USA Lose to Australia, 0-2 in Pacific Four Series

USA RUGBY (By Calder Cahill) – Returning to the pitch for the second of three competition windows in 2023, the USA Women’s Eagles faced off with Australia today in a fast and physical round of the Pacific Four Series. [Photo: @usarugby]

The Wallaroos coming off a harsh loss to New Zealand last weekend on home soil, forwarded the favor to the USA in Ottawa, completing a 58-17 win over the United States at TD Place in Ottawa. Fielding three debutants in today’s 23, Head Coach Rich Ashfield’s crew will carry away lessons and continue to build on young talent, taking on invaluable experience only test match rugby can provide. The USA will rest and reset for next week’s Pacific Four Series Finale against Rugby World Cup Champion New Zealand, Friday, July 14 at 4 p.m. ET, live on FloRugby.

Head Coach Rich Ashfield said post match, “We only had 30-35% possession in that first half, which was a killer. We were able to cause them some problems when we did have the ball, but at the end of the day Australia is a good team and were able to put us under pressure.

“We’ll review the video and take a hard look going forward, we don’t think there are any systemic errors, just minor fixes around our communication and ability to play through phases. We’ve got the world champions next week which is a tough task, but we’ve got to bounce back and be ready to fight.”

Making her 30th appearance in a USA jersey, captain Kate Zackary added, “I think at halftime it was still a close match, we were down but we also had a lot of momentum. We were just focused on having 40 more minutes to do a few things right, minute by minute, meter by meter. While we may not have gotten it right every minute, I think there was a lot of hard work that happened.”

When asked about the experiential take aways, Zackary answered, “One of our mottos is 1% better every day, and you can only do that by getting a few minutes on the pitch, the game pitch is where it all comes to life. We had some hard moments, but also the biggest growing moments so that’s what we’re looking onto now.”

It was a warm day on the TD Place turf in Ottawa, where the Aussies started off well on possession and territory, percentage battles they would win over the USA through the match, but the Eagles defense was physical and coming up fast on the breakdown. Both teams were fairly even on the penalty and turnover board, with some back and forth early between the 22s. The USA were on their back foot through the first 20min however, as the Wallaroos retained the ball well and eventually broke through on a rolling maul at the 16’ mark. Keeping with the short game, they would repeat shortly after and put the USA in a 12-0 hole by the first water break.

Possession was the biggest challenge early for the Eagles, however, newly appointed Vice Captain Evelyn Ashenbrucker capitalized on the second USA drive into opposing territory, reaching over the line for a try confirmed by TMO. Hawkins would come just short on the conversion, but the USA have cut the lead to 7.

From here on out the Australian backs would take over, quickly answering the USA try with a breakaway from Maya Stewart and another shortly after, bringing us to halftime. Australia would take momentum into the break with a 27-5 lead. The Aussies would continue to strike in the second 40 minutes, retaining the ball well and keeping the Eagles from formulating an attack. Returning for the first time since the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Jennine Detiveaux would be the offensive shining light for the USA with her familiar line break speed, tallying two tries in the second half.

Ultimately possession and territory hurt the USA today, chasing the Australian backs drove some heat and exhaustion towards the end, however most of all limiting opportunities for attack. A positive lesson to learn from, and above all a very memorable game for Paluvava’u Freda Tafuna, Taina Tukuafu and Mona Tupou, USA Rugby pathway players who all made their USA debut on the Senior National Team.

USA 17
Tries: Detiveaux 2, Ashenbrucker
Cons: Hawkins

Australia 58
Tries: Stewart 3, Karpani 2, Wong, Talakai, Hamilton, Friedrichs
Cons: Smith 4, McKenzie
PK: Smith

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