Tonga prove too strong for USA

Tonga proved too strong for the USA as they sealed a 31-19 bonus-point win in their Rugby World Cup Pool C encounter in Higashiosaka on Sunday.

In a topsy-turvy match, characterised by several unforced errors from both sides, the Pacific Islanders got better as the match progressed and eventually outscored the Eagles by four tries to three.

Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, Malietoa Hingano, Siale Piutau and Telusa Veainu scored Tonga’s tries and Mike Te’o (2) and Tony Lamborn dotted down for the USA.  Tonga’s other points came courtesy of two conversions and a penalty from Sonatane Takulua while James Faiva and Piutau also succeeded with a conversion apiece.  AJ MacGinty added two conversions for the Eagles.

The opening exchanges were evenly contested with the sides feeling each other out but the game came alive in the 17th minute when the Pacific Islanders opened the scoring courtesy of Fisi’ihoi’s try from close quarters, after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.

Takulua added the extras but the Eagles did not take long to respond as Te’o found himself in space down the right-hand touchline in the 23rd minute and he did well to beat the cover defence with deft footwork before crossing for his first try.

Three minutes later, the USA were on the attack again inside Tonga’s half and they took the lead when Te’o crossed for his second try after gathering a brilliant flick pass from Cam Dolan.

Just before half-time, Tonga had a chance to narrow the gap when Fisi’ihoi was in the clear out wide but he had the ball knocked from his grasp while crossing the whitewash by Ruben de Haas and the teams changed sides at the interval with the USA leading 12-7.

Full-time | After an exciting match at #RWCHanazono, it's @officialTongaRU who finish their #RWC2019 with a 31-19 win over @USARugby pic.twitter.com/DpCiujxJId

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 13, 2019

Tonga drew first blood in the second half courtesy of a penalty from Takulua in the 51st minute after the Eagles’ backline strayed offside on defence.

The USA came back strongly and were camped close to Tonga’s try-line in the 59th minute, after taking the ball through 19 phases, but conceded a turnover which proved fatal.  The Pacific Islanders launched a counter-attack with Veainu booting the ball upfield before ‘Atieli Pakalani gathered deep inside the Eagles’ half.  He got a pass out to Hingano, who went over for a deserved try which meant the Pacific Islanders held the lead again.

Tonga continued to attack and five minutes later they were rewarded when Piutau breached the USA’s defence before dotting down.  Takulua was successful off the kicking tee which gave his side a 24-12 lead but the USA came back strongly in the game’s closing stages and narrowed the gap when Lamborn crashed over for their third try from close range.

Despite that score, Tonga finished stronger and secured the result when Veainu dotted down after gathering a teasing grubber kick from Latiume Fosita after the full-time hooter had gone.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Te’o 2, Lamborn
Cons:  MacGinty 2

For Tonga:
Tries:  Fisi’ihoi, Hingano, Piutau, Veainu
Cons:  Takulua 2, Faiva, Piutau
Pens:  Takulua

USA:  15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Ruben de Haas, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Malon Al-Jiboori, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements:  16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Ben Landry, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Ben Pinkelman, 22 Nate Augspurger, 23 Mike Te’o

Tonga:  15 Telusa Veainu, 14 ‘Atieli Pakalani, 13 Malietoa Hingano, 12 Siale Piutau (c), 11 Viliami Lolohea, 10 James Faiva, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Zane Kapeli, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Halaleva Fifita, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi
Replacements:  16 Siua Maile, 17 Vunipola Fifita, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Dan Faleafa, 20 Nasi Manu, 21 Leon Fukofuka, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 David Halaifonua

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Argentina finish on a high after beating USA

Argentina finished their Rugby World Cup campaign on a high when they notched a 47-17 victory over the USA in Kumagaya on Wednesday.

With their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals dashed after losing to England at the weekend, the Pumas were determined to bounce back with an improved effort and they did just that as they dominated most facets of play and eventually outscored the USA by seven tries to three.

Nicolas Sanchez led the way with a 15-point haul courtesy of a try and five conversions while Joaquin Tuculet (2), Juan Cruz Mallia (2), Jeronimo De La Fuente and Gonzalo Bertranou also scored tries and Benjamin Urdapilleta succeeded with a two-pointer off the kicking tee.

For the USA, Blaine Scully scored a brace of tries and Paul Lasike also crossed the whitewash while AJ MacGinty added a conversion.

The opening exchanges were evenly contested with both teams showing a willingness to run the ball from all areas of the field.

In the 11th minute, Argentina thought they had taken the lead when Felipe Ezcurra crossed the whitewash after a sniping break off the back of a scrum, but referee Paul Williams disallowed the try after television replays revealed that Pablo Matera had held Tony Lamborn back off-the-ball at the set-piece.

Despite that setback, the Pumas were slowly gaining the upper-hand and midway through the half an excellent line break from Mallia caught the Eagles’ defence napping.  He was soon on the edge of his opponents’ 22 where he got a pass out to Sanchez, who dotted down in the left-hand corner despite a desperate tackle from Mike Te’o.

Sanchez added the extras and five minutes later he turned provider when he delivered a chip kick behind the Eagles’ try-line which Te’o failed to deal with and Tuculet dived onto the bouncing ball for his side’s second try.

10 minutes later, the Pumas launched an attack at a lineout deep inside USA territory and after setting up some phases with their forwards, the ball was shifted wide to Tuculet, who crossed for his second try.

Sanchez was off target from the kicking tee but with the score 19-0 in their favour, Argentina were in the driving seat with half-time approaching.  Just before the interval, the USA struck back when Scully gathered a teasing grubber kick from MacGinty before crossing for his side’s first try.

Full-time: @lospumas have beaten @USARugby 47-17 at #RWC2019, securing their qualification for #RWC2023 #ARGvUSA pic.twitter.com/M1Tp5X6mEb

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 9, 2019

That score did not alter the course of the match too much as Argentina came out firing in the second period and four minutes into the half Mallia ran a good line before scoring his side’s bonus-point try.

Four minutes later, Mallia grabbed his second five-pointer after running onto a pass from Tuculet and when De La Fuente crossed the whitewash in the 56th minute, the match was over as a contest.

The USA struck back with a try from Lasike on the hour-mark before Argentina hammered home their advantage when Bertranou scored their seventh try in the 71st minute, after good work from the impressive Mallia in the build-up.

To their credit, the Eagles continued to fight and they were rewarded in the game’s dying moments when Scully crossed for his second try after gathering a long pass from Will Hooley.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Sanchez, Tuculet 2, Mallia 2, De La Fuente, Bertranou
Cons:  Sanchez 5, Urdapilleta

For USA:
Tries:  Scully 2, Lasike
Con:  MacGinty

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Juan Cruz Mallia, 12 Jeronimo de La Fuente, 11 Santiago Carreras, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Martin Bertranou, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Matías Moroni

USA:  15 Mike Te’o, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Ruben de Haas, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements:  16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Ben Landry, 20 Ben Pinkelman, 21 Nate Augspurger, 22 Will Hooley, 23 Martin Iosefo

Referee:  Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

France hold off spirited USA

France consolidated their position amongst the front-runners in Pool C courtesy of a 33-9 victory against the USA in Fukuoka City on Wednesday.

