USA held up their end of the bargain in their quest to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup, but they face a nervous wait to see if their commanding victory over Samoa is enough.
The Eagles knew they had to win in York and hope Australia were beaten by England without securing a bonus point to reach the last eight – with a 135-point swing also needed across the two games to ensure USA overhauled the Wallaroos.
They did their job, racking up their biggest scoreline for more than a decade, but need England to win by 75 points and prevent Australia from gaining a bonus point for scoring four tries or more to confirm they qualify alongside the hosts.
Ten tries – four of them to forward Freda Tafuna – and five conversions from Gabby Cantorna meant all eyes now turn to Brighton. There was never really any danger of the Eagles failing to pick up a victory here against a Samoan side that had failed to score a try in their opening two games.
This was instead more about accumulating as many points as possible to pile the pressure on the Wallaroos. The first priority in York was to secure the bonus point courtesy of four tries; that was achieved inside the opening 30 minutes.
Tafuna’s wonderful solo effort broke the deadlock after six minutes before two tries in 12 minutes from Hope Rogers underlined USA’s early dominance. By half-time, they had two more tries from Cassidy Bargell and Erica Coulibaly to make it 27-0 at the interval. But the urgency in the USA’s play after the break underlined they needed much more.
Erica Jarrell resumed the scoring within seconds of the restart before Tafuna picked up her second three minutes later with a rampaging run through the Samoan midfield. Two more tries for Tafuna either side of the hour mark hinted that the Eagles were set to run up a huge scoreline, though their cause was not helped when Kristin Bitter was sent to the sin-bin with 20 minutes left.
after newsletter promotion
That stunted their flow and it looked like Samoa, roared on by a boisterous crowd, might even score a try of their own. However, USA finished with a flourish as Olivia Ortiz’s try and a fifth conversion from Cantorna brought up the 60-point mark in the closing moments. Time will tell if it is enough.
