The England Red Roses brought the USA down to earth a bit before a loud crowd in Harrison, NJ, ;leveraging their physicality and some impressive backline ballhandling to beat the Americans 55-12 Friday night.
Before we get into this game, it's fair to say that the USA got zero help from the referee, Zoe Naude of South Africa. We won't go chapter-and-very on every call. But the key area was the scrum. Both sides were guilty of infractions, but England got the rub of the green at every turn.
In her own inimitable way after the match USA prop Hope Rogers praised her team's scrum performance, and Mae Sagapolu in particular—Sagapolu was eventually yellow-carded for repeated scrum infractions. The unspoken message was clear—the rulings weren't right.
The thing is, even if the calls were all correct and the USA infringed, Naude got it wrong. England would win scrum ball, and they would not get an initial drive. Then they would sheer off or change angle and get an advantage call and only then would they move the ball from the No. 8's feet.
This is antithetical to what referees should be doing. When England had won the scrum clean and clear, then they should have been told to use it. Instead, the game, especially in the second half, became a series of scrum penalties that, even if correctly assessed, didn't need to be called.
As it was, England repeatedly guilty of not driving straight and they got away with it.
So, rant of. England won the game, but they margin of victory was certainly helped by how the scrum was officiated by a referee who lost sight of why everyone is there.
The Game Itself
The USA kicked off and pressured early with a long period of phases. They didn't make a lot of ground but recycled well, if slowly. England was very good at slowing ball.
The Eagles were eventually forced to kick, and England attacked from there. The Americans defended with entusiasm, led by a massive hit from Sagapolu, but a penalty set up a lineout eventually a laser pass wide to wing Claudia Moloney MacDonald put her over in the corner.
This became the story of much of the game. The Eagles would keep the ball, run hard, and while they put in a few wrinkles, the attack was pretty conservative. When another team might have broken down, England did not. They were, overall, physically bigger and strong. They were content to tackle, roll away verrry slowly, and reset.
When England got the ball the Eagles often had to commit three to a tackle. Once that started to happen, space opened up out wide.
The Red Roses were held up, and their maul was stopped a few times, but after a tough penalty on Alev Kelter for getting up without releasing (she appeared to not be held in the tackle), England attacked, got close, and after another penalty and a scrum infraction, Moloney MacDonald was over again.
Down 10-0 the USA ramped up their defense and put together an excellent maul to drive over. The TMO, however, called that one back on an obstruction call, but a couple of minutes after, Several hard charges from Rogers eventually saw the prop score.
Bella Vogel converted to make it 10-7 England, but fans were a little concered to see Freda Tafuna shaken up.
The No. 8 would eventually leave the game early in the second half with a twingy shoulder, but she gutted it out for 25 minutes or so after she first felt the pain.