Despite the big winning margin, Les Bleus were made to work very hard for this result as the game was evenly balanced for long periods and they only secured their win when they scored three tries late in the second half.

But, in the end, France’s class came through as they outscored the USA by five tries to none with Yoann Huget, Alivereti Raka, Gael Fickou, Baptiste Serin and Jefferson Poirot crossing the whitewash while Camille Lopez added three conversions and Thomas Ramos one.

For the USA, who were competitive for long periods, AJ MacGinty succeeded with three penalties.

Les Bleus dominated from the outset and opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Huget gathered a teasing chip kick from Lopez inside the Eagles’ 22 before crossing for a deserved try.

Lopez added the extras but despite that setback, the USA played well during the next 15 minutes and narrowed the gap to four points when MacGinty slotted his first penalty midway through the half.

France regained the initiative, however, and were rewarded with their second try in the 24th minute – Raka crossing the whitewash this time, after collecting a perfectly weighted cross-field kick from Lopez deep inside his opponents’ half.

Lopez was off target with his conversion attempt which meant France were leading 12-3 and the rest of the half would prove to be frustrating for them as they battled to gain the ascendancy.

The USA showed considerable improvement as the half progressed while France were penalised on several occasions during that period.

On the half-hour mark, Les Bleus’ forwards were blown up for straying offside on defence and MacGinty added his second penalty.  That meant the match was evenly balanced at half-time with France holding on to a slender 12-6 lead.

FT at #RWCFukuoka @FranceRugby 🇫🇷 defeat @USARugby 🇺🇸 in Pool C #RWC2019 #FRAvUSA pic.twitter.com/bGwpCuhONL

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 2, 2019

Although they had the bulk of the possession after the restart, Les Bleus continued to be frustrated and battled to take control of the match.

In the 50th minute, France thought they had extended their lead when Raka crossed the whitewash after gathering a long pass from Sofiane Guitoune inside the Eagles’ 22, but Raka was called back by referee Ben O’Keeffe, who ruled that Guitoune’s pass went forward.

The next 15 minutes was evenly contested and the USA narrowed the gap to three points when MacGinty succeeded with his third shot off the kicking tee, after Maxime Medard held onto the ball at a ruck.

France came alive after that penalty and were soon camped inside the Eagles’ half.  And after setting up 15 phases, the ball came out to Fickou, who crashed over for their third try from close range in the 67th minute.

It was all France during the game’s closing stages and in the 70th minute Serin broke through the USA’s defence before crossing for his side’s bonus point try with Lopez’s conversion putting more daylight between his side and the Eagles.

Les Bleus continued to dominate and just before the end Poirot sealed their win when he crossed the whitewash off the back of a lineout drive deep inside USA territory.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Huget, Raka, Fickou, Serin, Poirot
Cons:  Ramos, Lopez 3

For USA:
Pens:  MacGinty 3

France:  15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Alivereti Raka, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles (c), 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Arthur Iturria, 5 Paul Gabrillagues, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Gregory Alldritt, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Romain Ntamack, 23 Maxime Medard

USA:  15 Mike Teo, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Bryce Campbell, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufetee, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements:  16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Pinkelman, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Will Magie, 23 Thretton Palamo

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Improving England thrash USA to go two from two

England will go into their key encounter against Argentina with a perfect record following a comfortable 45-7 triumph over the USA in Kobe.

It was a better display from the Red Rose, who held a 19-0 advantage at the break thanks to George Ford, Billy Vunipola and Luke Cowan-Dickie tries, before they built on that lead in the second half.

Joe Cokanasiga (twice), Ruaridh McConnochie and Lewis Ludlam all touched down as the 2016 and ’17 Six Nations winners eased to another victory.

Eddie Jones’ men were poor in the early stages of their match against Tonga but they were slightly more efficient on Thursday, dominating the initial exchanges and building pressure inside the opposition 22.  It put the Eagles’ defence under significant duress and Ford scythed through a gaping hole to score and give them a 7-0 advantage.

Buoyed by that try, England continued to control proceedings and create opportunities but the USA defended well and forced mistakes from one of the pre-tournament favourites.

The Red Rose did not panic, however, and went back to their trusty maul.  Jones’ charges had the ascendancy in the set-piece and a powerful drive resulted in Vunipola crossing the whitewash.

They then repeated that tactic and the North Americans were powerless to halt the surge as Cowan-Dickie was the beneficiary of his team-mates’ good work.  Although Ford was awry with the conversion, England held a comfortable 19-point buffer at the interval.

TRY!

Fancy footwork from Joseph gets Cokanasiga close to the try line and when you are 18 stone and 6ft 4", nobody is stopping you from two-yards out#ITVRugby #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/CfhT5qEXT4

— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) September 26, 2019

England went in search of the bonus-point at the start of the second period with the USA struggling to make any impact on the game and some Jonathan Joseph brilliance helped seal the full five.  Joseph displayed excellent decision-making to hold onto the ball and weave his way towards the line before Cokanasiga finished off from close range.

The Red Rose have struggled for fluency so far in this World Cup but they started to find a bit more rhythm and a well-constructed attack ended in McConnochie touching down for his first international try.

Ludlam soon followed him for his debut Test score as Tom Curry and Ford linked nicely to send the openside flanker across the line.

Jones’ side hadn’t given their opponents a sniff and the Eagles were evidently frustrated, leading to an awful John Quill shoulder charge on Owen Farrell, which inevitably led to a red card.

With the Eagles down to 14 men, England went over for the seventh time when Ellis Genge’s brilliant run was finished by Cokanasiga before there was a frantic end to the game.

It went back and forth but, to the Eagles’ immense credit, they managed to get on the scoreboard through Bryce Campbell.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Ford, Vunipola, Cowan-Dickie, Cokanasiga 2, McConnochie, Ludlam
Cons:  Ford 5

For USA:
Try:  Campbell
Con:  MacGinty
Red Card:  Quill

England:  15 Elliot Daly, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Kruis, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements:  16 Jack Singleton, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Anthony Watson

USA:  15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 John Quill, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Ben Landry, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 David Ainuu
Replacements:  16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Bryce Campbell, 23 Mike Te’o

Referee:  Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees:  Paul Williams (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Ireland cruise past USA

Andrew Conway scored a hat-trick as Ireland cruised to a 57-14 victory over the USA at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

Despite Ireland fielding a second-string side, the USA were impressive and showed improvement from last year's 55-19 defeat in Harrison.

Ireland's superior conditioning and fitness came to the fore in the latter stages of the game, which made the result look slightly more flattering in the end, especially seeing as the USA trailed by just ten at half-time.

Ireland came flying out of the blocks and got the scoring underway in the third minute.  Captain Rhys Ruddock ran a nice line to break the Eagles' defensive line and offloaded for Conway to finish in the left-hand corner.

In the 12th minute, the USA were right back in it when Joe Taufete'e crashed over off the back of a well-worked lineout move, with the hooker breaking at least three tackles before dotting down.

Soon afterwards, some slick hands from the Irish backline resulted in the ball being spread out to the right wing where Conway was on hand to grab his brace for a 14-7 lead after 17 minutes.

However, the USA were utilising the driving maul as an effective strategy and were rewarded with a penalty try from using that particular tactic in the 23rd minute.

