England defeat USA

England won the game 17-13 in a match where both sides used the opportunity to rotate combinations.

USA had beaten Wales narrowly earlier in the week before a game broken up into four quarters was playedagainst England behind closed doors Wednesday.

USA had trouble getting out of their own half in the early part of Sunday’s match but had the first opportunity to score with a Kimber Rozier penalty, which went wide.

England's Danielle Waterman gave the Eagles a scare with a break wide before doing it again to open the scoring with a 23rd-minute try for a 5-0 lead.

USA lost Shaina Turley to the sin bin in the 32nd minute after multiple infractions for not rolling away in the ruck. With a player advantage for the remaining minutes of the first half, England doubled its lead with a try from Claire Purdy after USA had failed to clear from a five-metre scrum. Emily Scarratt’s conversion attempt was successful to give England a 12-0, halftime lead.

The Eagles offered more going forward in the opening minutes of the second half, but fell behind by an extra five points in the 47th minute when second-half substitute Katy Mclean was the beneficiary of neat passing to dot down in the try zone.

Sadie Anderson gave the Eagles a lifeline minutes later with a penalty kick to bring the score to 17-3 before Vanesha McGee scored a try in the 58th minute. The Eagles won a lineout and moved the ball through multiple phases before the wing broke through the line to score.

Down 17-8, the Eagles had plenty of work to do in the remaining 20 minutes. Much like the Eagles’ first-half play, England had trouble getting out of its own half against the wind. McGee caught a long clearance kick and ran 60 meters to the line for the Eagles’ second try, which brought the score to 17-13.

Despite a swing in momentum, USA could not complete the comeback but Eagles Head Coach Pete Steinberg saw some good signs from an improving team.

“Our performance was very good, but we had an opportunity to win the game and did not take it,” he said. “However, we leave this tour confident that we are continuing to improve and our pre-World Cup camp will be important to enhance our execution.”

“This tour has been a really great platform for us to fine-tune our game plan leading up to the World Cup,” McGee said. “Today’s match against England was winnable for us as we played some really great rugby. We didn’t finish on top, but we know we are stepping up into the right place as we continue our preparations. It’s a great feeling to see our hard work play out on the field and to build our team confidence.”

USA1. Sarah Chobot2. Kathryn Augustyn3. Hope Rogers4. Carmen Farmer5. Sarah Walsh6. Shaina Turley7. Jillion Potter8. Kate Daley9. Jocelyn Tseng10. Kimberly Rozier11. Nathalie Marchino12. Emilie Bydwell13. Akalaini "Bui" Baravilala14. Vanesha McGee15. Sadie Anderson

Replacements16. Kittery Wagner (@ 74')17. Jamie Burke (@ 70')18. Naima Reddick19. Sharon Blaney (@ 74')20. Lauren Daly (@ 70')21. Deven Owsiany (@ 70')22. Hannah Stolba (@ 74')23. Caroline White

England1 Claire Purdy2 Mercedes Foy3 Laura Keates4 Emily Braund5 Joanna McGilchrist6 Hannah Gallagher7 Heather Fisher8Alexandra Matthews9La Toya Mason10Ceri Large11Natasha Brennan12Rachael Burford13Emily Scarratt (C)14Lydia Thompson15Danielle Waterman

Replacements16 Vicky Fleetwood (@ 40')17 Rochelle Clark (@ 60')18  Sophie Hemming (@ 55')19 Margaret Alphonsi (@ 40')20 Sarah Hunter (@ 38')21 Georgina Gulliver (@ 40')22 Katy Mclean (@ 40')23 Michaela Staniford (@ 40')

Women's Eagles | 13Tries: McGee (2)Conversions: NonePenalties: Anderson

England | 17Tries: Waterman, Purdy, McleanConversions: ScarrattPenalties: None