USA Rugby was hammered by the Argentina XV, dropping perhaps their most important contest of the Americas Rugby Championship, 14-45. With the loss, the Eagles will need some outside help if they want to retain their ARC title. Not much went right for the Americans in this match. In what was likely the biggest disappointment in the tenure of coach Gary Gold, we’ll get to see how Gold manages his squad through adversity.
Quick Start
Argentina XV wasted no time punishing American mistakes. Following a missed tackle by Gannon Moore on the wing, the Jaguares scored their first seven points within two minutes. A few blinks, sips of beer, and missed tackles later, it was already 21-0.
Argentina simply kept the ball alive, capitalizing on the Eagles’ inability to make consistent tackles. And capitalize they did, seeming to break through the line every time they had the ball in hand. Before the Eagles could even get their feet under them, Argentina XV had run away with it.
Lasike Sees Red
Given the quickly mounting score deficit and the southern heat, tempers flared quickly. No more noticeably so than with Harlequin Paul Lasike. Following a breakdown, an Argentinian player had grabbed hold of Lasike around his lower leg. He was illegally holding Lasike in the breakdown. Lasike tried to break free, first by shoving the Argentinian into the ground a couple of times. When that didn’t work, he stomped on the entangler.
After a quick TMO review, Lasike was shown red.
Look, there is a lot of history with stomping in rugby. Not too long ago, it was a regular part of the game. In today’s game, there’s no place for it. For Lasike, the referee made the unfortunate and potentially confusing decision to send Lasike off while attributing it to stomping on the player’s head. From the video, it seemed more like Lasike stomped on his shoulder blades.
But the truth is, any intentional stomp is grounds for a red card. It doesn’t matter where on the body. Mingling it with the current aversion to contact with the head was a bit beside the point.
Fool’s Gold
The ball is in Gary Gold’s court. Teams have bad games, of course. But this team, with this coach, has not had one nearly this disappointing. In what has felt like a golden age of American rugby, this road bump will test Gold’s consistency like never before. It is easier to be consistent when the team is playing in its best form in history. Will he keep his first choice 15 the same after this or does something new need to be tried?
You never want a team to panic after only one poor performance, but with the Rugby World Cup in the fall, there isn’t going to be much time to make changes.
The Positives
It wasn’t all bad. It was mostly bad. But not all bad.
The scrum was effective, drawing several penalties in the early going. In a somewhat strange move, Gold brought in Chance Wenglewski in the first half, flipping Titi Lamositele from loose-head to tight-head. The change didn’t seem to hurt the Eagle scrum, which promptly won another penalty after Chance’s entry.
Cam Dolan also played well. One of his patented intercepts led to a long breaaj k downfield. He would be brought into touch without scoring. Shortly thereafter he had another break, this time putting boot to ball on a cross-field grubber of sorts. AJ MacGinty was the closest American to collecting it, but it would fall into Argentinian hands.
And the team, to their credit, continued to fight. Despite the frustration evident in the Americans’ body language, they played til the final whistle, scoring both their tries in the waning minutes.
Americas Rugby Championship
With the loss, it is highly unlikely that the Eagles will three-peat as winners of the ARC. For them to do so, one of the other Americas teams would need to beat Argentina XV. With Canada’s current form, it would be quite surprising to see it happen.
So, for the Eagles, the rest of this tournament will be about addressing what went wrong and learning as much as possible in advance of the Pacific Nations Cup this summer. That will be the last rehearsal before the big show. The band had been playing well, great even. We will see how quickly Gary Gold can get them back in tune.
In perhaps the most disappointing showing in Gary Gold’s tenure at the helm, USA Rugby was taken to the shed against Argentina XV, spoiling an ARC three-peat.