Joey Carbery's penalty in the 27th minute edged the hosts in front and then Jack Conan scored after the USA were guilty of slipping at least two tackles, although it was an impressive run from the number eight.  Carbery added the conversion as the hosts took a slightly underwhelming 24-14 lead in to the interval.

It took 12 minutes after the break for the visitors' defence to crack when dynamic lock Tadhg Beirne powered over after a series of powerful carries from the Irish forwards.

The fifth Irish try all began from a Conan charge-down and a nice run from Dave Kilcoyne before the hosts had the penalty advantage and Stuart McCloskey was found with a good cross-field kick, dotting down for his maiden international try.

Replacement Quinn Roux got in on the act in the 65th minute as he had too much power for the USA defence from close range after the Irish forwards had made good metres to make it 43-14.

Four minutes from time, a superb line break and offload from Garry Ringrose set up Conway for a deserved hat-trick as the Munster man went home with the man-of-the-match award.

A try from John Ryan topped off the 55-14 victory as the Irish backs and forwards showed slick hands to stretch the tiring USA defence and close out a convincing victory in the end.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Conway 3, Conan, Beirne, McCloskey, Roux, Ryan
Cons:  Carbery 7
Pen:  Carbery

For USA:
Tries:  Taufete'e, Penalty Try
Con:  Magie

Ireland:  15 Will Addison, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 John Cooney, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements:  16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Sam Arnold

USA:  15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 Will Magie, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 John Quill, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Samu Manoa, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Gannon Moore, 23 Ryan Matyas

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Nic Berry (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  Ian Davies (Wales)

USA stun Scotland in Houston

USA caused a major shock in their June international clash with Scotland as they won 30-29 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston on Saturday.

Scores from Joe Taufete’e (2) and Hanco Germishuys, bolstered by the reliable boot of the classy AJ MacGinty, saw the Eagles to a memorable win.

Scotland’s replies arrived through Blair Kinghorn, a penalty try, George Turner and Dougie Fife, with Kinghorn missing the late vital conversion.

For USA though this excellent result will be celebrated long into the night, as their impressive form this year continues under coach Gary Gold.

Scotland started well but didn’t have things all their own way in the first period as they went in only 11 points in front at 24-13 to the good.

It had looked like the visitors were set for a handsome points return when Stuart Hogg’s break on two minutes set up Kinghorn for the score.

However, the USA fought back well and enjoyed plenty of possession and territory, which ultimately saw them kick a penalty through MacGinty.

Kinghorn would miss a relatively simple penalty on 20 minutes but the Scots were undeterred and soon had seven points on the board when a penalty try was given.  That decision from Wayne Barnes came after George Horne was tackled high by Samu Manoa, who was also yellow carded.

MacGinty did reduce the arrears to 14-6 with a penalty on 28 minutes but Scotland then struck again seven minutes later, Hogg’s excellent touch finder into the corner leading to Turner edging over from close range.  With Kinghorn’s superb conversion the visitors were 21-6 up.

USA weren’t to be outdone though as the superb Taufete’e did well to spin around tackles en route to a try under the posts for 21-13.  Despite Kinghorn knocking over a penalty before the interval to make it 24-13, USA had definitely shown enough to concern Gregor Townsend.

Those worries were amplified three minutes into the second-half when Taufete’e would cross again, this time from 10 metres out, for 24-20.  And with MacGinty slotting a penalty goal four minutes later, suddenly it was a one-point ball game in Texas, with the result up for grabs.

The Eagles grabbed the lead for the first time on the hour, deservedly too, when MacGinty set up Germishuys for a score in the corner.  That came after a kicking battle between the sides and MacGinty followed up that duel with a fine touchline conversion that made it 30-24.

Scotland thought they’d retaken the lead on 69 minutes when replacement Mark Bennett crashed over, but replays showed he lost it over the line.

And despite a late surge from Townsend’s charges that saw Fife cross in the 80th minute, Kinghorn could not add the extras as the Eagles held on for an historic victory that will do their confidence a power of good.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Taufete’e 2, Germishuys
Cons:  MacGinty 3
Pens:  MacGinty 3
Yellow Card:  Manoa

For Scotland:
Tries:  Kinghorn, Penalty try, Turner, Fife
Cons:  Kinghorn 2
Pen:  Kinghorn

USA:  15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 John Quill, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements:  16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Landry, 21 Nate Augspurger, 22 Will Magie, 23 Dylan Audsley

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Luke Hamilton, 6 Tim Swinson, 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Lewis Carmichael, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 David Denton, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Mark Bennett, 23 Dougie Fife

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Television match official:  David Grashoff (England)

Georgia edge USA in Atlanta

Georgia claimed a 21-17 win over USA in Atlanta on Saturday as the Eagles go into their 2019 World Cup qualifiers on a negative note.

USA take on Canada on June 24 in Hamilton, Ontario, and on July 1 in San Diego, California, as they look to book a spot in the tournament.

Merab Kvirikashvili opened the scoring for Georgia with a try before the kickers traded blows, making it 11-3 to the Lelos on 25 minutes.

Georgia went in 18-3 ahead thanks to a penalty try but when Nate Augspurger crossed for the US, suddenly it was 21-10 to the visitors.

Matt Jensen made it a four-point game late on but Georgia managed to hold on as they followed up last week's win over Canada in style.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Augspurger, Jensen
Cons:  MacGinty 2
Pen:  MacGinty

For Georgia:
Tries:  Kvirikashvili, Penalty Try
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 3

USA:  15 Mike Te'o, 14 Matai Leuta, 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 AJ MacGinty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 10 Will Magie, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Ben Landry, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Tony Purpura
Replacements:  16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Matthew Jensen, 20 Andrew Durutalo, 21 Ben Cima, 22 Marcel Brache, 23 Ryan Matyas

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Giorgi Koshadze, 13 Davit Katcharava, 12 Merab Sharkadze (c), 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 6 Lasha Lomidze, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements:  16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Tornike Mataradze, 18 Soso Bekoshvili, 19 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 20 Otar Giorgadze, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Lasha Malaghuradze, 23 Giorgi Tsutskiridze

Referee:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistant Referees:  Luke Pearce (England), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO:  Neil Paterson (Scotland)

Nine-try Ireland put 50 past USA

Ireland made a fine start to their mid-year tour when they claimed a deserved 55-19 victory over the USA in New Jersey on Saturday.

As the scoreline suggests, Ireland dominated for large periods and they eventually outscored their hosts by nine tries to three with Keith Earls leading the way with a brace scored in the first half.

The visitors were in control from the outset and Earls' two tries and further five-pointers from Jacob Stockdale, Niall Scannon and Kieran Marmion helped their side to a 29-7 half-time lead, with the USA's points registered via a Nic Civetta try which AJ MacGinty converted.

Ireland showed their intent from the outset and they opened the scoring as early as the third minute when Earls went over for the opening try after combining with Tiernan O'Halloran, who tore the Eagles' defence to shreds with a superb line break in the build-up.

The USA had some good moments during the next 10 minutes with Marcel Brache and David Tameilau doing well with impressive carries but poor decision making meant those attacks were snuffed out by Ireland's defence.

