Losses Pile Up for USA Teams in Perth's 2nd Day
Losses Pile Up for USA Teams in Perth's 2nd Day
It was a rough Day Two for the USA teams in Perth.
The USA women lost twice, once to a very much in-form Canada to wrap up pool play 21-7, and then 19-7 to France.
As we have written before, France has often been the USA's toughest opponent.
Against Canada, the Eagles battled to a 0-0 scoreline at halftime. Both teams had chances to score and a tackle on the tryline saved a try for the Canadians.
In the second half, missed tackles helped Canada to their first try, and then missed connections and dropped passes gave away advantages they had.
Canada's teamwork, spacing, and passing were just superior to that of the USA. They scored again to make it 14-0, and while Kayla Canett went 50 meters off a free kick in a wonderful solo effort, for the most part the USA players found that the same old moves weren't working against this good of a team.
In the quarterfinals, France brought the physicality that has been the hallmark of their success against the United States. The USA probably had more of the possession in the first half, but France tackled exceptionally well and, when they had the ball, scored. The Americans had very little answer for long-striding center/forward Anne-Cecile Ciofani; they needed a powerful defender to knock her down. Ariana Ramsey did score in this game but the result was not in down. France 19, USA 7.
So the Eagles will be playing in the 5th-place Japan for 5th.
Japan is a different opponent, entirely, working speed and ease of ball movement. They were beaten 35-0 by Australia and the USA are in a good position to take 5th. A 5th-place finish should keep the Americans in 4th spot in the SVNS standings. The 5th-place team, Great Britain, is playing for 9th. The top three, New Zealand, Australia, and France, are all in the Cup Semis. So is Canada, currently 7th but in a position to move up to 5th.
The USA men were very unlucky. A win over hosts Australia would have put them in the quarterfinals, but they ended up losing 19-12. One of those tries was a clear knock-on and should not have been allowed. Referee Tevita Rokovereni didn't even opt for the TMO, and all replays clearly showed that Henry Hutchison knocked the ball forward before regathering and touching it down.
That try made it 14-5 for Australia, and with the score 14-12 late in the game, the USA gave up a try as they worked to get that game-winner. Had the score been 12-7, which is what it should have been, at halftime, the tenor of the game would have been very different.
So that result ptu the USA in the 9th-place semifinal against Kenya, and the Americans made two errors on defense that hurt them. The first was they were too high in too many tackles. The Kenyans are powerful, tough, and, crucially, have a long reach. Going high just means you get fended off. There were far, far too many missed to negative tackles for the USA. The second was the USA players were going for the jackle, or poach, almost every breakdown. The result was that they were a bit shorthanded at key moments.
The result was a 12-7 halftime deficit. Kenya added to that thanks to a penalty in the ruck—maybe a harsh penalty but also a result of pushing for the turnover too much. The Eagles answered with a nice team try finished off by Adam Channel (his second of the game) and set up by Will Chevalier. Channel did the little "ssshhhh" move after scoring, but seeing as it was only 19-14 at that point perhaps that was premature.
Kenya answered with a long kick out of their end, exploiting the USA's lack of a sweeper and a couple of very avoidable penalties.Floyd Wadire won the race to the line.
Stephen Tomasin linked with Faitala Talapusi for an excellent try to make it 26-21, and there was time for the restart. But Kenya retained the ball and kicked to touch.
So once again we'll say that this USA men's team is much improved. This tournament's co-captains, Will Chevalier and Jack Wendling, have been impressive. But they have not closed out games. They won one game in OT, but could have beaten South Africa or Australia or Kenya and were in a position to do so in each game.
Next up they play Ireland in the 11th-place playoff. This is also a game to decide who is 11th or 12th in the overall standings.