Washington (AFP) – England wrapped up their tour of Argentina and the United States with a comprehensive 40-5 victory over the US Eagles in a weather-interrupted Test match in Washington D.C. on Saturday. Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall, and Gabriel Oghre — one of six players to earn his first cap in the match — scored the tries as England backed up their two-Test series win over Argentina with a comfortable victory.
Lightning delayed the match kickoff by about an hour and interrupted the contest in the 29th minute for a delay of about 40 minutes at Washington’s Audi Field, home of MLS side DC United. “A lot of hard work,” England captain George Ford said. “Conditions were difficult. I’m proud of the boys. It’s the last day of a four-week tour for us. We won all three games. We had six new caps today. We’re really proud of what they did and I’m proud of the group effort as a whole.”
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England’s win was their seventh straight international victory following their defeat to Ireland in February in their Six Nations opener. The English improved to 8-0 against the USA Eagles by winning only their second match on US soil. “It’s always tough to face a tier one team,” US captain Ben Bonasso said. “The boys, we still trust the process. We got a try at the end. We hope to keep on going.” The Eagles defeated Belgium but lost to Spain in prior summer matches. “Facing this type of speed and collisions will make you better,” Bonasso said. “We still have to qualify for the World Cup so this will help us down the road.”
The starting lineup featured previously uncapped Arthur Clark, Max Ojomoh, and Joe Carpenter, while substitutes Oghre, Charlie Atkinson, and Oscar Beard also made England debuts. “It’s massive. They have been huge all tour,” Ford said. “They got their opportunities tonight but the way they have applied themselves and trained and prepared the team for the two games in Argentina was unbelievable. They deserved that. It’s a proud moment for them.” Also in England’s lineup was Exeter Chiefs wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who served a red-card ban for the two matches in South America but made his return against the Eagles.
– Fast start – Chris Hilsenbeck of the Eagles was shown a yellow card in the ninth minute, and England capitalized in the 11th minute, Langdon scoring the try from the back of a rolling maul. Northmore touched the ball down between the uprights off a pass from debutant Ojomoh in the 18th minute. Alex Dombrandt had what seemed to be a try in the 28th minute overturned on TMO review just before lightning halted the match in the 29th minute.
After the resumption, Carpenter lost a try in his England debut on TMO review in the 37th minute, but Murley scored a try on a cutback run on the final play of the first half to give England a 19-0 half-time lead. England scored again in the first minute of the second half as Van Poortvliet finished and Ford added another conversion. Harry Randall added a try in the 62nd minute following an impressive offload by Feyi-Waboso, and Oghre added another try in the 74th minute with an Atkinson conversion making it 40-0. Shilo Klein grabbed a late consolation for the home side with a try in the final moments of the game.
© 2024 AFP
