For all the glamour of another big occasion at Sandy Park, all the players knew it was judgement day. A failure to put in a performance, and that was goodbye to a flight to New Zealand. For the English it could mean months of the toughest preparations would come to nothing.
Simon Middleton had his reasons for praising the Eagles as ‘a strong side who performed well against Scotland last week.’ That was very generous. Other results told a different story. Most recently in the Pacific-4 series they were walloped by Canada 36-5, scraped home 16-14 against the Wallaroos and went down to the Black Ferns 50-6.
And he conveniently overloooked the 89-0 drubbing the Eagles suffered at the hands of his own side at Sixways last November. That is why he was prepared to leave so many first-choices off the field. But it’s always fascinating to watch new players or players in new positions sorting out the posers set by a less than familiar opposition.
The Game
This was far from a perfect performance from the Red Roses. The management may well have realised that not everything would work out as they wished. Players playing for their survival may not be in the best frame of mind, as they were twice against the Black Ferns last year. Endless months of practice are not the same as one game of rugby.
The Red Roses took command at an early scrum near the American line. They put in a huge effort; the scrummage changed shape, Poppy Cleall offered Mo Hunt a delicious pass through her legs, and the experienced No 9 got her first star for a Sansus-like snipe round the side to open the scoring.
On six minutes England fans saw a sight to gladden their eye: Jess Breach intercepted a pass down the Eagles’ line. She was away on a 60-metre run, and there was the delicate two-handed touchdown that so many beaten defenders have witnessed. No histrionics needed.
Just like Dannah O’Brien recently, Emily Scarratt saw the ball fall off the tee in the wind, but she completed her drop-kick – no problems.
Amy Cokayne had understandable difficulty finding her target at the line-out, but after two off-line attempts the third hit its mark. She was the beneficiary on the end of an unstoppable drive.
At last the backs strung a series of challenging passes around. Zoe Harrison and Ellie Kildunne put Claudia Macdonald free on the left. Her first try since her return from the neck injury that threatened her career was greeted with whoops of joy from her team-mates. Some of us could wonder how we would show up when faced with such odds. More on that still to come.
The half concluded with a second long-distance effort from Breach, her 29th in 23 outings, if you please! Poppy Cleall won yet another turnover, and the captain fed her winger inside her own half. Perhaps an analyst would care to measure up the longest tries Breach and Abby Dow (on the mend, but not yet match-fit) have run in for their nation. They must take on marathon lengths.
Half-time 33-0
Things went awry in the second half as the Eagles, given a few sensible pointers by Rob Cain at half-time, put them under the cosh. This was a far more complete performance than the one-way traffic show last November,
But first there was more delight when Scarratt fed Macdonald who showed the quality of her running skills: a shimmy in and out at top pace, and she was in for her second. That surely was worth a seat on a plane.
But now the Eagles took over. They started bullying the English pack to gain valuable ground. The end was almost inevitable: Hope Rogers was in for yet another try, and her team had won real credit for breaching the home defences.
More worrying still, the Red Roses lost two players to two cards in the space of minutes. First, Shaunagh Brown was found guilty of a high tackle. Aurélie Groizeleau awarded a yellow, while many observers thought a red was more appropriate.
When Jennine Detiveaux made a dangerous run to an inch from the line, Claudia Macdonald showed the sort of courage given to few of us. Damaged neck or no damaged neck, she threw herself at the American winger and forced her into touch.
Detiveaux launched a hopeful inside pass to her support, but to Helena Rowland’s intense dismay, her hand made a reflex grab for the ball. It went into touch, she covered her head in her hands, knowing the unintentional gravity of her action. Her team-mates on the bench did their best to console her.
For Brown the situation looked quite a bit worse. A few moments before her card she had been penalised for deliberate obstruction. It has always seemed to me that she had an uphill struggle to cement a permanent place in the side, having first played at the age of 25. Some of the game’s intricacies can still confuse her, and she had taken a long while to master vital techniques at the set-scrum.
With Bryony Cleall really putting herself about in the opening stages of the game, and Maud Muir still to come on, things didn’t look good for one of the Red Roses’ most recognisable and well-liked faces
That made it 13 v 15.
It was a relief to hear David Flatman express the wish that World Rugby would look at that iniquitous law (deliberate knock-on). Of course the action must be punished – a penalty try was awarded – but the compulsory 10 minutes in the bin should be removed.
