USA

The U.S. Men’s National Rugby Team couldn’t keep up with the England Saxons in their final pool play match of the Churchill Cup on Sunday. The Saxons ran away with the match at Infinity Park, beating the Eagles 56-17 to earn a place in the Churchill Cup finals one week from now, while the USA will instead fight for fifth place on Sunday, June 21 at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.

“We knew we would have to stay with the Saxons until the last quarter if we wanted a chance to come away with this game,” the USA Eagles Head Coach Eddie O’Sullivan said. “We knew today was going to be a challenge and we didn’t meet it as well as we could have.”

Scoring began within the first five minutes when the U.S. was called offside’s within their own 22 and England’s flyhalf Stephen Myler slotted a penalty kick for an easy three points.

Just over a minute later, however, a knock on by England set up a scrum deep in Saxons territory and the USA’s Mike Petri was able to break the try line off a dish from Junior Sifa, allowing the U.S. a brief 7-3 lead following the conversion.

Just under the 10 minute mark, the Saxons made a great kick to touch five meters from the try line and although the U.S. won the lineout, they crumbled under the pressure put on by England and kicked it into Nick Kennedy’s hands, just a few meters away. Kennedy ran it in for their first try of the game and England wouldn’t look back.

Two U.S. penalties within easy striking distance for England would bring the score to 14-7 for the Saxons by the 20th minute and would see the USA go down one player as Roland Suniula was sin-binned for a high tackle. Although flyhalf Mike Hercus would recoup three of those points for the Eagles with a penalty kick of his own, England already had the momentum in their corner and would go on to score two more converted tries in the first half, bringing the score to 28-10 at the break.

While the U.S. saw some missed opportunities in the first half, it only got worse in the second as they were also plagued with turnovers within their own 22. In total, the U.S. gave up 26 points to the Saxons off turnovers and nearly pushed the Saxons out of reach.

“When you’re facing this caliber of a team, you can’t give them anything, and you have to take advantage of every opportunity you have. Unfortunately, we did nearly the opposite and they made us pay the price.”

England scored three tries in the 20 minutes following halftime as well, and it wasn’t until after a few key substitutions near the 55th minute, that the USA was finally able to reestablish itself and gain a bit of ground.

Cal’s Chris Biller stepped in at hooker for the U.S. and was able to complete a couple key lineouts for the Eagles, as well as touch down a well-earned try in the 66th minute to put the USA up to 17 after the conversion.

But, England’s wings were just too much for the USA and given space both Tom Varndell and Noah Cato proved deadly, putting the U.S. on its back foot and eventually seeing Cato score the final try in the 73rd minute, giving England a final score of 56-17 over the USA.

“When we did get a line break, it looked good,” O’Sullivan added. “But, we couldn’t do that consistently enough. I am happy to see these guys were still giving it their all until the end and I think that our try late in the game was proof of that. I would say that this game was still another step up for the Eagles. England was another step up in competition and the better teams will make you pay bigger for your mistakes.”

The final matches of the Churchill Cup will commence on Sunday, June 21 at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. The USA will play Georgia in the Bowl (5th place) match at 4:30 p.m. England Saxons will face off against Ireland ‘A’ in the Cup Championship final at 2:30 p.m., while Canada will face Argentina Jaguars at 12 p.m. in the Plate (3rd place) match.

For more information on the Churchill Cup, please visit www.churchillcuprugby.net or contact Dave Barton at davebarton@rfu.com.

England (56)

Tries: Nick Kennedy, Micky Young, Rob Webber, Tom Guest, Noah Cato, Brad Barritt, Tom Varndell
Conversions: Stephen Myler (6)
Penalties: Myler (3)

USA (17)

Tries: Mike Petri, Chris Biller
Conversions: Mike Hercus (2)
Penalties: Hercus

USA Lineup: 1. Matekitonga Moeakiola (Brian Lemay in at 71:00); 2. Brian McClenahan (Chris Biller in at 52:50); 3. Shawn Pittman; 4. John Van Der Giessen; 5.  Hayden Smith (Louis Stanfill in at 60:30); 6. Todd Clever; 7. Peter Dahl (J.J. Gagiano in at 47:26); 8. Nic Johnson;  9. Mike Petri (Tim Usasz in at 47:26); 10. Mike Hercus; 11. Alipate Tuilevuka; 12. Roland Suniula; 13. Junior Sifa (Paul Emerick in at 52:50); 14. Colin Hawley; 15. Ata Malifa (Tai Enosa in at 56:10).