The USA Men's 15s team and the USA Men's U20s team both had discipline problems. Did that? After looking more closely at it, yes they did, but there are other factors.

The Men's Eagles

We wrote in our initial game report that the Eagles exceeded their previous-game's penalty count by the hydration break. That's incorrect, and we've correct it. But, it is true that against Portugal the USA was penalized four times, and we counted seven penalties in the first half vs. Zimbabwe, plus two infractions that we called for advantage and never returned to.

Let's look at them, and what resulted from them.

1: 10:30 on the game clock. Cory Daniel picks up a ball that had been knocked on by a player behind him. Offside, but that's a very tough penalty, especially for a #7, whose job it is to rescue loose balls. It could easily have been called an accidental offside, but, sure, technically, a penalty.

The result? Zimbabwe kicks for the lineout, works the ball sideline-to-sideline, and scores. TRY ZIMBABWE.

2: 16:40 on the game clock. Retaliation. The USA has a penalty eight meters from the Zimbabwe tryline. After the whistle, Makheen Alikhan gets into it with Zimbabwe wing Matthew McNab when McNab tries to take the ball away despite it being a penalty for the Eagles.

Alikhan takes umbrage with McNab engaging with Ruben de Haas, shoves him, and then grabs him by the collar, all right in front of the referee. Penalty is reversed.

Great line from Jason Damm here when the ref tells him to warn his players. "I'll let them know not to retaliate" which was a wonderful way of saying "they started it."

The result of this was a prime try-scoring opportunity was lost and Zimbabwe was able to clear their lines. POTENTIAL TRY HALTED.

3: 26:33. High tackle. This was a high tackle in traffic by Jason Damm. It was avoidable, but difficult to avoid. Good call. PENALTY GOAL ZIMBABWE.

4: 30:11. Dangerous play. Alikhan comes in on a counter-ruck drive that isn't needed, is in the middle of the field, and has zero chance of working. He makes contact with an opponent's head. YELLOW CARD.

5. 35:52. Popping up in the front row. Zimbabwe put in a good shove and sometimes this happens. NO RAMIFICATIONS.

6: High Tackle. Chasing down McNab of Zimbabwe, Perry Mayo makes a high tackle. The problem here, apart of him just coming in high, is that there was someone, Mitch Wilson, all set to handle McNab. Not necessary, but ultimately the USA survives this. NO RAMIFICATIONS.

7: Dangerous Play. With the USA mauling toward the Zimbabwe goalline, Toga Kofe removes a Zimbabwe player from the maul by his collar. The almost comical thing about this is that it happens right in front of the ref, and the referee does not see it. He gets told it has happened and has to see the video. Obvious penalty, and Kofe was lucky not to be carded, to be honest. While the Eagles muffed that maul for other reasons, it is possible that they would have gotten a penalty had this not occurred. POTENTIAL TRY OPPORTUNITY STOPPED.

There were also two penalties that the referee did not return to. They happened on the same play—Zimbabwe was mauling to the USA line when Alikhan came in from the side. A few seconds later Nathan Den Hoedt was offside. Zimbabwe scored anyway. The thing about hits is, those infractions aren't meaningless. Once a team has a penalty advantage, they basically can either score or get another shot at it. So by coming in from an offside position, those players ensure for Zimbabwe that this would be a free play with no downside. TRY MADE ALMOST INEVITABLE.

USA Head Coach Scott Lawrence specific called out the penalty count in the first half and Alikhan specifically (not by name, but you knew who he meant). Those penalties were mostly very avoidable, and led to every single one or Zimbabwe's points. They also cost the USA at least one try.

The U20s

There are some outside factors that affected the USA U20s. One that we've been asked not to harp on is that the team has been sick throughout the Junior World Championships. Players have done everything they can to play, but the tournament is a grind under the best of circumstances.

In the space of 16 days they have played four of the hardest matches they have ever played, and, it seemed to us, some just didn't have much gas left in the final 30 minutes of the match against Japan. During that time Japan scored six tries.

But, there is another thing. At 46 minutes Japan's Shinnosuke Uchida scored a brilliant try in the corner. The USA answered with a well-taken try by Siale Ofa. After the conversion was good (making it 35-28 for Japan), the TMO got involved and the try was taken away.

The try itself had been scored off the restart. Lock Pierce Kelly went up in the air. The ball came backward off his hands onto his shoulder and bounced sort-of sideways to Ofa, who took off and scored. Was it a knock-on? The video makes it very hard to be sure, and the call was a try. Calling this try back was harsh. It may have been correct, but it was a tough one.

And after that call, the USA seemed deflated, frustrated, and angry.

Here's a look at the penalty record after this. Call:

Scrum Penalty—no immediate ramifications.

High Tackle—leads to a try.

Scrum Penalty—leads to a try.

In From The Side—leads to a try.

Scrum Penalty—leads to a try.

Side Entry on Maul—Yellow Card, and leads to a try.

Holding On—USA attack with potential is killed.

Off-Ball Takeout—Red Card.

In defense of the USA U20 players, the scrum penalties are something that become unavoidable after a while, and Japan's scrum and maul were very good. In addition, Japan got away with some pretty egregious obstruction on mauls and in open play, which had to have fueled that USA frustration.

(The law is that you must be fully bound, using the whole arm. See the first image on what is a try for Japan ... nothing of the sort happened.)

And this one the front part of the maul just detaches and keeps taking defenders out of the play.

Conclusion

Penalties in the middle of the field when nothing much is going on are the worst, because they hand scoring opportunities on a platter to the opposition.

This was startlingly clear in those two games. The senior Eagles have only themselves to blame for the points they gave up, and the points they failed to score.

Yes they won 31-15, and it was 15-12 for Zimbabwe at halftime. But it's not unreasonable to say that it could have been 26-0 at halftime and 45-0 overall without those penalties.

As for the U20s, discipline is about penalties, yes, but it's also about being in control of your emotions. Tired, feeling hard-done-by, and then with their captain in the sin bin, the USA players did things that put their backs against the wall, and Japan stayed focused and burned them.

Had the Ofa try stood would the USA have won? No. But the game would have been closer. Had the mauls been officiated properly would the USA have won? No. But the game would have been closer. From a score of 71-21 to a score of, say, 50-28, maybe even 43-28, we would have seen a fairer representation of where the USA team is.

Where the team is, that is to say, if they can avoid those killer penalties.