The USA U20s came back from 15-0 down to win the 15th-place playoff at the Junior World Championships, securing the program's first ever victory in the top-tier Under 20 tournament.
While the USA has won and finished 2nd in the Junior World Trophy, that is the now-discontinued 2nd tier event. At the JWC the USA has heretofore been winless.
Coming into the match the Eagles had to be concerned about a couple of things, namely their penalty count, their struggles in the lineout, and Uruguay's ability to win rucks, drive mauls, and drive scrums.
This all came to pass during the first half as the Junior Eagles combined a frustrating penalty count with several handling errors to cede momentum to Los Teritos. Backed by the breeze, Uruguay took advantage.
When the Americans did have the ball they tested Uruguay on the outside well and looked to play fast and wide. But the connections weren't quite there. Both sides frustrated themselves with mistakes and we didn't see any points when the teams paused for a hydration break. Declan Cadden's one penalty goal attempt had drifted wide, while Uruguay had been close but couldn't quite convert.
But Uruguay would get some points in the second 20. A good chase on a kick would lead to a holding-on penalty, and another penalty inside the USA half would lead to an attacking lineout and a massive maul (almost the entire Uruguay team in one it) shoved forward and hooker Sabastian Perez scored.
The conversion hit the post, so it was 5-0 Uruguay.
The USA again showed they can play wide and worked the ball out the back of their pods. But another holding-on penalty led to another Uruguay lineout-and-maul. Don't fix what's not broken, and Perez was driven over for his second. Amazingly, flyhalf Juan Francisco Pereira's conversion attempts glanced off the post again.
Off the restart Uruguay forced a knock-on that rolled to Papa Matelau's feet, and the No. 8 picked it up not realizing he was offside. That was a bit unlucky for the Americans, but Uruguay pressed their advantage, got another lineout, formed yet another maul, and Perez was over for his third. And, yes, Pereira's conversion hit the post.
Down 15-0 the USA were at sea. Their problem was they clearly knew they could do something with the ball, but were impatient in making it happen (hence the eight handling errors in the half) and impatient in getting the ball back (hence the penalties for not rolling away and offside). Add to that a couple of crucial holding-on penalties, which was mostly about players not being sufficiently aggressive in laying the ball back, and you had a three-try lead for Los Teritos.
With the first half winding down, the USA got some ball inside the Uruguay half and took a lineout off penalty. The throw itself went long but Matelau burst off his line to nab the bouncing ball off his boot-tops and crashed on through some tacklers.
Suddenly on the front foot the Americans worked through a couple of phases and hooker Aidan Stewart was there to take a hard line on a Spencer Huntley pass to go over. Cadden converted and it was 15-7, with the Americans scoring heavily against the run of play.
But the fixes were easy—don't give up penalties, and hold onto the ball. The rest, the flashy stuff, would all come from that.
