The USA women have looked impressive in their opening two games of the Quest for Gold tournament.

Heavily favored against Jamaica, the Eagles did what can be very difficult to do, and lived up to those expectations. With the restarts working nicely and Abby Gustaitis winning ball, the Eagles moved the ball nicely from side to side and a storming run from Naya Tapper set her up to offload to Kristi Kirshe for the opening try.

Kirshe blazed through for her second moments later, and she was on hand to cap off a simple pass down the line for her third.

Ilona Maher then took over the charge through for two, and the Eagles rolled from there, with Tapper getting three in the second half, and Ariana getting her first. Nicole Heavirland and Kris Thomas also went over in a 71-0 rout in which Jamaica got nary a sniff.

Coach Brown recaps a 2-0 start for the USA Women at #QuestForGold7s. pic.twitter.com/73Gtks0oLF

— USA Rugby (@USARugby) June 26, 2021

The second game, against Great Britain, was a lot harder, but the USA was up to the task. Right off the kickoff the Eagles retained ball, moved it around a little, and then got it to Maher. The powerful former MA Sorensen Award-winner shouldered a British tackler out of the way and was gone.

Right after that, Ramsey was on the end of a well-worked loop move with Heavirland and Alev Kelter to go in at the corner. 

The young Dartmouth grad has certainly been playing with some confidence.

Heavirland converted that try to make it 14-0 and soon it was 21-0 after some snappy interplay with Heavirland and Lauren Doyle, setting up a long pass from Gustaitis to Kelter, who was in under the posts. 

That made it 21-0, and it was the zero that was important. The third try was made possible by a blistering tackle and poach from Maher on her own tryline. Great Britain was in serious trouble.

The British did get a try in the second half, but not before Kirshe had nicely followed her pass and received the return offload from Tapper to go in under the posts.

It was a controlled and impressive 26-7 dismissal of a very good Great Britain team, and a result that has to give the USA players, and fans, some confidence.