New-look England beats rusty US 43-29 in Twickenham try-fest

Published 4:31 pm Sunday, July 4, 2021

LONDON (AP) — England accounted for the United States 43-29 at Twickenham on Sunday with a messy finish after a brilliant start.

England had the expected win in hand after 30 minutes when it led 26-3, but the Eagles, in their first test since the 2019 Rugby World Cup, improved quickly, and outscored the home side 26-17 in an entertaining second half featuring skimpy defense.

England coach Eddie Jones wanted his side with eight new starters to rule up front and click from the first minute. They clicked from the seventh with the first of their seven tries. New flyhalf Marcus Smith kicked to touch, Max Malins impressively caught it, and flanker Sam Underhill charged up the inside to score.

New fullback Freddie Steward then drew the defense and freed Ollie Lawrence, who dragged U.S. wing Mikey Te’o to the tryline.

A tap penalty by new scrumhalf Harry Randall, and Steward’s chip out of heavy traffic gave Joe Cokanasiga an easy try, and minutes later the wing burst into a gap from a Smith pass and scored 40 meters later for 26-3.

Cokanasiga also scored two tries against the U.S. at the World Cup, his last test before he was sidelined for a year by a knee injury. He has a pair in his last three starts.

The romp was on. But England’s fire cooled before halftime after a collision of heads that forced Lawrence and U.S. fullback Marcel Brache to walk off. Brache was wearing 15 after the late withdrawal of an injured Will Hooley. Christian Dyer, who tried to make the Olympic sevens team, became the sixth American new cap.

The U.S. opened the new half in style, when Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz was driven over in a lineout maul, which became an England weakness.

New England hooker Jamie Blamire then scored from his own chargedown, only for No. 8 Cam Dolan to repeat the trick for the U.S.

England led 31-13 amid the disruption of both benches starting to be cleared when halves Randall and Smith struck to make it a much safer 43-15 with 10 minutes to go.

Randall broke from a scrum and popped up for Smith to score, then moments later Randall dummied three Americans and broke clear from the U.S. 22 to score.

Smith, one of 12 in the England side given their debut, was named man of the match. On Jones’ radar since 2015 when he was a schoolboy, Smith adapted his impressive club form to test rugby a week after leading Harlequins to the English title on the same ground.

The U.S. completed its first match against England at Twickenham in 22 years with tries to Hanco Germishuys and Dyer. They scored four tries against a tier one team for the first time since 2004 when they posted five against France.

Flyhalf Luke Carty, on debut, and the younger brother of Ireland World Cup flyhalf Jack, added four goalkicks from five attempts.

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