The USA beat Hong Kong 49-7 to set up a third-round deciding match on Friday, November 18 against Portugal, who beat Kenya 85-0 in the earlier round-two match. The match will be streamed live at 10:30 am ET on The Rugby Network.
Both teams are 2-0 and have 10 points in the standings with only the final match remaining to decide the Final 2023 Rugby World Cup spot. Portugal has +113 points point differential to the USA’s +96, so a win or a draw has them advancing, while the USA will need to win.
In the first round, the USA beat Kenya 68-14 last Saturday in Dubai. Dylan Fawsitt was the Man of the Match for the USA and he and Christian Dyer both had hat tricks in the match. Portugal also gained a bonus point in beating Hong Kong 42-14.
Match Recap
The USA scored seven tries to one for Hong Kong to win 49-7 to advance to a deciding match on Friday to decide who claims the final 2023 Rugby World Cup spot, the USA or Portugal.
During the first half, the USA scored four tries with AJ MacGinty slotting all four conversions for a 28-0 lead at the break.
Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz scored first in the 12th minute from close range and Kapeli Pifeleti added another from a maul in the 20th. Nate Augspurger scored from an offload by Mitch Wilson in the 25th minute and Cam Dolan scored from close range for a bonus point try at 36 minutes.
Second Half
The USA added a try in the 47th minute after a strong carry near in-goal by Fa’anana-Schultz, who flicked to Mitch Wilson for the try. An inside pass by AJ MacGinty to Nate Augspurger, added his brace four minutes later, with MacGinty perfect with conversions, to lead 42-0.
Hong Kong’s Matthew Worley sliced through a gap in the USA’s defense for their lone score in the 65th minute to cut the lead to 42-7.
The USA added their seventh try in the 77th minute by Moni Tonga’uiha after a maul with Luke Carty slotting the kick, 49-7. They then held up a Hong Kong player as he crossed in-goal for a goal-line dropout.
The USA’s defense and set pieces were an advantage all match. Cam Dolan was a force in the lineouts and around the pitch and was named Player of the Match.
On Friday, November 18 the team will face a challenge against Portugal’s fast-paced attack and needs to win to claim the final spot for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
USA vs Hong Kong Squads
USA: 1 David Ainu’u, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Cam Dolan, 6 Viliami Helu, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 AJ MacGinty (capt.), 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Mitch Wilson 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Nate Sylvia, 19 CC Mahoni, 20 Tesimoni Tonga’uiha, 21 Ryan Rees, 22 Luke Carty, 23 Bryce Campbell
HONG KONG: 1 Ben Higgins, 2 Alexander Post, 3 Zac Cinnamond, 4 Mark Prior, 5 James Cunningham, 6 Joshua Hrstich (capt.), 7 Gregor Rampage, 8 Luke van der Smit, 9 Bryn Phillips, 10 Gregor McNeish, 11 Sean Taylor, 12 Tom Hill, 13 Jack Neville, 14 Matthew Worley, 15 Nathan de Thierry 16 John McCormick-Houston, 17 Ashton Hyde, 18 Faizal Solomona, 19 Jamie Pincott, 20 Kyle Sullivan, 21 Jamie Lauder, 22 Nikolas Cumming, 23 Guy Spanton
USA MEN’S EAGLES MATCH SCHEDULE
USA vs Kenya: Sunday, Nov 6 – (W) 68-14 Replay on The Rugby Network
Match Recap by Americas Rugby News
USA: 1 Jack Iscaro (17 David Ainu’u 52′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Mikey Sosene-Feagai 52′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Nathan Sylvia 56′), 4 Siaosi Mahoni, 5 Cam Dolan (19 Greg Peterson 53′), 6 Vili Helu, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 62′), 9 Ryan Rees (21 Ruben de Haas 58′), 10 Luke Carty (23 AJ MacGinty 58′), 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Paul Lasike (22 Bryce Campbell 52′), 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Mitch Wilson
KENYA: 1 Patrick Ouko (17 Andrew Siminyu 50′), 2 Eugene Sifuna (16 Teddy Akala 56′), 3 Ephraim Oduor (18 Joseph Odero 56′), 4 Malcolm Onsando, 5 Thomas Okeyo (19 Brian Juma 50′), 6 George Nyambua, 7 Daniel Sikuta (capt.) (20 Martin Owilah 56′), 8 Bethuel Anami (23 Joshua Weru 47′), 9 Samuel Asati, 10 Geoffrey Ominde (21 Brian Tanga 47′), 11 Jacob Ojee, 12 John Okoth, 13 Bryceson Adaka, 14 Geoffrey Okwach (22 Timothy Omela 50′), 15 Darwin Mukidza
USA vs Hong Kong: Saturday, Nov 12, W 49-7 live on The Rugby Network
USA vs Portugal: Friday, Nov 18 at 10:30 AM ET live on The Rugby Network
Other Articles
DJCoil Rugby articles by Doug Coil are also available on Facebook. Other Social Media sites to follow or subscribe to include Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for interviews.
