Eagle Women Make it Tough, but England Takes Victory

09.29.2024

England defeated the USA 61-21 Sunday in Vancouver in the opening game of thw WXV 1, but it was a game in which the Eagles took a few steps forward in their progression.

England was very fortunate to score their late tries. One score was clearly off a forward pass (which followed a knock-on) and some rough penalty calls added insult to injury. Having said that, England was the stronger team and deserved to win; they just didn't deserve to win by 40.

The teams changed ends with England up 28-7 and while Alev Kelter scored a very well-taken try, the Eagles (including Kelter) struggled with mistakes that gifted the English a try, as well.

Kelter's try was indeed fun to watch. From a lineout the Eagles sent the ball to the centers where Kelter popped a kick over the English defenders, gathered the ball, and stepped her way to paydirt.

The USA inched closer early in the second half with some good continuity and Kelter finally going over from short range. England responded with a try, somewhat against the run of play, and then the Eagles answered. After a wide kick for Cheta Emba from McKenzie Hawkins was just stopped, the USA got a penalty and took the lineout. From there they ran a move off the back of the maul for captain Kate Zackary to crash over. Hawkins slotted her this conversion to make it 33-21.

That was as close as the USA would get, however. England ramped up the pace and, as we mentioned, benefited from the odd non-call to run in four late tries. Clearly finishing off the game is a work-on going forward, however, 33-21 at 60 minutes was evidence that the USA can get there.

“We’ve been together for two weeks, which is great," said USA Head Coach SIone Fukofuka. "We’ve been able to get a fair bit of work done, but the reality is we’ve still got a bit of work to do to compete with the best team in the world. We did some really positive things through that game, but we also let ourselves down at times, not competing and completing what we wanted to. By and large a lot of positives, lots of learnings to take away to build into next week when we get that extra time together.

“A couple things we want to focus on in the back of that game is just completing our attack opportunities. There were a couple mauls we didn’t quite capitalize on, our game management at times put us under pressure, so we’ll do a bit of work around transitioning out of our half into theirs.”

Zackary added that her team was in control of the momentum at different stages of the game.

“It was a really good match," said Zackary. "It was a fast paced, physical match which is exactly what we wanted. We wanted to come out there and show our physicality and intelligence around the rugby pitch. But there were also a few frustrating moments where we just didn’t play our best rugby, but a lot of that was beating up on ourselves and letting in a few easy options for England. More than anything, it did feel good. It felt like a fast game that we had the chance to be in charge of at times.

“We’ve got a lot of potential. Today was a chance for some of our potential to become a reality. Two weeks, I think a lot of growth took place. Give us another five days together, and I’ll be interested to see how we come together on attack, defense, set piece. I think there will be some major improvements.”

USA 21
Tries: Kelter 2, Zackary
Convs: Hawkins 3

England 61
Tries: Atkin-Davies, Kildunne 2, Brock, Matthews, Westcombe Evans, Talling, Breach, Wyrwas
Convs: Harrison 8

Also in thw WXV 1, Canada defeated France 46-24, and Ireland shocked New Zealand 29-27.