Mistakes Doom USA to Loss vs Romania
Mistakes Doom USA to Loss vs Romania
Romania held on to defeat the USA 22-20 Friday night at Seat Geek Stadium in Chicago thanks in large part to a series of errors by the hosts that killed any sort of momentum they hoped to get in the second half.
The Eagles looked very good in the opening minutes and fullback Mitch Wilson was over on a nice grubber through from Nate Augspurger. But after the conversion from AJ MacGinty was made, referee Angus Mabey of New Zealand took a closer look at the play and saw that in fact Wilson was offside on the kick.
No try, but the play would come back to an earlier penalty. The Eagles took the lineout, drove to the line, and after a couple of bashes at the line, flanker Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz picked up quickly and was over under the posts. So this time, yes, the USA was up 7-0.
Romania answered, however. Captain Greg Peterson was guilty of not rolling away, a penalty he would have known to avoid, and quickly the Oaks went wide for massive wing Tevita Manumua. The USA cover defense over-pursued badly, and it was veterans MacGinty and Tommaso Boni who failed to spread, leaving wing Christian Dyer all along to try to take Manumua down. He didn't and now it was 7-7.
The USA had chances to score throughout. A nifty run from debutant scrumhalf JP Smith ended with him being held up when he probably should have laid the ball back for his support. That one hurt because the USA was pressuring nicely.
Romania instead took the lead on a penalty goal from scrumhalf Alin Conache.
Down 10-7 the Eagles worked their way down the field with a couple of Romanian penalties and crashed the runners in closer. Center Tavite Loopeti got close, but the hard-hitting Romanian defense knocked the ball loose.
Finally, after a long period of pressure the Eagles opted for points on a penalty and MacGinty put the ball over. That made it 10-10 and it would remain so.
Before the half was over, however, referee Mabey inserted himself. He yellow-carded Eagle No. 8 Thomas Tu’avao for a clearout that seemed, at worst, a penalty, and hardly seemed to be that. It was a strange call. And then, as the half came to a close, Boni was fielding a kick inside his 22 when two Oaks players slammed into him. Neither wrapped, one sent a forearm to his head, and Boni crashed to the ground. Boni was ultimately penalized for holding on, but Mabey refused to review the play, which, for those observing any replays, should have result in a yellow card at minimum.
It was unfortunate, but in the end Boni was upright and the Eagles survived the yellow.
The USA did have one more big scoring chance. After getting a free kick off a scrum and then a penalty, they were close to the line once more. MacGinty called his own number and sidestepped—perhaps the wrong way. He was grabbed and held up in-goal when there did seem to be space the other direction. No try, and no lead for a USA team that had enjoyed the run of play.
The second half opened with Conache scoring another penalty got the Oaks, who took a 13-10 lead. Pushing the offside line, and coming up hard and ferociously on defense, Romania continued to make it difficult for the USA to unleash their attack. However, when the USA did have good chances, that physicality seemed to get inside Eagle heads and they committed more than a few unforced knock-ons.
The Eagles did retake the lead, however, mauling off a lineout they then opted to send it wide, with MacGinty sliding outside Boni to take the pass and snake in. He converted and it was 17-13.
But they gave points right back. A completely unnecessary sealing penalty gave Conache another chance and he took it, making it a one-point game at 17-16.
The Eagles had a chance for a try right after, but against lost the ball. The only consolation was that Romania had infringed, and MacGinty was able to slot the kick to make it 20-16.
But a rather desultory kicking battle ended badly for the Eagles when MacGinty was hit as he cleared down the field. Everyone was offside and Conache was only too happy to get another three.
The kicking game was a high point for Romania. They made huge distances on their touchfinders and generally were more successful in the back-and-forth sequences—stopped only because the USA receivers were very good in the air.
Finally, however, Augspurger opted to run out of his 22 and he ran away from his support into three Romanian defenders. Tackle, poach, penalty. This time it was reserve Danial Plai, but it didn't matter. He hit the kick and it was 22-20.
At this point the USA had about 10 minutes to go and you kind of felt they had the ability to get there. A penalty led to a lineout that could have settled the matter, but the throw was not straight. The Eagles somehow rescued a disastrously blocked kick (Romania up very, very quickly), but as they worked sideline-to-sideline, Luke Carty coughed up the ball. Romania got a yellow card for a challenge in the ruck that left Dyer with a bloody nose—considering how low everyone was this was a bit harsh.
But MacGIntys 43-meter effort drifted wide. As time ticked away the Eagles again had a penalty and the ball close to the line. Another yellow card for Romania put them at 13 players, but the USA could not put the pieces together to score. basically they kept dropping the ball or losing control of it on the ground.
So they had to rely on MacGinty to win the game with a kick that was probably 35 meters thanks to a tough angle (less than 45 degree and probably more like 35). His kick slide right.
And that was it. The USA had one more shot but it wasn't going to go anywhere. Romania defended bravely and made every hit count. The Eagles gave away one try they should have stopped and had at least three tries on a silver platter that they couldn't convert.
"Accuracy," said captain Greg Peterson, summing up his team's problems in one word. "I didn't think we were, at times, 100% with it. We didn't do our fans proud, but we will be better for it. We've just got to tighten up a few things."
MacGinty played quite well as did several others, but the veteran will not be thinking about the 15 points he scored; he will likely be fixating on the six he missed.
USA 20
Tries: Fa’anana-Schultz, MacGinty
Convs: MacGinty 2
Pens: MacGinty 2
Romania 22
Tries: Manumua
Convs: Conache
Pens: Conache 4, Plai
This was a homecoming of sorts for Romania reserve hooker Rob Irimescu, who played for Xavier HS and Penn State as well as New York and DC in MLR. His parents were born in Romania and he took the field in the second half and did very well to help his side win.
USA Lineup:
1. Jake Turnbull; 2. Dylan Fawsitt; 3. Paul Mullen; 4. Renger van Eerten; 5. Greg Peterson; 6. Sam Golla; 7. Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz; 8. Thomas Tu’avao; 9. JP Smith; 10. AJ MacGinty; 11. Nate Augspurger; 12. Tommaso Boni; 13. Tavite Lopeti; 14. Christian Dyer; 15. Mitch Wilson
Reserves: 16. Mike Sosene-Feagai; 17. Nate Sylvia; 18. Kaleb Geiger; 19. Viliami Helu; 20. Ben Bonasso; 21. Paddy Ryan; 22. Luke Carty; 23. Bryce Campbell
Romania Lineup:
1. Iulian Hartig; 2. Ștefan Buruiană; 3. Vasile Balan; 4. Yanis Horvat; 5. Andrei Mahu; 6. Vlad Neculau; 7. Dragoș Ser; 8. Nicolaas Immelman; 9. Alin Conache; 10. Hinckley Vaovasa; 11. Tevita Manumua; 12. Jason Tomane; 13. Mihai Graure; 14. Marius Simionescu; 15. Paul Popoaia
Reserves: 16. Robert Irimescu; 17.Alexandru Savin; 18. Cosmin Manole; 19. Marius Iftimiciuc; 20. Kamil Sobota; 21. Gabriel Rupanu; 22. Fonovai Tangimana; 23. Daniel Plai