We saw two examples of the law in action at Northampton, when first Kendra Cocksedge was dismissed, then Sarah McKenna. McKenna’s fault was clear cut, not the Kiwi’s. It was hard to pin the word ‘deliberate’ on her action.
Fortunately for the home crowd, Harrison produced another of her excellent grubbers to allow Kildunne to outpace defenders and touch down. Straight out of the Daley-Mclean primer.
Still, a second try for the USA left a second-half score of 19-14, hardly a runaway win.
Rob Cain can take a lot of heart from his team’s performance. The one element that will surely remain missing from his line-up is the presence of ex-Olympic sprinters in the back-line. They proved too hot to handle for England in the last pool-stage match in Dublin five years ago, but names like Emba, Thomas and Maher are unlikely to be available again.
Result: England 52 USA 14
Player of the Match: Claudia Macdonald
Teams:
England
15. Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 23 caps), 14. Jess Breach (Saracens, 22 caps), 13. Emily Scarratt (captain; Loughborough Lightning, 101 caps), 12. Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 4 caps), 11. Claudia MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps), 10. Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 38 caps), 9. Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 59 caps), 1. Hannah Botterman (Saracens, 28 caps), 2. Amy Cokayne (Harlequins, 62 caps), 3. Bryony Cleall (Wasps, 6 caps), 4. Rosie Galligan (Harlequins, 6 caps), 5. Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning, 19 caps), 6. Zoe Aldcroft (vice-captain; Gloucester-Hartpury, 30 caps), 7. Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 3 caps), 8. Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 55 caps)
Bench:
16. Connie Powell (Gloucester-Hartpury, 4 caps), 17. Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 9 caps), 18. Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins, 26 caps), 19. Morwenna Talling (Loughborough Lightning, 3 caps), 20. Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens, 81 caps), 21. Leanne Infante (Saracens, 51 caps), 22. Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 15 caps), 23. Holly Aitchison (Saracens, 8 caps)
USA
1. Hope Rogers, 2, Jojo Kitlinski, 3 Nick James, 4. Hallie Taufoou, 5. Kristine Sommer, 6 Rachel Johnson, 7. Georgie Perris-Redding,, 8. Kate Zackary (captain), 9. Olivia Ortiz, 10. Gabby Cantorna, 11, Lotte Clapp, 12, Katana Howard, 13 Eti Haungatau, 14. Jennine Detiveaux, 15 Alev Kelter
Bench:
16. Kathryn Treder, 17. Catie Benson, 18. Charli Jacoby, 19. Evi Ashenbrucker, 20. Elizabeth Cairns, 21. Carly Waters 22. Megan Foster, 23. Meya Bizer
Officials
Referee: Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR)
ARs: Doriane Domenjo (FFR) and Maria Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR) TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
Afterthoughts
Kelter at 15 meant Cain was trying to find the slot that gives her most opportunities to do maximum damage.
Two familiar English names from the Prem 15s. Georgie Perris-Redding has done well to capture a starting role in the back-row. That will please her many Sale fans. Lotte Clapp gives a lot of top- class experience to the USA back-line.
Venues
This was England’s fourth visit to Sandy Park. I’m sure I heard some squeaks from people living at the other end of the country. Why not us?
Even the venue for the second game, Bristol, is in the same neck of the woods. The two previous venues were Gloucester and Leicester, two famous hotbeds of the game, but the last match north of the Trent was at Doncaster, and Castle Park is not big enough to contain a 5-figure crowd.
I hope and expect that the RFU will manage to find another ground in the north so that fans aren’t again faced with a journey of 279 miles from Leeds to see their favourite team. If not, it will look like the confirmation of an unwelcome north-south divide.
English players who needed to impress and did: Bryony Cleall, Hannah Botterman, Sadia Kabeya, Tatyana Heard and above all Claudia Macdonald.
Attendance 10,907. It was excellent to see the new east stand full to capacity at last, but the north stand remained obstinately bare. The day will dawn when stadiums are filled on all four sides.
But not Nice for the France-Italy game. The crowd looked minute, the atmosphere hard to spot. Perhaps that helps to explain this scoring sequence: 21-0 after 22 minutes; 21-0 at the end. Scarcely credible. Don’t think Nice will be invited back any time soon.
A 24th win on the trot. Now the Red Roses can stand shoulder to shoulder with Cyprus’ men’s team, yes, Cyprus.
