Eagles Gain First in win over Chile

Doug Coil

Saturday the United States Men’s Eagles Rugby team defeated Chile 64-0 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in their final home match of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship.

The Eagles were an explosive offensive force in scoring ten tries in the match. Chris Baumann started the scoring for the Eagles five minutes into the match after a lineout 5 meters out turned into a maul and at the breakdown Chris plunged over for a try for a 5-0 lead. The conversion by JP Eloff was wide.

JP Eloff then missed a penalty kick several minutes later, but redeemed himself by breaking through the defense with sidesteps for a try. His early kicks were off and the USA increased their lead to 10-0.

Newly capped Nic Edwards finished off a thrilling team try as many players handled the ball before he touched down for a try. He was a force on the wing, but left the match with an injury later in the first half. After his try, Eloff converted and the USA now held a 17-0 lead.

Chile did have a scoring opportunity in the 31st minute, but Matías Nordenflycht missed the penalty attempt.

Prior to halftime, Joseph Taufete’e alertly picked up the ball at the breakdown for an easy bonus point try. Eloff converted. The USA now led 24-0, which would be the score at halftime.

During the first half, the USA needed injury substitutions of Jake Anderson for Nic Edwards, Olive Kilifi for Chris Baumann and Niku Kruger for Tom Bliss.

Olive Kilifi also received a yellow card for a dangerous play at the 38 minute mark. The Eagle defense was superb the entire night and was able to overcome Chile playing with a man advantage. Jake Anderson, who came on for Edwards earlier, needed to leave the pitch at the 44th minute, as a front row player was required for a scrum. Demecus Beach entered the match for his first cap.

Four minutes later, Kilifi reentered the match for Beach and Anderson joined him. The USA would then accelerate its second half attacks.

Both Mike Te’o and Luke Hume seemed to be always part of the action. A Hume grub kick off a Chile player resulted in a 5 meter lineout for the Eagles. They turned the take into a maul and Lorenzo Thomas was over for his first international try. Eloff continued to find his groove and slotted the conversion. (USA 31-0)

Thomas also is newly capped, as his outstanding performance for the MJAA win over Canada in the World Rugby U20 Trophy qualifier, resulted in his call up for this match by Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell.

Todd Clever fended two defenders in attacking to the 22, but the USA was not able to capitalize as a pass just missed Kruger.

Te’o gained his first try at the 64th minute after Kruger went into contact and the ball was knocked out of his hands by a defender. Te’o picked up the ball which was still alive and in the confusion Thomas called for Te’o to ground the ball for a try. The Eagles now led 43-0 as the conversion was missed.

The final minutes had the Eagles scoring three more tries. A Luke Hume grubber to Chad London resulted in a try, which was converted. Hume then added a try of his own off a quick tap from a penalty. Te’o was able to gain a second try after picking up a loose ball.The match ended with an impressive Eagles 64-0 win over Chile. In the win the Eagles would now be in first place alone in the Americas Rugby Championship standings with 13 points. Argentina XV won 24-21 in Uruguay, but did not gain a bonus point and now are in second place with 12 points.

John Mitchell had a few comments after the match. He said “the performance is more important [than the number of tries scored]. I think we’re still naïve in terms of game management, but these are problems that have solutions and we’re dealing with a very youthful team. The team’s getting younger by the week.”

“For me, it was a good performance but maybe too much individualism. Sometimes that can happen in a game like this. At times the execution wasn’t on, but if you keep going to space there’s always going to be a high probability of scoring.”

Next week’s match on Saturaday February 27th will be in Brazil and will be broadcast live on ESPN 3 (WatchESPN.com) .

Men’s Eagles  v. Chile
1. Eric Fry 2. Joseph Taufete’e 3. Chris Baumann 4. Ben Landry 5. Brodie Orth 6. Nate Brakeley 7. Todd Clever (C) 8. David Tameilau 9. Tom Bliss 10. JP Eloff 11. Nic Edwards 12. Chad London 13. Lorenzo Thomas 14. Luke Hume 15. Mike Te’o 16. Mike Sosene-Feagai 17. Olive Kilifi 18. Demecus Beach 19. Alec Gletzer 20. Patrick Blair 21. Niku Kruger 22. Ryan Matyas 23. Jake Anderson Coaches: John Mitchell – Head Coach, Phil Greening – Assistant Coach, Marty Veale – Assistant Coach, Rob Hoadley – Assistant Coach, David Williams – Strength and Conditioning Coach, Paul Goulding – Video Analyst, Sean Lindersmith – Team Manager

Chile Squad: 1 Claudio Zamorano 2 Tomás Dussaillaint 3 Luis Sepúlveda 4 Felipe Bassaletti 5 Raimundo Piwonka 6 Ignacio Silva 7 Javier Richard 8 Benjamín Soto (cap) 9 Beltrán Vergara 10 Cristian Onetto 11 Humberto Chacaltana 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 Matías Nordenflycht 14 Matías Contreras 15 Pablo Casas 16 Rodrigo Moya 17 Iñaki Gurruchaga 18 José Tomás Munita 19 Cristobal Niedmann 20 Nikola Bursic 21 Matthieu Manas 22 José Ignacio Larenas 23 Leonardo Montoya.

Men’s Eagles: 64 Tries: Baumann, Eloff, Edwards, Taufete’e, Thomas, Anderson, Te’o (2), London, Hume Conversions: Eloff (7) Discipline: Kilifi (Yellow @ 37′) Chile: 0

Men’s Eagles | Americas Rugby Championship 2016
v. Argentina – D 35-35
v. Canada – W 30-22
v. Chile – W 64-0
v. Brazil – Saturday, Feb. 27 @ 3:10 p.m. ET – Arena Barueri (São Paolo, Brazil)
v. Uruguay – Saturday, March 5 @ 4:10 p.m. ET – Charrua Stadium (Montevideo, Uruguay)

Americas Rugby Championship Week 3 Results 

USA 64-0 Chile – Preview Article

Canada 52-25 Brazil – Preview Article

Uruguay 21-24 Argentina XV – Preview Article

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