On Tuesday, the U18 USA Rugby Girls High School All Americans took on the Canadian U18 Girls National Team, at University of Ottawa, for the first of a two game competition. The All Americans would struggle on their first match up, as they fell 58-12 to Canada. This game was a historic match up, as this was the first time that these two North American countries, would face off against each other with their girls national XVs team.
At 91 degrees (Fahrenheit) and away from home, All Americans were caught off guard by the power running of the Canadian side.
Canada would score two tries early with a short power drive by their forwards, and follow it up with a nice long run by their 8-Man, Gabrielle Senft. Canada would have a 14-0 lead early in the first half. The USA showed plenty of grit though as Flanker, Elizabeth Wilson, would get the first score for the All-Americans, coming off the scrum and a 10 meter run. The All-Americans trailed 17-5 midway through the first half.
The All-Americans had their best run of the match towards the end of the first half when prop, Fane Haungatau, took the ball and broke a long 50 meter run for the score, allowing the All-Americans to go into the half trailing 24-12.
The second half was mostly forgettable for the All-Americans, as the Canadians were able to go on a 29-0 scoring spree.
This was definitely a tough game for the All-Americans, but plenty of lessons to learn from it. The Canadians were able to take advantage of gap space in between the American defense. Canada was able to control their ball handling and take advantage of mistakes made by the Americans. Fortunately, the All-Americans will have another opportunity to clean up their mistakes, and show off the extent of their talent.
Next match will take place on Saturday, August 5th at 5pm CST. The match will be streamed on the Rugby Canada Facebook page.