GLENDALE, Colo.—A short rest, a flurry of penalties and some fundamental mistakes stacked up against the U.S. rugby squad Wednesday in their Churchill Cup opener.
The Eagles forfeited an early lead and fell victim to a relentless attack by the Argentina Jaguars as they lost 35-14 in pool play.
This is the first time the tournament is being hosted solely on U.S. soil and American fans crammed Infinity Field near Denver to watch. But the crowd wasn’t enough to keep the U.S. team on course.
“There’s nothing better than playing in front of your home crowd,” the Eagles’ Gavin DeBartolo said. “(Argentina) just got a few quick points and it set up the game for them.”
Argentina trailed 11-6 with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half after DeBartolo sneaked in the corner for a try.
But then the penalties started and Argentina went on a 13-0 run that spanned the final minutes of the first half and the beginning of the second half.
The U.S. gave up 21 points on penalties, thanks to the unforgiving boot from Argentina’s Benjamin Urdapilleta, who drilled six penalty kicks and scored 22 points. Argentina scored just two tries, but sizzled in its kicking game to open up a lead.
“The 21 points is probably the hardest part,” new coach Eddie O’Sullivan said, shaking his head. O’Sullivan, the former Ireland coach who was hired by the U.S. in March, and the Eagles were coming off a 48-15 loss to Wales last weekend in Illinois.
“That’s a young Eagles team,” he said. “There are a few guys out there tonight that haven’t played at this level yet. I think we got a bit tired in the end as well, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s a huge amount of effort that went in.”
Early on the U.S. squad got some help from the crowd. Chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” echoed through the stadium whenever the Eagles displayed some patience on the field. Their first try came after six or seven attempts out of the scrum. Plays like that put the Argentines on their heels, as the England Saxons played when they topped the Jaguars last weekend.
“We had some problems with (the Eagles) in the first half,” Argentina coach Raul Perez admitted. “But things came together for us in the second.”
Right away actually.
The Jaguars closed the opening 40 minutes with a long 50-meter drop kick and one of Urdapilleta’s penalty kicks. In the first minute of the second half, Agustin Gosio won a foot race for a try and a 19-11 Argentina advantage.
DeBartolo answered with a penalty kick after an offsides penalty against the Jaguars to make it 19-14 four minutes into the half. That was as close as the Eagles would get as the Jaguars pulled away.
“It’s a work in progress all the time,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re three games in here and we’ve played three teams ranked well above us in the world. We know the mistakes we made.”
The Churchill Cup continues Sunday when the U.S. faces England and Georgia and Ireland face off. After trailing for most of the game, Ireland grabbed the lead and won a 30-19 victory over Canada in Wednesday’s early match.
