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.
