Despite being down at halftime against a very athletic New Zealand Universities team in the USA Men’s Collegiate All-Americans opened fire on the touring side in the second and finished the game with a 21-11 win on Wednesday night.

Despite being down at halftime against a very athletic New Zealand Universities team in the USA Men’s Collegiate All-Americans opened fire on the touring side in the second and finished the game with a 21-11 win on Wednesday night.

Davenport University standout JP Eloff drew first blood inside 10 minutes, slotting a drop goal straight in front of the sticks to put the All-Americans up 3-0. Although the All-Americans had most of the possession in the first half and pieced together some impressive moves, the New Zealand Universities played physical defense and kept the hosts out of the try zone for the rest of the half. The visitors tallied two penalties to bring the score to 3-6 in favor of the Kiwis.

The All-Americans came out at halftime with fire in their bellies and put the New Zealand Universities under pressure straight from the kickoff.

It was Peter Tiberio (University of Arizona) that gave the All-Americans their first lead of the game following an Eloff penalty early in the second. Tiberio sniffed out an interception, picked a good angle and gassed through the scrambling defenders for a five-pointer.

The All-Americans wouldn’t relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game. Chris Saint (Penn State) scored a classic scrumhalf try, throwing a dummy pass left and scooting through the shifting big boys on the blindside of a ruck.

The New Zealand Universities kept it interesting and scored with seven minutes left to bring the scores to 21-11, but the All-American defensive alignment and their great work at the breakdown helped them close it out.

Derek Asbun (University of California – Berkeley) led well throughout as match captain, keeping the team focused on improving. Like the series opener, a cohesive team effort is what gave the All-Americans their second consecutive win.

All-Americans Head Coach, Alexander Magleby, noted that the attack wasn’t quite as precise as it was in the opening game saying, “We were a step late to reposition many times” but it worked well enough to notch a ‘w.’

“We didn’t have the shape that we are aiming for, and that’s something we can work on before we play our next game,” said Magleby.

The coach credits defensive pressure, toughness and precision at the breakdown as well as the character of his players to with the win.

“Intellectually we knew what was going to happen, but emotionally we had to get ready for that,” said the coach.

"Constant improvement is a tough challenge. I’m proud of the way the team pushed through today given we weren't executing as well as they have come to expect. It wasn’t too precise, but the guys worked through the set-backs, which is a good reflection of the players' strength of character."

The All-Americans will play the final game of the series on Saturday July 16 at Steuber Rugby Stadium in Stanford, Calif. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. PT.

Men’s Collegiate All-Americans
15 Peter Tiberio (University of Arizona)
14 Kyle Grossheider (Life University)
13 Duncan Kelm (San Diego State)
12 Gareth Jones (Temple University)
11 Dustin Muhn (University of California – Berkeley)
10 JP Eloff (Davenport University)
9 Chris Saint (Penn State)
1 Matt Crawford (St. Mary’s College of California)
2 Andrew Cooke (St. Mary’s College of California)
3 Ray Forrester (BYU)
4 Mark Bonham (BYU)
5 Nick Civetta (Notre Dame)
6 Cam Dolan (Life University)
7 Garrett Lambert (Life University)
8 Derek Asbun (University of California – Berkeley)

Reserves:
16 Nick Mostyn (University of Utah)
17 Mike Su’a (BYU)
18 Zach Fenoglio (Loyola Marymount)
19 James Besser (University of California – Berkeley)
20 Chris Parker (Texas A&M)
21 Nate Brakeley (Dartmouth)
22 Dave Martini (University of California – Los Angeles)
23 Jordan Badia-Bellinger (Claremont McKenna)
24 Pat Sullivan (Arkansas State)
25 Benji Goff (University of Tennessee)

All-Americans
Tries: Tiberio, Saint
Conversions: Eloff
Drop Goals: Eloff
Penalties: Eloff (2)

New Zealand Universities
Tries: Brad Kilgour
Penalties: Michael Nielsen (2)

2011 MEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICANS v. NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES SUMMER TOUR
July 9: Little Q (Old Mission Bay Athletic Club) | 3 p.m.
July 13: Harder Stadium (UC- Santa Barbara) | 6:30 p.m.
July 16: Steuber Rugby Stadium (Stanford University) | 1 p.m.