In the 14th minute, Earls turned provider and after making a decisive break in midfield he floated out a long pas to debutant Stockdale, who outpaced the cover defence before diving over in the left-hand corner.

Shortly afterwards, O'Halloran breached the USA's defence with ease again before getting a pass out to Marmion, who did well to free his arms close to the USA's tryl-line, and Earls had an easy run-in for his second try.

Midway through the half, the USA opened their account when Civetta charged down a Joey Carbery chip kick inside Ireland's 22 before regathering the loose ball and diving over for his side's first try.

Ireland finished stronger though and further tries from Scannell and Marmion meant the visitors were cruising as the teams changed sides at the break.

Like the first half, Ireland were fastest out of the blocks after the interval when Jack Conan crossed for their sixth try in the 44th minute but shortly afterwards, the USA replied with their second try, scored in a remarkably similar fashion to their first.

This time it was John Quill who charged down a Carbery kick before pouncing on the loose ball and crossing the whitewash.  And 10 minutes later, things got better for the hosts when Ryan Matyas crossed for their second try after selling O'Halloran a dummy deep inside Ireland's 22.

Ireland finished stronger though and they scored three tries during the final quarter.  First, replacement James Ryan went over with his first touch of the game after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.

And further tries from Luke McGrath and Simon Zebo, in the game's closing stages, brought up a half century of points and sealed the result for the visitors.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Civetta, Quill, Matyas
Cons:  MacGinty 2

For Ireland:
Tries:  Earls 2, Stockdale, N Scannell, Conan, James Ryan, McGrath, Zebo
Cons:  Ringrose, Carbery 2, R Scannel 2

USA:  15 Ben Cima, 14 Mike Te'o, 13 Ryan Matyas, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger (c), 8 David Tameilau, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 John Quill, 5 Nic Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 Peter Malcolm, 1 Ben Tarr
Replacements:  16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Joe Taufete'e, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Matthew Jensen, 20 Andrew Durutalo, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Will Magie, 23 Bryce Campbell

Ireland:  15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Devin Toner, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 Dave Heffernan 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 James Ryan, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Simon Zebo

Referee:  Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO:  Neil Paterson (Scotland)

Big win for Maori All Blacks

The Maori All Blacks ran in eight tries as they opened their November campaign with an emphatic 54-7 victory over the USA in Chicago on Friday.

James Lowe (2), Akira Ioane (2), Ash Dixon, Kane Hames, Brad Weber and Joe Royal scored the tries while Ihaia West and Marty McKenzie kicked goals.

Colin Cooper's men were 28-0 ahead at the half-time break after Lowe's brace and one each from Ioane and Dixon got them on the move at Toyota Park.

Things didn't improve for the Eagles after the turnaround as Ioane went over before Todd Clever finally got USA on the board.  It was their only crossing.

Hames, Weber and Royal then got over the whitewash before the end as the Maori All Blacks won to go into their meeting with Munster in good spirits.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Clever
Con:  Holder

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Lowe 2, A Ioane 2, A Dixon, Hames, Weber, Royal
Cons:  West 6, M McKenzie

USA:  15 Mike Te'o, 14 Martin Iosefo, 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Folau Niua, 11 Matai Leuta, 10 Will Holder, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Danny Barrett, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Angus MacLellan, 18 Alex Maughan 19 Matthew Jensen, 20 Al McFarland, 21 Stephen Tomasin, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Madison Hughes

Maori All Blacks:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Rieko Ioane, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Kara Pryor, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Tom Franklin, 4 Jacob Skeen, 3 Ben May, 2 Ash Dixon (c), 1 Kane Hames
Replacements:  16 Joe Royal, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Leighton Price, 20 Shane Christie, 21 Brad Weber, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Sean Wainui

Referee:  Matt Carley (England)

USA defeat scoreless Russia

Six AJ MacGinty penalties helped the USA to a 25-0 victory over Russia at Bonney Field in Sacramento on Saturday.

MacGinty kicked six penalty goals and converted the home side's only try which was scored by Mike Te'o.

The win means that the USA extend their unbeaten record against Russia to seven matches since 2004.

Todd Clever was in impressive form in his record-breaking 68th appearance for the Eagles.

John Mitchell's men enjoyed the territorial advantage with James King and Tony Lamborn playing an integral part in their second caps for the home side by dominating the breakdowns.

Lamborn's physical prowess at the set pieces resulted in the home side receiving an early penalty which MacGinty slotted.

The playmaker doubled the advantage after Russia strayed offside, only a few minutes later taking the score to 6-0.

A true testament to the clinical defence from the home side as they kept a spirited Russia attack at bay, with the visitors setting up a few promising attacking phases.

MacGinty added three more penalties before the break as the players headed into the paddocks with the home side firmly in the lead on 15-0.

The scoring frustration continued for the visitors which was dealt a blow in the 48th minute when Andrei Garbuzov saw yellow, but the home side failed to add any points against a 14 men side.

Replacement Langilangi Haupeakui's powerful runs made an immediate impact and added his weight on defence, that helped to set up the only try of the match in the 65th minute.

MacGinty's slick handling skills allowed the pivot to offload to an inside running Mike Te'o.  The right wing beat one defender and burnt the defence to dive over for his third career try before MacGinty added the extras to take the final score to 25-0.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Te'o
Con:  MacGinty
Pens:  MacGinty 6

For Russia:
Yellow Card:  Garbuzov

USA:  15 Will Holder, 14 Mike Te'o, 13 Thretton Palamo, 12 Shalom Suniula, 11 Blaine Scully (c), 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever, 5 Nate Brakeley, 4 James King, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Harry Higgins, 20 Langilangi Haupeakui, 21 Stephen Tomasin, 22 Chad London, 23 Luke Hume

Russia:  15 Ramil Gaisin, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vasily Artemyev (c), 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Rushan Iagudin, 8 Anton Rudoi, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Viktor Gresev, 5 Denis Antonov, 4 Andrei Garbuzov, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Evgeny Matveev, 1 Alexey Volkov
Replacements:  16 Nazir Gasanov, 17 Azamat Bitiev, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Danila Chegodaev, 21 Alexey Shcherban, 22 Evgeny Kolomiitsev, 23 Anton Ryabov

Referee:  Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Italy squeeze past USA

Italy got the job done but were made to graft for their 24-20 victory over the USA in San Jose on Saturday.

The result was a momentus one for the Azzurri as it's their first victory under new head coach Conor O'Shea, who took over the reins from Jacques Brunel at the end of a winless Six Nations campaign.

Italy's hero was their hooker, Ornel Gega, who scored a try either side of half-time which paved the way to victory.  Azzurri fly-half Carlo Canna also impressed with a 14-point haul via three penalties, a conversion and a drop goal.

Despite finishing on the losing side, the Eagles were competitive throughout and they will be happy with their competitive performance as they came into this clash after ending off their Americas Rugby Championship campaign in February with two successive defeats against Brazil and Uruguay.

The USA opened the scoring in the 12th minute via an AJ MaGinty penalty but Canna drew his side level from the kicking tee soon afterwards.  The game came alive in the 21st minute when referee Marius van der Westhuizen awarded a penalty try to the home side.  This after a Canna was adjudged to have thwarted a certain try with a deliberate knock on.

The Azzurri struck back 10 minutes later when Gega scored his first try from close quarters after his side set up a drive from a line-out deep inside the Eagles' 22.

