Italy held on to defeat the USA 24-20 in a tense, physical test match in San Jose.

The Eagles looked very capable at times and scored two tries, but penalty trouble hurt them at crucial moments.

Photos by David Barpal for Goff Rugby Report.

Augspurger was impressive.

The deliberate knock-on that led to the penalty try.

Cam Dolan goes for the steal

The game itself began in dramatic and somewhat scary fashion, when USA wing Taku Ngwenya chased a box kick from Nate Augspurger. The kick was fielded by Italy wing Leonardo Sarto, but the two clashed heads in a nasty collision. Both players slumped to the ground unconscious. Both would lead the field - Sarto under his own power, Ngwenya on a stretcher.

It was a blow to both teams, as they lost one of their main strike runners. Mike Te'o came on for Ngwenya and played well in difficult circumstances.

The game was very uch a kicking contest early on as Italy looked to keep the USA back in their own half. For the most part that worked well, but one errant kick led to the USA taking the lead. Flyhalf AJ MacGinty went back to field a long kick, and appeared to have possibly touched it as it went backward, but he was ruled to have left it alone and the ball rolled dead, giving the Eagles a scrum inside the Italy half. From there, they got a penalty, and MacGinty put the ball over for a 3-0 lead.

But Italy came back. The Eagles managed to steal a lineout but Thretton Palamo was pinged for holding onto the ball and Carlo Canna put the kick over to tie it up.

Again the teams kicked back and forth, and for the most part the Eagles held their own. Midway through the first half fullback Will Holder fielded a kick and saw a seam. He took off, and had James Hilterbrand on his left. But just at the moment he should have passed, Holder realized Blaine Scully was on his right. In decided to switch to the speedy winger, Holder left it too late and Canna came in with a tackle.

However, after play went on for a while, referee Marius Van Der Westhuizen went back to that play and ruled that Canna had deliberately knocked on the ball, and also had done so with no one left to prevent a try. Hence, Canna was yellow-carded, and the USA got a penalty try. MacGinty hit the conversion, and the USA led 10-3.

Up a man and with Italy's goalkicker the guy in the sin bin, the Eagles struggled to make the man advantage work for them. In fact it was Italy that punished a series of USA penalties to get a lineout deep in Eagle territory. The maul worked nicely and then hooker Ornel Gega peeled off to score and make it 10-8. The USA had some chances, including an excellent play from 15s debutant Nate Augspurger to steal the ball and set up an attack, but holding-on penalties continued to hurt them. And later, a penalty at midfield seemed a perfect spot to launch a lineout, but MacGinty's kick was shanked and didn't find touch.

Canna returned to the field and kicked a penalty to put Italy up 11-10 at halftime, and the Eagles were left wondering if they could get that momentum back.

In the second half, it was a similar story. The Eagles got a weird call against them (a lineout that certainly looked to be their throw but was given to Italy) but made it work as they stole the ball. Again they tried to stretch it wide, only to see Blaine Scully hit for holding on.  Italy went right down the field, and, with the penalty advantage on, Canna slotted a drop goal to make it 14-10. 

MacGinty made a nice break to get into Italy's 22, and Holder added to that. The Eagles looked close to scoring a try, but took the easy points on an offside call and it was 14-13 for the Azzurri. Italy was close to make it a bigger lead, but Scully made a superb try-saving tackle, and the ball spun loose and was recovered by prop Chris Baumann, who was on his horse in cover. The USA thought they got a 22 dropout from that play, but it was a five-meter scrum upon replay examination. That was in fact the wrong call, as the USA should have received the put-in for a forward pass. 

Regardless, a penalty followed soon thereafter. Once again Italy went for the lineout. Cam Dolan took marco Fuser out when he was in the air and rightly got a yellow card for his efforts. Italy took the lineout again, ran the maul, and once again put Gega off the back for a try. Now it was 21-13.

