Beating the French Barbarians was most certainly a nice confidence boost for the USA team, but Head Coach Gary Gold has his eye on the major goal, and the major goal is not beating the French Barbarians, it's beating Chile.
"It was a very good French team and while we made lots of mistakes the guys put their hands up and met the challenge," said Gold. "The thing is we've got Chile next week and we need to be prepared for that. I think this was good preparation because they are a professional team."
But there were mistakes. The scrum was good early on but had trouble late. The lineout was inconsistent. The Eagles had scoring chances off the lineout but couldn't fire, so while—glass half full—they scored six times they also—glass half empty—only got two tries.
But on defense, despite the three tries given up, they were solid.
"There was always a threat that they were going to rip us to shreds," said Gold, giving a nod to many a professional touring side that has come to the USA loose and ready to let their expressive rugby fly. But the USA team didn't let the Barbarians get too wild with the ball.
"We were good in the tackle," Gold said. "Our defensive coach Scott Lawrence did a really good job getting everyone ready."