Shortly before half-time, Canna slotted a penalty which meant the visitors held a slender 11-10 lead at the interval.

Italy were fastest out of the blocks and a well-taken drop goal from Canna extended their lead in the 43rd minute before MacGinty struck back with his second penalty to narrow the lead to one point again in the 51st minute.

The home side suffered a setback five minutes later, however, when Cam Dolan received a yellow card for dangerous play at a line-out inside his 22.

From the ensuing penalty, Italy kicked for touch and, in similar fashion to his try in the first half, Gega barged over from a rolling maul at the line-out.

Canna added the extras to give his side a 21-13 lead but the USA didn't surrender and struck back with a Tony Lamborn try in the 70th minute, after MacGinty and Mike Te'o did well in the build-up.

MacGinty slotted the conversion to narrow the gap to a point but Canna secured victory for the visitors with his third penalty shortly before full-time.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Penalty try, Lamborn
Cons:  MacGinty 2
Pens:  MacGinty 2
Yellow card:  Dolan

For Italy:
Tries:  Gega 2
Con:  Canna
Pens:  Canna 3
Drop goal:  Canna

USA:  15 Will Holder, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Thretton Palamo, 12 Shalom Suniula, 11 Blaine Scully, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Todd Clever (C), 6 Andrew Durutalo, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Stephen Tomasin, 20 Harry Higgins, 21 Tony Lamborn, 22 Chad London, 23 Mike Te'o

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 David Odiete, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Robert Barbieri, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Maxime Mbandà, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti

Referee:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

Brave Blossoms go out with a bang

Japan became the first team to win three games at a World Cup and exit at the pool stages after their 28-18 win over USA in Gloucester.

Nothing has epitomised the 2015 Rugby World Cup quite like the performances of the emerging nations and it was fitting that a packed house at Kingsholm saw Japan, the heroes of the first weekend of the tournament, see off the challenge of a muscular USA side in a game polarised by the power of the States versus the technical excellence of their opponents.

The USA offered an heroic and committed performance, and the scoreline was a fair reflection of the match and ability of both teams.

Rugby is the USA's fastest growing team sport and their exposure and efforts in 2015 will of course resonate and assist with the momentum of their game, despite being forced to re-qualify next time around.

However, there's been many journeys in this World Cup, but none enjoyed or embraced quite as much by the collective rugby world as that of Japan.

It is criminal that after winning three pool matches that they are out of the World Cup, but they leave to host the 2019 tournament with their heads held high, their reputation enhanced and with the respect of the entire rugby world.

An early penalty AJ MacGinty after four minutes gave the USA the first blow, but Japan were quick to reply and after six minutes their first try came to rapturous applause, inspired by a brilliant kick and chase by fly-half Kosei Ono with two quick phases seeing backs and forwards combine to send flyer Kotaro Matsushima over on the left wing.

However, the USA are a side of immense power and strength, and the reply saw skipper Samu Manoa and his forwards battering the try line with multi phase rucks and rolling mauls, followed by MacGinty hoisting a kick cross field to send Takudzwa Ngwenya sprinting over in the right hand corner.

Japan took no time at all to offer their response, as USA lock Hayden Smith fumbled a restart, allowing Japan to re-gather and played the Americans at their own game, as Michael Leitch and his men mauled and drove their way to the line, with wing Fujita detached and crashing right through the middle of the maul to score.

A Ayumu Goromaru penalty after 33 minutes saw the veteran full back become the first Japanese player to reach a landmark of 700 test points and the USA, although threatening the Japanese line towards the end of the first half, couldn't muster the finish nor could they quite cope with the excellence and height of the Japanese scrummage, allowing the Brace Blossoms a lead of 17-8 at half time.

After another early Goromaru penalty in the second half, the USA mounted ten minutes of sustained pressure into the Japanese 22 but their over-commitment to numbers at ruck time, combined with the Japanese discipline at the contact area allowed them no space to capitalise on the possession and territory they had despite a ruck transgression allowing MacGinty to add another penalty.

With USA prop Eric Fry sent to the sinbin on 60 mins for kicking the ball when offside at a ruck, the ensuing lineout saw Japan set up an express maul, and one of the stars of the tournament, Amanaki Mafi barrelled over the tryline much to the delight of the packed Kingsholm shed.

The resilience of all the lower tier teams has been a credit to each and every one of them and it was no surprise that the USA replied with a period of sustained power and counter rucking to send Saracens' favourite import, skipper Chris Wyles an open run over in the corner.

With Goromaru adding another penalty in the dying moments, in the final analysis, Japan had just that little bit more composure than the USA and that was telling in getting them home.

Man of the match:  Both Japanese number eights, Holani and Mafi were outstanding, but an assured display from veteran full-back Ayumu Goromaru takes the award.

Moment of the match:  Japan's line-out leading to the Mafi try was a picture of precision rugby;  ball to middle, receivers peeling off through the front gap summed up their technical excellence and brilliant execution throughout the Rugby World Cup, but we will go to the absolute standing ovation offered to both sides by Kingsholm and its infamous shed;  a fitting tribute to both teams.

Villain of the match:  In a game without a single TMO referral and played in good spirit there was no nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Matsushima, Fujita, Mafi
Cons:  Goromaru 2
Pens:  Goromaru 3

For USA:
Tries:  Ngwenya, Wyles
Con:  MacGinty
Pens:  MacGinty 2
Yellow Card:  Fry

USA:  15 Chris Wyles (c), 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Zach Test, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Al McFarland, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements:  16 Phil Thiel, 17 Oli Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cam Dolan, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Niku Kruger, 23 Folau Niua.

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Yoshikazu Fujita, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kotaro Matsushima, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 Justin Ives, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements:  16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 21 Hendrik Tui, 22 Atsushi Hiwasa, 23 Karne Hesketh.

Venue:  Kingsholm, Gloucester
Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Springboks crush USA to win Pool B

South Africa qualified for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals thanks to a 64-0 demolition of the USA in London on Wednesday.

Veteran wing Bryan Habana was the star of the show as he scored three tries to draw level with Jonah Lomu's all-time RWC try-scoring record of 15.

The results sees the Springboks secure top spot in Pool B and sets up a clash with the losers of Saturday's showdown between Australia and Wales at Twickenham.  Meanwhile the USA will now look to their match with Japan on Sunday as they search for their first win of the tournament.

Off the platform of a totally dominant scrum, the Springboks scored ten unanswered tries, yet coach Heyneke Meyer will have mixed feelings about the performance of his strongest available side.

South Africa's total physical dominance was juxtaposed by their poor execution on attack in the first half.

Indeed, the Boks would have been disappointed by their first 40 minutes as a glut of unforced handling errors and below-par kicks left much to be desired.  There was a distinct lack of composure shown as the Boks threw loose passes and made overly-hasty decisions.

South Africa led 14-0 at the interval thanks to a try from Damian de Allende and a penalty try awarded against the American scrum.

The second-half was a different story however as the Eagles crumbled.

Habana sealed his hat-trick in the space of 20 minutes and Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Louw — who scored twice — Jesse Kriel and Lwazi Mvovo all followed him onto the scoresheet.

The Eagles had the first chance at points but Folau Niua's long-range penalty fell short.

