Australia and USA draw thriller to bring belated jeopardy to Rugby World Cup

Here, as promised, was the captivating arm-wrestle we had been waiting for. Second place in Pool A behind England was on the line, and both teams threw everything into an utterly compelling match that boasted a barely believable script. Neither side deserved to lose, so a draw was the right result, and second place will most likely come down to points difference in the final round after Samantha Wood missed a conversion to win it for Australia five minutes from time.

While Australia must face England next week, the USA have a less demanding task against Samoa, against whom the Wallaroos racked up a 73-0 score. It might go down to the wire. The brilliant wing Desiree Miller scored twice for the Wallaroos, while Freda Tafuna was credited with a hat-trick, although the No 6 said the third of those was in fact scored by Hope Rogers. A late try by Erica Jarrell-Searcy, plus that disputed fifth, looked to have won it for the USA before Eva Karpani’s try levelled it for Australia.

Steel-grey skies and teeming rain made for a traditionally English occasion and represented a proper Yorkshire welcome for all. It felt more like midwinter and the early skirmishes were suitably uncompromising, juddering tackles and fierce breakdown duels all over.

A couple of clumsy USA kicks from hand, followed by a penalty for offside, handed the Wallaroos field position for the opening score. “I am for perfection so I fall to excellence,” Miller said after a hat-trick against Samoa last week. The 23-year-old’s fourth try of the tournament was neatly finished after they hammered away at the try-line for 10 phases.

Caitlyn Halse, the 18-year-old Australia full-back, launched a superbly perceptive kick from hand and Miller was nearly in again, but could only kick the rolling ball into touch. Kathryn Treder, the USA hooker, had to produce a fine tackle to stop Miller yet again as the rain eased.

Ilona Maher, meanwhile, was playing like someone who didn’t fancy informing her Instagram followers about another defeat. The centre carried with power and intensity, and effected three crucial turnovers. The USA began to enjoy some continuity and when Keia Mae Sagapolu pouched a lineout and broke through the line, she found the captain Kate Zackary, who made more useful metres. Freda Tafuna came up with the ball.

McKenzie Hawkins lingered too long over the conversion, though, and ran out of time as a gust of wind blew the ball off the tee. That felt significant and Australia finished the half in the ascendancy. Piper Duck, the blindside, had a sniff of the try-line but slipped, and Hulse’s pass intended for Maya Stewart flew straight out.

Within a few seconds Hulse made amends, torpedoing under the posts for the Wallaroos’ second, and Joanne Yapp’s side led by nine points.

The USA knew it was now or never. Hawkins kicked to the wing Cheta Emba, who caught brilliantly, then Erica Coulibaly made progress with a quicksilver run on the left. Sagapolu forced her way over with a brilliant close-range finish after the USA kept it simple up the middle. But Hawkins again failed to convert: she pulled the kick left and it agonisingly bounced off both posts and out.

The Americans kept coming. Maher, a force of nature at the breakdown, brought a penalty and after Hawkins kicked for the corner Tafuna finished off a powerful drive. The celebrations were riotous, even more so when Hawkins nailed a far more difficult kick to create a three-point lead.

Momentum shifted? Not so fast. Miller burned across again for her fifth try of the tournament with Australia’s next attack, Wood missing the conversion, before a scrum penalty and then some lovely hands and running put Hulse over for her second try, and the bonus point for the Wallaroos – Wood clipping over the conversion for a nine-point gap.

Still the USA kept coming, and Jarrell-Searcy’s clever pick and go along with the fifth try, currently disputed between Tafuna and Rogers, created daylight on the scoreboard for Sione Fukofuka’s side. There was a simple conversion for Wood to win it for Australia after Karpani’s try, but she pulled it, and the qualification drama will go down to the final day in Pool A after this magnificent encounter. You want jeopardy? Well there it is.