First published on Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 17.41 EDT
At FedEx Stadium outside Washington, the United States set up a booth for the Rugby World Cup. Everyone cheered, and the Stars and Stripes flew. .. Many attempts have been made with New Zealand.
This is foreseeable. The American football team, and perhaps the world football team, are considering a bigger picture. Through the most optimistic view possible, this is a brief experience of what is to come. It is also more like a training video rather than any type of game, it is a demonstration of a pure black attack.
USA Rugby estimated that 50,000 people attended, but about 10,000 fewer than that. Despite this, most fans come from the thriving American subculture and proudly wear the colors of schools, universities, clubs and even service colleges. In a fierce opener, the Army defeated the Navy 24-17.
The pre-match ceremony, a part of any international competition, is touched by fresh sadness. The Americans remained silent on Kathy Flores, the great player and coach who died this week. Starting with the All Blacks, there was an 11-second pause before the haka dance to commemorate Maori winger Sean Venuy, who was only 25 years old, who was killed in a car accident. Captain America Bryce Campbell put a No. 11 jersey on the grass.
After that, Campbell's Eagle covered every blade... and chased the black shadow at the same time.
Because the game is outside the fall testing window, the Americans cannot send players hired by overseas clubs. It is not surprising that a team selected entirely from the Major League Football League cannot accommodate an all-black team with 374 appearances and four World Cup championship medals on the bench. Dane Coles, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Anton Lienert-Brown and Beauden Barrett, two world players of the year. Everyone came and did their part for this catastrophe. The three Eagles have not participated in a test. So it goes.
As it happens, the author Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote this Analects of Fate, once reported on rugby at Cornell University. He called it "a damn good game, faster than football and harder than football". The All Blacks did their best to prove that he was right.
Wing player Luke Jacobson made his first attempt to score within 30 seconds of kick-off. The backpack secured the ball, the guard moved it, and full-back Damian McKenzie slid past the Eagles' defense. The parade started there.
Which one is trying to single out? Too much, the Hawks deformed, the tackle was missed, and the line opened. The sixth attempt, before 25 minutes, was probably the best: the half-flying Richie Mo'unga cuts the ball, the wing Will Jordan catches it and passes the ball back to Mo'unga. He gave up halfway, drunkly waltzing towards the team.
It sums up the expanded mismatch slightly strangely and easily. The same was true for the eighth attempt, which brought 50 points. Jordan's onslaught, Angus Ta'avao's galloping house... a stubborn prop.
Of course, there are more attempts, even if the All Blacks' feet leave the throttle.
"The reality is," their coach Ian Foster said, "our game was a little lax, especially when we tried too much."
Oh, there is such a problem. In this case, the U.S. team persisted well and scored twice on their own at the end of halftime. Just before the break, some chaos around the ruck was enough for Nate Augspurger, half of Scrum, to pass quickly and beat McKenzie to score. In the second half, winger Ryan Matyas responded well to Jordan's tackle from a corner kick-pulling his shorts in half-and scored five points.
The downturn of the Eagles head coach Gary Gold is understandable, but he is ready for these positive things.
"I chose to be someone who looks for benefits in what we do," he said. "And I think they are passages with some good things. We will get a little encouragement. You know, for those small playing passages, we can put some pressure on them and finally get two attempts."
They are the first time an American man has played against New Zealand. They may be the last time.