The early signs were ominous for the Americans though as the Springbok pack rumbled forward at the first scrum.

The Boks were sloppy in the early minutes but the opening try wasn't long in coming.  Schalk Burger slapped a loose ball along the ground and De Allende took advantage of the unstructured situation, splitting the US defence open before handing off Danny Barrett to score.

Handre Pollard added the extras, meaning the Boks led by seven after as many minutes.

It was the Eagles however who dominated possession in the first quarter but Niku Kruger couldn't find the target from the kicking tee either, leaving the USA empty handed despite a promising opening 20 minutes.

An almighty clash in mid-air between Habana and Blaine Scully saw both men sent for concussion assessments.  In Habana's brief absence Kriel shifted to the wing and was stopped just short of the line after a break by Pollard.

A series of scrums ensued and the Boks were rewarded for their superiority at the set-piece with a penalty try.  Curiously though, referee Pascal Gauzere only raised his arm under the posts after Pollard had overcooked a crossfield kick.

Pollard added the inevitable conversion to take the lead to 14 points and the men in green should have had another try but Duane Vermeulen butchered a sure thing by knocking on with line in sight.

Fourie du Preez was the architect of a gem of a try almost immediately after the second-half restart, placing a glorious chip into space for Habana to run onto and finish untouched.  Pollard's conversion made it 21-0.

Du Plessis muscled his way over soon after from close range after Vermeulen was stopped short from a charge off the back of an attacking scrum.

The floodgates had opened and Louw got his first try at the back of an unstoppable rolling maul.  Pollard made it 33-0.

Habana scored his second thanks to an offload from De Allende with Morne Styen landing his first points of the tournament with the conversion.

The Eagles were out on their feet and another maul set up Habana's third try, an easy run in.  Steyn again hit the target.

Yet another maul took Louw over for his brace before Kriel used his pace to race home.

Habana fumbled in the act of going over for what would have been a record-breaking try but the Boks still had the last laugh as Mvovo pounced on a loose ball and raced home from his own 22.  Steyn took the score to 64 after the final hooter.

Man of the match:  Mentions must go to young locks Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth, who were at the heart of South Africa's physical dominance.  But you can't ignore the guy who scored a hat-trick, Bryan Habana.

Moment of the match:  The spark that started the fire was Fourie du Preez's great chip into space to create Habana's first try.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  De Allende, Penalty try, Habana 3, Du Plessis, Louw 2, Kriel, Mvovo
Cons:  Pollard 4, Steyn 3

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Schalk Brits, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Jan Serfontein.

USA:  15 Blaine Scully, 14 Brett Thompson, 13 Folau Niua, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Zach Test, 10 Shalom Suniula, 9 Niku Kruger, 8 Samu Manoa (c), 7 John Quill, 6 Danny Barrett, 5 Matthew Trouville, 4 Louis Stanfill, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Oli Kilifi.
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufetee, 17 Zach Fenoglio, 18 Mate Moeakiola, 19 Titi Lamositele, 20 Cam Dolan, 21 Al McFarland, 22 Mike Petri, 23 Chris Wyles.

Venue:  Olympic Stadium, London
Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Bonus-point win for Scotland

Scotland launched a second-half fightback against USA as they recovered from a 6-13 deficit to win 39-16 with a bonus-point at Elland Road on Sunday.

It was a match of two halves as Vern Cotter's charges, who were well off the pace in the opening 40 minutes, found their form as they moved top of Pool B.

After the break they clicked into gear with tries from Tim Visser, Sean Maitland, Willem Nel, Matt Scott and Duncan Weir seeing them pick up the maximum.

One negative for Scotland however would have been the sight of Finn Russell being helped off the field with what looked like an ankle injury on 60 minutes.

Scotland came into the game knowing they could take a three-point lead in Pool B after Samoa joined South Africa in having one defeat from two.  However, claiming that bonus-point victory was never going to be an easy task as USA have improved a great deal in the past year under head coach Mike Tolkin.

The Eagles going in at the interval 6-13 up certainly proved that point.

It took the Scots until the fifteen minute mark to enjoy their first real period of dominance in the USA half, this after Eagles number ten AJ MacGinty and opposing full-back Stuart Hogg had traded shots.  Those offences were for offside and a scrum penalty respectively in an even start.

What was concerning for the USA was a wobbly line-out with hooker Phil Thiel's first two throws being skew before the team's third went loose.  Scotland made them pay with the resulting territory and possession as fly-half Russell landed their second penalty of the match for 6-3.

The tide turned in the 21st minute however when from a smart line-out move that saw Samu Manoa standing at inside centre for the carry, USA's recycled ball saw tighthead prop Titi Lamositele picking and driving over for the game's first try.  With MacGinty's extras the Eagles were 6-10 up.

Scotland had their chance to respond in quick time but it was butchered on a seismic scale.  Hogg's electric feet saw him run from his own ten-metre line down to the USA 22 but his final pass to Visser was poor and the left wing could not hold it.  Elland Road could not believe it.

Things would not improve from a Scottish point of view before the break as Russell's missed 40 metre penalty attempt preceded yet more errors, with USA's physical gameplan clearly having rattled their opponents — Takudzwa Ngwenya's huge blindside tackle on Peter Horne helped with that.

As mentioned, USA would jog into the dressing rooms 6-13 to the good after Scotland came offside in their 22, MacGinty slotting the easy penalty.

Scotland were sure to have been given the hairdryer treatment from head coach Cotter, who brought on props Alasdair Dickinson and Nel.  It paid immediate dividends on 42 minutes when Hogg this time found his wing Visser for a clear run-in down the left.  That made it 11-13.

The wheels were now in motion for Scotland and when Russell made up for his missed conversion of Visser's try with a cool assist for Maitland, his extra two points this time meant USA were now behind 18-13.  Fortunately for the States, a MacGinty penalty cut that down to 18-16 and halted the onslaught.

It was short-lived as replacement Nel powered over from close range and with Greig Laidlaw, on for Henry Pyrgos, adding the two, Scotland were 25-16 up and for the first time in the game had a cushion.  Now they could focus on getting the bonus point that for so long looked unreachable.

They would have to achieve it minus fly-half Russell though after his withdrawal, but his replacement, Weir, and Scotland had 20 minutes to get the job done.  And so started a period of sustained pressure in the USA 22, with referee Chris Pollock losing patience with the Eagles.

USA's defence expectedly crumbled as Scotland had that pivotal fourth try thanks to a lovely line from replacement centre Scott before Weir added the fifth as Cotter's men head to Newcastle to face South Africa next Saturday full of confidence.

Man of the match:  While his opposite number Phil Thiel had a difficult game with his throwing, Ross Ford was solid and put in a shift for his team.  Originally set to be on the bench before injury hit John Hardie, Ford had a strong 78 minutes for Scotland.

Moment of the match:  Whatever was said in the dressing room at half-time clearly did the job.  Vern Cotter take a bow.

Villain of the match:  Yet another World Cup match played in good spirit as neither side felt the wrath of Chris Pollock.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Visser, Maitland, Nel, Scott, Weir
Con:  Russell, Laidlaw 3
Pen:  Hogg, Russell

For USA:
Try:  Lamositele
Con:  MacGinty
Pen:  MacGinty 3

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ryan Wilson, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements:  16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Fraser Brown, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Matt Scott.

