Eagles - We Weren't Sure We'd Done It
Eagles - We Weren't Sure We'd Done It
The USA Men’s 15s team only had to score a converted try at the end of their game with the Argentina XV to win the Americas Rugby Championship.
They did that, putting David Tameilau over under the posts and having Ben Cima slot to kick to get a bonus-point tie, just enough to win it all. The thing is, nobody knew that was going to be enough.
"Honestly, I think a few of us thought they only had 25 points and thought a converted try would win it,” said No. 8 Cam Dolan. “The scoreboard was behind us in the 2nd half. So, we never really looked at it; we just battled until the final whistle.”
Center Bryce Campbell was unsure, too.
“Honestly, we were a bit unsure at the end whether we won or it was a tie or we won by a bonus point,” said Campbell. “We just gave it our all and hoped for the best. It was an amazing feeling once we realized we had won.”
“I honestly didn't know what happened,” added Cima. “We thought we had lost the tournament but when word came in we won we were celebrating.”
But it didn’t matter. What they did was, as Dolan said, play to the final whistle. They weren’t sure whether they could do enough, but they played as hard as possible to get that final score.
“It was intense,” said Campbell. “We knew it was going to take an 80-minute effort.”
“We hurt ourselves early by getting on the wrong side of the ref,” added Dolan. “But, seemed to balance out more in the last quarter. Mitch has been pushing our fitness and challenging us when fatigued so that we can execute in moments exactly like [against Argentina]. Stay in the arm wrestle, use our athleticism, and play what's in front of us.”
