The USA women's 15s team followed up on an improved showing against New Zealand with an emphatic 33-12 victory over Australia Friday night in Kansas City.
This was one of the better performances from the USA in quite some time, as they opened up their offense and showcased improved ball-handling and an exciting game plan.
Jack Hanratty's Eagles will next take on Canada at Seat Geek Stadium in Chicago, April 24th at 8:30PM ET, live on Paramount+.
“I’m new to this group, but today in a really long day you get to know the athletes a bit better," said Hanratty after the match. :We had a game plan, and we improved dramatically from last week. We controlled our controlables, I really have so much respect for how calm everyone was today.
“It's good seeing players like [Erica] get what I feel they deserve out there. I really enjoy this because these athletes have been here a long time and these moments are ones we need to enjoy, whether it’s 2am or not. Joy is one of our values, and we need to make sure that we live that tonight.”
Captain Erica Jarrell-Searcy said post-match, “I’ve been saying all week that we’ve been looking to finish the sentence that we started at the Rugby World Cup. I think we finished that sentence and started a new chapter on the same night.”
Jarrell-Searcy added on the crowd, “Huge shout out to Kansas City, we said the same last year that this is our favorite venue to play in. We had fans in the crowd chanting 'USA' from warm up, it’s now 12pm and we still hear them. We heard you all game, thank you for showing up in support every year.”
"It's hard to put into words our gratitude towards how America has responded to USA Rugby. They've given us more and more home games, and the fans keep showing that we deserve it. There's just so much gratitude and excitement."
The USA had the first scoring opportunity, kicking for touch after winning a scrum penalty. Freda Tafuna crossed the tryline but was held up. Not long after, however, they were able to put Hope Rogers over on a tap move.
Following a yellow card to Australia for a high tackle, the USA were back with another attacking lineout, and, again, frustratingly failed to convert. Instead it was the Wallaroos who got out of trouble, scrumhalf Samantha Wood executed a brilliant 50-22 off a box kick, and flanker and captain Siokapesi Palu was soon twisting over for the game-tying try.