USA:  15 Chris Wyles (c), 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Blaine Scully, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Al McFarland, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements:  16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Oli Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cam Dolan, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Folau Niua.

Referee:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Nanai-Williams shines in Samoa win

Samoa began their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 25-16 win over the USA, spurred on by the man of the match Tim Nanai-Williams.

Samoa were always ahead on the scoreboard thanks to tries from Nanai-Williams and their captain Ofisa Treviranus, along with the boot of fly-half Tusi Pisi.

USA fly-half AJ MacGinty shone in only his sixth cap for the Eagles, playing a major role in their first try and scoring two penalties, but despite a bright resurgence at the end of the first half the USA never truly looked like springing a surprise.  29 missed tackles proved to be their downfall.

The Pacific Island side have big ambitions in this tournament, which will have only increased after watching Japan's shock win on Saturday, but with the game under their control late in the second half they failed to score two more tries to secure a bonus point.

What a venue though Brighton has turned out to be, bathed in sunshine over the opening weekend and filled with enthusiastic supporters.

Matching Saturday's extraordinary events was the tallest of orders but no one will have left the Community Stadium feeling short-changed.

Early rust was obvious as both sides initially opted to use the boot rather but as soon as their confidence levels rose after 20 minutes then the game came to life.

Adding the talent of Nanai-Williams to their backline has transformed Samoa's threat with the ball in hand, and it was no surprise to see the Chiefs star involved in their first try.

After bruising carries from the Samoan tight five Tusi Pisi spotted the change of direction from Nanai-Williams behind him and threaded a grubber behind the USA defence, with a kind bounce allowing the Samoa full-back to score.

The Americans work in defence had to be first-rate to keep Samoa's physical runners at bay but they paid for ill-discipline at the breakdown, allowing Tusi Pisi to stretch Samoa's lead at one point to 11-0.

AJ MacGinty's penalty appeared to spark the USA into life and the Dublin-born fly-half was heavily involved in a special try finished off by the captain Chris Wyles.

MacGinty burst through a gap in the Samoan defence inside his own half and combined with Seamus Kelly to release Wyles for the score.

Suddenly the deficit was only three points, but a third penalty from Pisi for Samoa ensured they were ahead 14-8 at half-time in an even contest.

Making metres through breaks from the likes of Maurie Fa'asavalu and Jack Lam, Samoa's power began to tell as they controlled territory and possession.

Samoa's dominance under the high ball set up their second try.  Having targeted Takudzwa Ngwenya throughout the winger spilled the ball under pressure from Nanai-Williams, allowing Samoa to set up an attack close to the USA line from which Treviranus drove low and couldn't be stopped.

Pisi and MacGinty traded penalties but Samoa held a comforable 22-11 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Bonus points are now more crucial than ever in Pool B and while Samoa certainly carried with purpose, too often the final pass went astray to construct many try-scoring chances.

Replacement prop Chris Baumann's try for the USA set up an interesting finish with seven minutes to play, but it had no bearing on the final outcome.

Samoa will now prepare for the uneasy challenge of facing a humiliated Springbok side, but this was a solid start.

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Tries:  Nanai-Williams, Treviranus
Pens:  T Pisi 4, Stanley

For USA:
Tries:  Wyles, Baumann
Pens:  MacGinty 2

Samoa:  15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Ofisa Treviranus (c), 7 Jack Lam, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Zak Taulafo
Replacements:  16 Viliami Afatia, 17 Motu Matu'u, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Vavao Afemai, 22 Mike Stanley, 23 Fa'atoina Autagavaia

USA:  15 Blaine Scully, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Chris Wyles (c), 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Al McFarland, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements:  16 Phil Thiel, 17 Oli Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cam Dolan, 20 Danny Barrett, 21 Shalom Suniula, 22 Folau Niua, 23 Brett Thompson

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

All Blacks put 70 points on USA

Inevitably the event mattered more than the scoreline as New Zealand dispatched the USA with a 74-6 win in Chicago at Soldier Field.

Taking the sport to the United States is a necessity for the future of rugby and there’s no doubt with national TV coverage, strides will have been made with regards towards the development of the game in a country that truly loves its sport.  Denying that is foolish.

With the greatest respect to the USA though, the outcome of this one was already known before kickoff.  In the end the All Blacks finished with 12 tries.

Too strong, too clinical.  In a sense the All Blacks made a statement, not that they really need to.  Many new fans will have been won along the way, with at one stage a century of points feeling likely before the USA stemmed the tide.  Better to embrace the occasion than tune in expecting a nailbiter.

Everything initially was a little bit different for both your seasoned fan and New Zealand, starting with some questionable anthems, but after some initial jitters the All Blacks played as expected.

The USA have some quality players, exemplified by Samu Manoa, Chris Wyles and most of all Blaine Scully, whose tenacity with blood coming out of his face set the tone.  They just don’t have enough of those players yet.

The exposure of this match will go towards changing that, with the possibility of a Rugby World Cup in the USA in the future being something which holds great appeal.

A try on debut for Nathan Harris set the All Blacks on their way and lived up to the script.  The hosts could either wilt or rally.

A long attack with the USA retaining the ball well inside New Zealand’s 22 ended with a penalty and some points for young Adam Siddall after 11 minutes.

Israel Dagg’s offload out the back released Cory Jane to add New Zealand’s second try and silence a crowd that had been growing in confidence the longer the USA held onto the ball inside Kiwi territory.

Some brilliance from the restart by Scully led to Siddall’s second penalty to keep the USA in touch, but New Zealand simply counterpunched with another try, Patrick Tuipulotu going over next.

Now they were scoring at will.  Sonny Bill Williams dotted down after good work from Ryan Crotty to cap his return to Test rugby.

Charles Piutau, Williams again and Julian Savea, from a ridiculous offload by captain Kieran Read, all added further tries before the half was out as the USA’s tackling sadly wasn’t up to scratch.

SBW was denied a hat-trick at the beginning of the second half after a forward pass but Joe Moody’s short-range score kept the momentum going the way of the world champions.

If there was a pointer for the All Blacks, Aaron Cruden’s kicking wasn’t perfect (not that it mattered.) Four of nine conversions went over on his return to Test action after being stood down in the middle of the Rugby Championship.  Luckily they had a replacement by the name of Dan Carter to come on.

Dagg brought up try number ten, deserved after his assists earlier on, as Carter looked to lay down a marker before facing England next weekend at Twickenham.

Sam Cane got in on the act for try number 11 and you could have forgiven the fans for deciding to head for the exit, but no one did.  A beautiful second try for Savea wrapped things up with the crowd rising to their feet.

For all parties, mission accomplished.

Man of the Match:  Showing touches of class throughout, Kieran Read was exceptional in the absence of Richie McCaw.

