It was an utterly heartbreaking day at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO. After an impressive start, the USA Men’s XVs National Team fell to Chile, 29-31, conceding their World Cup Qualification due to ill-discipline that led to soft tries.
The United States only has one more chance to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023 in France at the Final Qualification Tournament at the end of this year.
“Just devastated. Completely and totally devastated. It’s the cruelty of sport. We spoke during the course of last week about penalties and how that affects the momentum of the team.
“We lost the game because of our poor discipline. I think the hardest thing to swallow and digest is that those are avoidable things. Chile are a very good rugby team and it was our undoing just letting them back in the game.
“I can’t fault the guys for the energy and the passion and how hard they tried, how badly they wanted it. I have absolutely no excuse whatsoever. We were our own worst enemies and our own worst downfall.”
The match kicked off with a ton of energy, both teams were vigorously fighting for ball where Chile failed to make it inside the U.S. half for the first 20-minutes. The United States did a good job evading defensive pressure, continuously breaking the gain line and moving from set piece to breakdown with quick, decisive decision-making.
Skill and cohesion led to the first three U.S. tries – two of which were scored by Martin Iosefo.
In the 11th minute, Iosefo broke free on the wing and chip kicked for Ruben De Haas to recover. De Haas, who was in the try zone but absolutely covered by defenders, made a split second decision to toss the ball back to Iosefo who quickly caught it and touched fresh grass for the try.
Several minutes later, a series of short passes moved in beautiful, succinct fashion across the U.S. attacking line until Iosefo again found himself in the right place, at the right time to dot down in the corner.
The home team had one more push as Cam Dolan, De Haas and Captain AJ MacGinty combined to score again from the scrum. Dolan used his feet to carefully nudge the ball closer to the goal line for De Haas to scoop it up and toss to MacGinty for a dive into the try zone with no one to cover.
By this point, the U.S. were firing at all cylinders and Chile had trouble covering the rhythm of their attack.
But just as the audience in Glendale could feel momentous tides wash over them, Nick Civetta drew a yellow for foul play, Chile scored twice and all of a sudden it was anyone’s game.
Halftime: USA 19-14 CHILE
Tensions mounted for a competitive second half where the USA’s discipline was its biggest adversary.
Taufete’e scored the USA’s only try from a rolling maul, after nearly conceding a PG for unsportsmanlike conduct. Chile followed with one from the restart and the back-and-forth continued when Iosefo leapt into the corner, attempting to secure a hat trick but instead, fell out of bounds.
From there, the Chilean offense kicked into gear, moving quickly through phases, easily finding gaps as support players weaved through channels to make it 29-28.
Both teams were visibly frustrated and it was clear that Chile had a newfound confidence that was clashing with the USA’s valiant attempts to get back on the front foot.
The mix of emotion, with barely 10 minutes to go and everything on the line created a choppy, stop-start stretch flooded with penalties. And it was ultimately those penalties that decided the victor.
Where the Chileans were penalized for not rolling away, a neckroll by the United States trumped the opposition’s infraction, handing World Cup Qualification to the South Americans with no time left.
Today’s loss marks the end of the USA’s 2022 summer tests. Though they finished the tour 2-1, the real prize was left on the table with only one shot left to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023 at the Final Qualification Tournament later this year.
Click here for more info on the Final Qualification Tournament.
David Ainuu
Joe Taufete’e
Paul Mullen
Greg Peterson
Nick Civetta
Benjamin Bonasso
Hanco Germishuys
Cam Dolan
Ruben De Haas
AJ MacGinty (C)
Martin Iosefo
Bryce Campbell
Tavite Lopeti
Christian Dyer
Marcel Brache
Chance Wenglewski
Angus Maclellan
Siaosi Mahoni
Jason Damm
Moni Tonga’uiha
Nate Augspurger
Luke Carty
Head Coach | Gary Gold
Asst Coach | Stephen Brett
Asst Coach | Shawn Pittman
Asst Coach | Scott Lawrence
Head of Strength & Conditioning | Huw Bevan
Strength & Conditioning | Calvin Morris
Performance Analyst | Jimmy Harrison
Team Doctor | Mark Sakr
Head Physiotherapist | Kristen Douhan
Athletic Trainer | Ron Klingensmith
Sports Massage Therapist | Daliah Hurwitz
Team Manager | Oscar Alvarez
