Eagles Beat Chile & Face Argentina XV for Americas Rugby Championship

February 25, 2017

Eagles Beat Chile & Face Argentina XV for Americas Rugby Championship

Doug Coil

USA Men’s Eagles beat Chile 57-9 on Saturday, February 25 at the Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo.The match was broadcast live on the The Rugby Channel.

With the win the United States improved to 4-0 in the Americas Rugby Championship competition and are in first place with 19 points in the standings. Argentina XV won against Brazil and set up a winner take all match on March 4 to claim this year’s title.

Recap Chile v USA Men’s Eagles

The Eagles Ben Cima kicked the opening restart deep and Chile was quickly penalized for not releasing at the breakdown. From the lineout, the USA swung the ball wide right and Spike Davis broke a tackle before losing it forward on the second hit five meters from the line.

Chile was able to clear the ball after a quick push by the Eagles in the scrum. Todd Clever offloaded the ball to the shifty Nate Augspurper and Chile was penalized again at the breakdown. Ben Cima slotted a penalty kick and the Eagles had a 3-0 lead at five minutes.

The USA continued to have most of the possession thus far, but a penalty by the Eagles for offsides lead to Francisco González Moller penalty kick to tie the score at 3 all at the 17th minute.

Five minutes later, Chile scrumhalf Sergio Bascuñán was sent to the bin for a high tackle on Cam Dolan. The ensuing lineout by the USA went long and Chile attacked down the touchline. Spike Davis tracked back and prevented a try and. Mikey Te’o retrieved the ball and Shaun Davies kicked ahead. The Eagles raced down to pick up the ball and quick hands by Bryce Campbell to Davis to Lamborn and a final long pass sprung Cam Dolan for a try. Ben Cima converted for a 10-3 lead at 24 minutes.

Several minutes later after more attacks by the USA, the Eagles were peanlized at the breakdown and Francisco González Moller added a penalty kick to narrow the score to 10-6.

On the restart the USA turned over the ball and after the ensuing scrum, the Eagles went through several phases before Tony Lamborn went in for a try. Cima converted and it was 17-6, a lead that continued into halftime.

During the first half, the USA had the majority of possession. They used quick hands to attack often and the only surprise is that they didn’t score more points. In the first half, Chile only entered the USA 22 meters once.

Early in the second half, Chile had the first opportunity to score. They swung the ball wide right and Spike Davis made a try saving tackle near the corner. Bryce Campbell was then sent to the bin. but a turnover by the USA prevented Chile from crossing the try line. Five minutes later, Chile’s Francisco González Moller added his third penalty kick of the match to narrow the score to 17-9.

On the restart Chile executed a box kick and Cima was brought to ground. The Eagles then moved the ball and Eloff went into contact. At the breakdown David Tameilau picked the ball and was in for a try. Cima converted and it was 24-9 at the 50th minute. Two minutes later Francisco González Moller attempted a drop kick and Tameilau blocked the kick picked up the ball and after a long run offloaded to Matt Jensen for a try. Cima missed his only kick of the match, but the score was 29-9 and the USA would gain a bonus point in the win.

The USA continued their offensive assault and turned a lineout turned maul into an apparent try by Spike Davis. The referee indicated that there wasn’t a try as the Eagles were offsides and Chile cleared. JP Eloff took the ball into contact and center Simón Pardakhty was issued a yellow card for a dangerous high tackle.

The Eagles kick to touch resulted in a lineout that when won was mauled. Tameilau took the ball into contact and Matt Jensen went near the try line before knocking the ball forward. After a clearance kick by Chile, the Eagles kept the pressure on as Nate Augspurger tried to navigate the touchline, just stepping on the chalk before scoring.

It would take only three more minutes after the EAgles stole a lineout that Will Magie executed a flat pass to Todd Clever for a try. Cima added the conversion and it was 36-9. As Clever was going in for the score, he went in limping and needed to leave the match.

With four minutes left in the match, Chile won their lineout and Tony Lamborn intercepted the pass from the scrumhalf and went in for his second try of the match. Cima’s conversion made it 43-9.

On the restart, an offload to Olive Kilifi had him finding space. He offloaded to Augspurger and then to Peter Malcolm for a try and Cima converted to reach the half century mark for the second consecutive week.

The Eagles added a third try in the final five minutes, as Cam Dolan turned over the ball and after a one handed back flick by Augspurger, Malcolm had his second try. Cima conversion brought the score to 57-9 and with that the match ended.

Both teams were solid in the scrums during the entire match. The lineouts had the USA losing three balls to long throws. The USA made up for this later in the match with a few steals in the lineout of their own.

The USA overwhelmingly had the majority of the possession during the match. They could have scored more points. Credit Chile for their defense at the touchline, but during the second half the amount of time on defense took it’s toll.

With the win, the Eagles travel to play Argentina XV in what will be a winner take all match for the Americas Rugby Championship, as Argentina XV beat Brazil.

USA Men’s Eagles v Chile: 1 Ben Tarr 2 James Hilterbrand 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Matt Jensen 5 Siaosi Mahoni 6 Todd Clever 7 Tony Lamborn 8 Cam Dolan 9 Shaun Davies 10 Ben Cima 11 Nate Augspurger (capt.) 12 JP Eloff, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Spike Davis 15 Mike Te’o 16 Peter Malcolm 17 Anthony Purpura 18 Olive Kilifi 19 Hanco Germishuys 20 David Tameilau 21 Will Magie 22 Calvin Whiting 23 Andrew Turner

Chile v. USA 1. Vittorio Lastra 2. Manuel Gurruchaga (Capt.) 3. José Tomás Munita 4. Mario Mayol 5. Nikola Bursic 6. Arturo Seeman 7. Anton Petrowitsch 8. Manueal Dagnino 9. Sergio Bascuñán 10. Francisco González 11. Tomás Ianiszewski 12. Simón Pardakhty 13. Franco Velarde 14. Matías Contreras 15. Pedro Pablo Verschae 16. Rodrigo Moya 17. Sebastián Valech 18. Ernesto Ugarte 19. Nelson Calderón 20. Eduardo Orpis 21. Beltrán Vergara 22. Jorge Castillo 23. Mauricio Urrutia

Scoring

For Chile: penalties Francisco González (17’, 33’, 47’)

For USA: Tries Cameron Dolan (24’), Tony Lamborn (35’, 75’), David Tameilau (48’), Matt Jensen (52’), Todd Clever (66’), Peter Malcom (77’, 80’), conversions Ben Cima (25’, 36’, 50’, 67’, 75’, 78’, 81’), penalty Ben Cima (5’)

Referee: Ricardo Sant’Anna (Brazil). Assistant Referees: Frank Méndez and Tomás Fernández (Chile)

USA Eagles – Americas Rugby Championship