Moment of the Match:  Rather than any of the action, the pre-match build-up was truly special as both teams were given a rousing reception.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For USA:
Pens:  Siddall 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Harris, Jane, Tuipulotu, Williams 2, Piutau, Savea 2, Moody, Cruden, Dagg, Cane
Cons:  Cruden 4, Carter 3

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Brett Thompson, 10 Adam Siddall, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Danny Barrett, 7 Scott Lavalla, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Olive Kilifi, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements: 16 Tom Coolican, 17 Nick Wallace, 18 Mate Moeakiola, 19 Tai Tuisamoa, 20 Louis Stanfill, 21 Benjamin Tarr, 22 Folau Niua, 23 Troy Hall.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Daniel Carter, 23 Julian Savea.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referee:  Chris Assmus (Canada)

Japan get better of USA

Japan made it two wins from two in the Pacific Nations Cup after beating the United States 37-29 on Saturday, with Ayumu Goromaru kicking 17 points.

The full-back converted all four of Japan's tries and also sent over three penalties to help the Brave Blossoms claim a bonus-point victory.

Ryu Koliniasi Holani scored two tries while scrum-half Fumiaki Tanaka and winger Akihito Yamada scored a try apiece in reply to three tries from USA star Blaine Scully, with Cam Dolan adding another for the spirited home side.

Japan, who began their campaign with a win in Canada last week, now have nine points from two matches and host Italy next week in a friendly.

Scotland see off Eagles

An early Tim Visser try saw Scotland on their way to a 24-6 victory over the USA at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston on Saturday.

The Scots were dominant, but made rather hard work of their win in the sweltering Houston heat against an Eagles side that is on the up in world rugby.

Visser bagged his team's first after a super sniping dart from skipper Greig Laidlaw, who had opened the scoring with a penalty, to finish off in the corner, the captain converting.

The scrum-half had already traded penalties with Chris Wyles, before he had the simple task of adding the extras after the Scottish pack won a series of scrum penalties, Olive Kilifi was sent to the sin-bin, and eventually Pascal Gauzere lost patience and headed under the posts.

The Scots could have scored more in the first half, but a combination of poor finishing and stubborn USA defence kept the score to 17-3 at the break.

The second half followed a familiar pattern, with play lit up by a moment of genius from the talented Stuart Hogg.  Wyles had momentarily reduced the visitors' lead, before the full-back seized upon a high ball, and took advantage of poor defensive positioning to speed home from long-range.

The scorers:

For USA:
Pens:  Wyles 2
Yellow card:Kilifi

For Scotland:
Tries:  Visser, Penalty Try, Hogg
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pen:  Laidlaw

The teams:

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Luke Hume, 10 Shalom Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Scott LaValla, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Louis Stanfill, 3 Eric Fry, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Oliver Kilifi
Replacements:  16 Tom Coolican, 17 Nick Wallace, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Tai Tuisamoa, 20 Danny Barrett, 21 Folau Niua, 22 Chad London, 23 Tim Maupin

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements:  16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Moray Low, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Kieran Low, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Max Evans

Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (Fra)
Assistant referees:  Francesco Pastrana (Arg), Chris Assmus (Can)
TMO:  Alan Hosie (Sco)

Eagles see off Russia

The USA secured a hard-fought 28-7 victory over Rusia at Allianz Park in London on Saturday.

Chris Wyles the USA full-back, and Saracens stalwart, was in familiar surroundings at Sarries' home ground and got his side off to a solid start with an early try which was converted by fly-half Adam Siddal.

The lead was extended to 12-0 when Samu Manoa was rewarded with a five-pointer after a period of sustained pressure and good teamwork.  Unfortunately the conversion was missed, but the Eagles would hold a solid defensive line throughout the first half.

Siddal added another penalty, after the break, before Russia scored their first points via a try from Andrey Garbuzov.  Ramil Gaysin slotted the conversion to make it 15-7.

This was just the wake-up call the USA needed and from that point onwards they would not allow their opponents much field possession.  Cameron Dolan also got in for a late try for the Eagles which was converted by Siddal.  The pivot also succeeded with two further penalties during this period.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Wyles, Manoa, Dolan
Cons:  Siddal 2
Pen:  Siddal 3

For Russia:
Try:  Garbuzov
Con:  Gaysin

Russia:  15 Ramil Gaysin, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 Igor Galinovskiy, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Sergey Sugrobov, 9 Anton Ryabov, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Alexander Khudyakov, 5 Andrey Garbuzov, 4 Alexander Voytov (c), 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Grigory Tsnobiladze.
Replacements:  16 Vladislav Korshunov, 17 Aleksey Volkov, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Denis Antonov, 20 Artem Fatakhov, 21 Yury Kushnarev, 22 Andrey Otrokov, 23 Denis Simplikevich.

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Folau Niua, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Tim Maupin, 10 Adam Siddal, 9 Robbie Shaw, 8 Cameron Dolan, 7 Scott LaValla, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Samu Manoa, 4 Tai Tuisamoa, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Nick Wallace
Replacements:  16 Zach Fonoglio, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Eric Fry, 19 Graham Harriman, 20 Derek Asburn, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Seamus Kelly, 23 Luke Hume

Referee:  Marius Mitrea (Italy)

Eagles see off Georgia

A late penalty from fly-half Adam Siddall secured the USA's first win in a year as they overcame Georgia 25-23 in Tbilisi on Saturday.

Merab Kvirikashvili opened the scoring in style for the hosts with a penalty and a converted try in the corner in the opening fifteen minutes.

The Eagles responded well, however, after speedster Folau Niua chased down a kick deep in Georgian territory to win a lineout.

The pressure told, and Saracens winger Chris Wyles was sent over for his side's first points.

Kvirikashvili and Siddall then exchanged penalties, before the visitors scored a superb try.

Wyles again showed his pace, bursting some fifty metres downfield before finding captain Todd Clever.  Clever offloaded well to the supporting Blaine Scully, who beat the last Georgian defender and touched down under the posts.

With Siddal's conversion, the USA had a narrow 15-13 lead at half-time.

Another fine try for the visitors, albeit through an unlikely source, saw them extend their lead shortly after the break.

Prop Nick Wallace caught out the Georgian rearguard with a dummy, and had the pace to reach the line from around forty metres out.

The hosts hit back moments later, as last-ditch defence from Scully failed to prevent Merba Sharikadze scooping up the loose ball and dotting down.

Another three-pointer for the Georgians saw them draw ahead 23-22 in the closing minutes, before the Eagles won a penalty over forty metres out.

The New Zealand-born Siddall, enjoying his first start in the Eagles number ten jersey, stepped up and made no mistake from the tee to give his side a morale-boosting away victory.

Scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries:  Kvirikashvili, Sharikadze
Conversions:  Kvirikashvili 2
Penalties:  Kvirikashvili 3

For USA:
Tries:  Wyles, Scully, Wallace
Conversions:  Siddall 2
Penalties:  Siddall 2

The teams:

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Tamaz Mchelidze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Tedo Zibzibadze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Levan Datunashvili, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 David Kubriashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 David Khinchagishvili
Replacements:  16 Simon Maisuradze, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Giorgi Nemsadze, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaguradze, 23 Beka Tsiklauri

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Folau Nina, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Tim Maupin, 10 Adam Siddall, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Cameron Dolan, 7 Derek Asbun, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Samu Manoa, 4 Graham Harriman, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Tiel, 1 Nick Wallace
Replacements:  16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Eric Fry, 19 Inaki Basauri, 20 John Quil, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Seamus Kelly, 23 Luke Hume

Referee:  Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Ian Davies, Chris Williams (both Wales)