Two scores down, and down a man, the Eagles picked up their game and produced a series of chances for themselves. Scully made one nice run started with a loop move between Todd Clever and Dolan. They pressed their advantage, and eventually MacGinty ghosted through a half gap, drew a few players' attention, and shipped it to Te'o. For his part, Te'o had zero time in which to make a decision, and he caught and passed perfectly just as he was leveled. The result was that sub forward Tony Lamborn, on for Peterson in the first half, had a perfect pass and could gallop in for a well-taken try.

MacGinty hit the touchline conversion and it was a one-point game again.

The game could have been won right after that. Italy retained the ball but Augspurger charged down a kick and the ball was there, tantalizingly, waiting to be claimed. Italy got it, and here referee Van Der Westhuizen made one of his bigger errors. Italy was obviously off their feet in trying to re-win that ball, and that the Eagles were over it and had hands on the ball. It should have been a USA penalty right in front of the posts, but instead, Italy got a penalty, was able to clear away.

In the final moments, Italy got one more penalty for Canna to put over to make it 24-20, and certainly a game that the USA players must have felt was a game they let slip away.

The problem was penalties - an area of the game Head Coach John Mitchell stressed needed improvement. But every scoring chance got Italy came from penalties, and the Eagles saw too many chances on their side ost to infractions. Several players showed well during the game, with Augspurger having a nice night in his first 15s international. Shalom Suniula was an inside center wasn't a battering ram so much as a second flyhalf, and he filled that role well. Holder had a good debut at fullback. In the forwards, Baumann was very active, Clever had his moments on offense, and Durutalo was all over the place (in a good way). 

USA 20

Tries: Penalty Try, Lamborn

Convs: MacGinty 2

Pens: MacGinty 2

 

Italy 24

Tries: Gega 2

Convs: Canna 

Pens: Canna 3

DGs: Canna

 

Men's Eagles | v. Italy
1. Titi Lamositele
2. James Hilterbrand
3. Chris Baumann
4. Nate Brakeley
5. Greg Peterson
6. Andrew Durutalo
7. Todd Clever (C)
8. Cam Dolan
9. Nate Augspurger
10. AJ MacGinty
11. Blaine Scully
12. Shalom Suniula
13. Thretton Palamo
14. Taku Ngwenya
15. Will Holder

Men's Eagles | Reserves
16. Joe Taufete'e on for Hilterbrand at 52:30
17. Ben Tarr on for Lamositele at 67:15
18. Angus MacLellan on for Baumann at 75:00
19. Stephen Tomasin 
20. Harry Higgins
21. Tony Lamborn  on for Peterson at 20:46
22. Chad London
23. Mike Te'o on for Ngwenya at 4:07

 

15 Luke MCLEAN (Benetton Treviso, 80 caps)
14 Leonardo SARTO (Zebre Rugby, 29 caps)
13 Michele CAMPAGNARO (Exeter Chiefs, 23 caps)
12 Tommaso CASTELLO (Rugby Calvisano, 1 cap)
11 David ODIETE (Marchiol Mogliano, 5 caps)
10 Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby, 10 caps)
9 Edoardo GORI (Benetton Treviso, 51 caps) - Captain
8 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK (Zebre Rugby, 3 caps)
7 Simone FAVARO (Glasgow Warriors, 28 caps)
6 Robert BARBIERI (Benetton Treviso, 40 caps)
5 Marco FUSER (Benetton Treviso, 11 caps)
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS (Zebre Rugby, 64 caps)
3 Lorenzo CITTADINI (Wasps Rugby, 48 caps)
2 Ornel GEGA (Benetton Treviso, 3 caps)
1 Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby, 6 caps)

Reserves
16 Oliviero FABIANI (Zebre Rugby, 3 caps)
17 Sami PANICO (Rugby Calvisano, 1 cap)
18 Pietro CECCARELLI (Zebre Rugby, 2 caps)
19 Valerio BERNABO’ (Zebre Rugby, 32 caps)
20 Maxime MBANDA’ (Rugby Calvisano, uncapped)
21 Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby, 20 caps)
22 Tommaso ALLAN (USAP Perpignan, 23 caps)
23 Giovanbattista VENDITTI (Newcastle Falcons, 34 caps)