Wales cruise in Chicago

Wales made it two wins from two on their North American tour as they demolished the United States 48-15 at Toyota Park on Saturday.

The under-strength visitors enjoyed the majority of possession in Chigaco, with impressive Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies claiming a brace of tries to accompany eighteen points from the tee.

USA now head into the 2009 Churchill Cup on the back of a couple of defeats under new coach Eddie O'Sullivan and will be keen to start the tournament in better form against the Argentina Jaguars this coming Wednesday.

Robin McBryde's side were forced to cope with an early injury to captain Ryan Jones as they finished their season on a high to claim success in what was their 600th international match.

Playing in front of a 6,262 crowd the majority of whom appeared to be Welsh supporters, had expected a physical encounter with the Americans, just as they had experienced in beating Canada 32-23 a week earlier in Toronto.

They got exactly what they expected early when Eagles prop Will Johnson landed a big hit on Jones in the opening minute.  He needed a lengthy spell of treatment before returning to the action.

He was still in trouble though, and twice needed further attention before being forced to leave the field in the 20th minute, his replacement Sam Warburton of Cardiff Blues coming on to earn his first cap.

By then Wales were on top at 13-3, thanks to two opening penalties from Nicky Robinson, Gavin Debartolo replying for USA, and a try from Mark Jones, who finished off a move started by Deiniol Jones off a ruck.

Jones had also scored a try in Wales' 500th international, eight years ago in Osaka against Japan and Robinson added the conversion to send Wales 13-3 up.

It got better for Wales moments later when Robinson collected from scrum-half Peel and chipped over the top, collecting the ball and off-loading on the halfway line for outside centre Davies to run in for his first international try.

There was more collateral damage as flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor joined fellow back rower Jones on the bench after tweaking a hamstring.

Reserve hooker Richard Hibbard was sent on at blindside with Warburton already at openside, Dafydd Jones having taken over at number eight when Jones went off to form a very unfamiliar back row, with prop Duncan Jones taking over the captaincy.

American zeal strayed over into indiscipline when back row Louis Stanfill was sin-binned by referee Matt Goddard for bringing down a maul and a minute later the Australian official awarded a penalty try to Wales when Dafydd Jones was denied a try as his pack pushed over.

Eagles back rowers Peter Dahl and Nic Johnson both went deliberately offside to prevent the touchdown.  Robinson converted from in front of the posts and Wales went in at the break 27-3 up and well in control.

Mike Hercus replaced Ata Malifa at half-time while Wales rejigged their pack further in the 49th minute with Craig Mitchell replacing tighthead prop John Yapp and Luke Charteris coming on for Gough in the second row.

The USA had lost 27-10 to Ireland in California last Sunday and there was still life in the Eagles in Chicago as they nullified the Welsh threat and started to gain territory of their own.

Their reward came in the 53rd minute when centre Alipate Tuilvuka crashed through tackles from substitute lock Luke Charteris and Peel to give the USA their first try of the game.  Debartolo added the conversion and Wales' lead had been cut to seventeen points.

Jonathan Spratt came off the Wales bench for full-back Daniel Evans and nearly had a hand in a fourth try for the tourists only for his pass outside to Tom James, who subsequently went over the line, to be ruled forward in the 59th minute.

James did get his try four minutes later, pouncing on a ball that ricocheted off his boot near the USA 22 to pick up on the try line and touch down.  Robinson converted with his last kick of the game before making way for Dan Biggar at fly-half with the score at 34-10.

Cooper replaced James and he got on the scoresheet when Biggar kicked ahead, the 30-year-old scrum-half beating the 19-year-old fly-half to the ball to touchdown.

Biggar was left to kick the conversion as Wales moved 41-10 ahead.

Davies added his second try of the afternoon with two minutes to go, Biggar converting again for another perfect outing from the Wales kickers.

The Americans, building for a World Cup qualifying tie with Canada next month, added their second try in the final minute when sub JJ Gagliano got over the line, referee Goddard having the score confirmed by video review.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Tuilevuka, Gagiani
Con:  DeBartalo
Pen:  DeBartalo

For Wales
Tries:  Davies 2, penalty, James, Jones, Cooper
Con:  Robinson 3, James, Biggar 2
Pen:  Robinson 2

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Gavin DeBartalo, 13 Alipate Tuilevuka, 12 Roland Suniula, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Ata Malifa, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van Der Giessen, 3 Will Johnson, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Matekitonga Moeakiola.
Replacements:  16 Brian McClanahan, 17 Mike MacDonald , 18 Courtney Mackay, 19 JJ Gagiani, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Mike Hercus, 22 Junior Sifa.

Wales:  15 Daniel Evans, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Tom James, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones (capt), 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Ian Gough, 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Duncan Jones, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 John Yapp
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Sam Warburton, 20 Gareth Cooper, 21 Daniel Biggar, 22 Jonathan Spratt.

Referee:  Matt Goddard (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Rob Debney, Dave Smortchevsky
Assessor:  Douglas Kerr (Scotland)