Years of excitement, anticipation and hard work came to a head this afternoon in Whangarei as the USA Women’s Eagles took the pitch for their Rugby World Cup 2021 opening round fixture with Italy at the Northland Events Center.
The first portion of the game was a clinic for the United States with strong possession and a demonstrative scrum, but Italy would take full advantage of their fewer possessions and pull out the 22-10 win. The USA will walk away with a few lessons from this match, as capitalizing on strong drives continued to be a challenge. However, in one game the Eagles have shown to be a convincing side with two pool fixtures yet to play. Next up is a showdown with Japan, October 15 at 12:30 AM ET live on Peacock.
“We lost it after the first 30 minutes,” said Head Coach Rob Cain post-match, “We had a lot of possession, a lot of territory… we just weren’t accurate enough. We had a really good week, it’s just about taking a bit of accountability, staying true to what we’re looking at during the week and just making sure that when those chances are there, we’re taking them with both hands.”
The first portion of the first half was a clinic for the Eagles with possession almost exclusively in the Italian end and penalties forced to allow Alev Kelter chances for kick to touch. The USA were also dominant at the scrum, forcing two turnovers that would eventually lead to a Hallie Taufoou try on the right side. A powerful runner at close range, Taufoou showed that if given the ball with a little lead, she’s hard to stop at the line. Cantorna’s conversion would sail just wide as the USA started with a 5-0 lead.
Jennine Detiveaux had a few flashes early on the right flank, finding space and gaining ground. Her speed on the outside is a threat, but the support didn’t quite follow through to keep momentum up-field and chances were lost. This was a point of emphasis from Cain following the Pacific Four Series and UK tour, as the USA does well to create opportunities, they just need to find ways to carry on and finish in the redzone.
Nearing the end of the first half, the USA still held on to their small lead until Italy’s ball movement began to click and spread the defense out a bit. Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi would capitalize and find the try zone with under a minute left. A harsh bite for the Eagles just before halftime as Italy would steal high ground going into the break, 7-5 after the tough conversion.
Coming out of the break, Italy were able to continue the attack, this time out of a line out that drew the defense in and left Aura Muzzo too far out wide for the American defenders. She would add five and push the lead to 12-5.
Down but not out, an intentional knock on from try scorer Minuzzi gave the USA a player advantage while already within the Italian 5-meter line. Moving quick off the penalty, Jenny Kronish was fed the ball and similar to Taufoou, crashed straight into defense at the line for a try. This would be Kronish’s first ever international try in her fifth test appearance. The USA now within striking distance, trailing 10-12.
That would unfortunately be the end of it for the Eagles as Italy found their stride in the closing minutes and added two more unconverted tries. The USA had the opportunities in this game, winning the possession, territory and set piece battles, but unable to turn a few great chances into points.
Cain’s overall takeaways: “We struggled at lineout time, that was disappointing, and I think everyone could see that and from there we really struggled to get any momentum, which is difficult when your set piece isn’t functioning. Really that first 30 minutes, we were very dominant and didn’t come away with enough points and that was really where the game was lost today.”
When asked about her overall thoughts, Captain Kate Zackary answered, “To be frank, a bit of disappointment. That wasn’t how we trained this week, but we’ll go back to the sheds, work on it and we’ve got to come out better next week.”
“We set out a task at the beginning of the game, the first 20 minutes had to be serious business, we had to win the contact point, we had to go forward at every moment. I’m really proud of the girls for setting that intention and meeting it, we just have to raise the bar as the game goes on.”
The line out and red zone will be focuses for the USA as they return to camp this week ahead of the next fixture with Japan, something Cain and the team as a whole are focused on improving to make a push for the quarterfinals. The USA will remain in Whangarei as next weekend’s match will also be at the Northland Events Center.
Zackary continued, “Really important recovery day tomorrow, that is most important with these tournaments because the next game will come up really quick. Get selections out of the way pretty early so we can start moving and grooving in our kind of connections there. Most importantly we beat ourselves today and I think that is the takeaway, so it is about how we can be a little bit better with our attack and our defense and our set piece.”
Cain concluded, “There are three games for a reason, and we knew it was going to be a tight group. Every week for us is a cup final, we lost out today, but we’ll rebuild and we’ll go again in a week.”
