February 22, 2016
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.
Shortly later, the Eagles would add another try resulting from offloads Kruger to London to Anderson for a try in the corner. Eloff slotted and was now 4/6 for conversions. (USA 38-0)
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.
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