England beat the USA Saturday night in front of over 19,000 in yet another lightning-interrupted test match, putting two different kinds of exclamation points on the midsummer games for both teams.
For England, this capped off a 3-0 tour of Argentina and the USA in which they blooded about 10 new caps and put several more in key pressure situations. For the USA, it was a loss, yes, but one that showed fans and coaches alike a little something.
The game kicked off late due to lightning delays, but the delay wasn't especially long.
The USA started out aggressive and looking to make something happen. Wing Rufus McLean found a bit of space early and the pod runners in midfield push England back a bit. However, they were not careful with the ball (on a steamy, hot day) and found themselves losing the ball in contact.
England looked to play when they got turnovers but the USA defense was fairly solid. Certainly there was plenty of grit and tenacity on the defensive side of the ball. England broke through only be called back for a forward pass. Eventually, however, with USA flyhalf Chris Hilsenbeck in the sin bin for an intentional knock-on, England was able to maul it over.
With 100-cap flyhalf and captain George Fordpulling the strings, England was happy to use the boot when the option presented itself, and it worked fairly well. One such kick pinned fullback Erich Storti back on his goalline and Storti tried an offload to Toby Fricker, who just barely stopped a try being scored. However, the offload was forward, England got a scrum, and they scored fairly easily from there.
From 14-0 it was 19-0 after England mauled it over again, however upon further review the try was disallowed for obstruction. The Eagles were still in the game, making England work for every meter. At the same time, England was making the USA earn a lot more meters, by pinning them back.
About 29 minutes into the first half the lightning returned and the players took a 45-minute-or-so break.
Once back England. once again was over the line, this time off a ball toed ahead and chased. However, there was a clear knock-on, and the TMO brought that one back, too. Finally, as halftime approached, England went wide off a scrum, and some slick passing and a loop move set up a 3-on-1. The Eagles covered that, but the ball was shipped left quickly and wing Cadan Murley unleashed a couple of sidesteps and was in.
So it was 19-0 at halftime.
The second half was played primarily in the USA end. The Eagles had few scoring chances, but at the same time, they met England at the collision point and in set piece quite nicely. England was called for a balk in one lineout and should have been called for another, as they tried to avoid disruption by the USA.
Murley was very good and so was wing Emmanuel Feyi-Waboso, while lock Athur Clark was a powerhouse on debut.
The outside backs sliced through to set up scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet. Later on they did the same kind of move and replacement scrumhalf Harry Randall was the one to score.
Ford kept kicking the ball deep, but Storti at fullback, along with scrumhalf Ruben de Haas, did well to find ways to relieve pressure. And they had some scoring opportunities. The best one might have been when Jamason Fa'anana-Schulz grabbed a loose ball off an England lineout and charged on. He had Vili Helu with him and the USA had numbers to punish the English. But England did enough to stop them, partly thanks to a couple of lazy runners who might well have been offside when they made a key tackle.
