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Eagles Earn Another Silver in Canada

  • 27 Sep 2021
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Photo: P Yates / World Rugby

The USA banked another runner-up finish to Great Britain during the Edmonton leg of the Fast Four. Across the two weekends, the Eagles beat Mexico twice, went 3-0-1 against Canada, and dropped four games to Great Britain.

Great Britain really dictated the game through its defense. It wasn’t vulnerable to big collisions and was able to stand up upright ballcarriers looking for the offload out of contact. As the Eagles spent more time on defense, the penalties started to accrue, especially offsides infringements, and that just kept Great Britain on attack.

The opening kickoff hit the ground but Steph Rovetti recovered well. After a few phases into a brick wall, a forward pass to Lote Tausinga handed Great Britain the scrum on the USA’s 22. A slowly resetting defense saw back-to-back penalties follow, and Great Britain used a five-meter scrum to move the ball to Jasmine Joyce on the sideline. The wing scored the first of three tries, diving two defenders into the corner: 5-0.

Shortly after the restart, Emma Uren held up Sarah Levy and Abbie Brown ripped the ball out of her hands. The ball quickly moved to Joyce, who stepped her opposite for the try, 10-0. The Eagles had a good attacking opportunity after Great Britain’s restart didn’t go 10. Rovetti broke into Great Britain’s end but the defensive pressure of players like Abi Burton and Celia Quansah off the line forced the Americans into errors. The half ended with Great Britain two tries ahead.

Another offsides penalty built some early momentum for Great Britain and Joyce just lined up a defender for a confident fend and sprint to the try line. Uren added the extras for the 17-0 lead. Joyce ended with a tournament-leading 10 tries.

After a couple of USA opportunities ended with passing errors, Great Britain started building toward another try. Rovetti played the perfect defense, however, and intercepted the scrumhalf’s pass to support. Rovetti sent an out-the-back pass to Sui A’au to keep the ball in play, and then Canett did an excellent job of keeping her tackler at arm’s length until support arrived. A high tackle penalty followed, and a scrum set up the platform for hands-out to Jaz Gray. The wing just took the corner around Grace Crompton for the try, 17-5. Gray scored four tries in Edmonton.

There was a minute-and-a-half to play, but another offsides penalty set up Great Britain for a mid-field scrum. Brown just tore around the set piece for a big break but Rovetti chased the scrumhalf down. A couple of pop passes to support players saw Amy Wilson Hardy score the game-ender: 22-5 to Great Britain.

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