USA blasts through Brazil in La Vila

The USA had no trouble blasting through Brazil in La Vila on Saturday, outscoring their opponents by 8 tries to none for a final score of 48-3. A bizarre referee decision in the second half left Brazil down a man for a portion of the second half, but the South Americans were already well beaten.

Os Tupis started poorly, conceding two tries to the Eagles in the first five minutes. Both were scored by Joe Mano. A long miss-out pass from Nick McCarthy found the left winger wide open for the first, then Paddy Ryan looped around an attacking move to free Mano for his double.

Possession finally went to Brazil but a penalty chance for Lucas Spago went begging. After a brief period of parity the Eagles were in for a third try. A scrum penalty earned territory and then Tommaso Boni crashed in under the sticks with Luke Carty’s conversion making it 17-nil.

Spago got the Tupis on the board through his left boot at the half-four mark. The USA were in a try-scoring mood, however, and their fourth would again come via Mano. Brazil’s outside defense was again found wanting and Carty’s flat ball put the Utah flyer over for a hat trick on debut.

Early in the second half Boni grabbed his second try after a line break from Nate Augspurger. The kick from Carty made it 29-3 and Brazil were then hit with a combination of injury and interpretation that left them down a man for the remainder of the game.

With starting hooker Endy Willian already off the pitch, his replacement Henrique Ferreira was then forced off with his own lower leg injury. The Tupis captain asked to move Wilton Rebolo to hooker, a position he has played many times before, but the referee insisted that scrums instead go uncontested because the Brazilian management had forgotten to indicate his ability to play hooker on the team sheet. As a result winger Ariel Rodrigues had to leave the field and Brazil were down to 14 players.

Thomas Tu’avao barged over for a sixth Eagles try just before the hour mark, and there was nearly a seventh when Siaosi Mahoni broke free but his offload didn’t go to hand. Brazil then lost Rebolo to an HIA requiring Matheus Rocha to return to the field as scrums remained uncontested.

Line breaks from André Arruda and Daniel Lima both went unrewarded for Brazil as they failed to conjure even a single try. The Eagles would score twice in the final minutes, with Lauina Futi on the end of a huge overlap and youngster Dom Besag recording his first test try on a searing break up the middle from a set move to bring up full time.

Both teams will play at the same venue next Saturday and will know their opponent by the end of the day. The USA will play the winner of Spain vs Canada while the loser will take on Brazil.

 

SCORING

USA 48
Tries (8) – J. Mano 3 (2′, 5′, 34′), T. Boni 2 (23′, 46′), T. Tu’avao (57′), L. Futi (73′), D. Besag (80′)
Cons (4) – L. Carty 3/7 (24′, 47′, 58′), C. Mattina 1/1 (80’+1′)

BRAZIL 3
Pens (1) – L. Spago 1/2 (30′)

 

TEAMS

USA
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Jake Turnbull 45′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Peter Malcolm 60′), 3 Alex Maughan (18 David Ainu’u HT), 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.) (19 Siaosi Mahoni 60′), 5 Sam Golla, 6 Vili Helu (20 Thomas Tu’avao 53′), 7 Paddy Ryan, 8 Luke White, 9 Nick McCarthy (21 Michael Baska 67′), 10 Luke Carty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Tommaso Boni (22 Dom Besag 58′), 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Joe Mano (23 Lauina Futi 50′), 15 Chris Mattina

BRAZIL
1 Matheus Rocha (18 Leonel Moreno 63′), 2 Endy Willian (16 Henrique Ferreira 33′ {17 Caíque Silva 45′}), 3 Wilton Rebolo (1 Matheus Rocha 68′), 4 Gabriel Paganini (capt.), 5 Matteo Dell’Acqua (20 Matheus Cláudio 50′), 6 Cléber Dias (19 Ben Donald 58′), 7 Adrio de Melo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Gonçalves (22 Douglas Rauth 53′), 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Daniel Lima (23 João Amaral 68′), 12 Victor Silva (21 Robert Tenório 33′), 13 Lorenzo Massari, 14 Ariel Rodrigues*, 15 Lucas Tranquez

*14 Ariel Rodrigues was forced to leave the field at 55 minutes due to uncontested scrums

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)

 

Venue: El Pantano, Villajoyosa