USA determined to build on positives after England WXV defeat

World Rugby
Eagles captain Kate Zackary is hopeful her side will improve for their match against France

USA captain Kate Zackary is confident her side can build on plenty of positives from defeat to England in their opening WXV 1 match in Vancouver.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Eagles were beaten 61-21 by the Red Roses but made the world No.1 ranked side work hard for their victory, with two tries from Alev Kelter and another from Zackary keeping them in touch for much of the contest.

England eventually pulled away towards the end to extend their margin of victory, and Zackary knows one of the tasks for her charges is ensuring they can compete at the very highest level for all 80 minutes.

The Eagles take on France, who lost 46-24 to Canada in their opener, next Saturday and Zackary believes they can put the lessons they learned into practice against Les Bleues.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was a really good match. It was a fast-paced, physical match which is exactly what we wanted," she said.

“We wanted to come out and show our physicality and intelligence around the rugby pitch. There were also a few frustrating moments where we maybe didn’t play our best rugby but a lot of that was beating up on ourselves and letting in just a few easy options for England.

“More than anything it felt good, it felt like a fast game that we had the chance to be in charge of at times.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Zackary’s second half try appeared to set up an enthralling final quarter as it reduced the deficit to 33-21 but the Red Roses responded in unforgiving fashion to run in another four tries.

It sealed a comprehensive scoreline for England, but Zackary knows they are not far away from closing the gap completely.

“The biggest thing is that mindset,” added Zackary. “We have the capability to do it, it is figuring out how to mentally stay engaged for 80 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have got the ability to, but we are also a team that has been together for two weeks compared to a team that has been together for seven weeks.

“We have got a lot of potential, today was a chance for some of our potential to become reality.

“We missed a few things, but I think they are easy fixes. In two weeks, a lot of growth took place. Give us another five days and I will be interested to see how we come together then; I think there will be some huge improvements.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Eagles now have just under a week to prepare for their match against France in Langley, where both sides will be determined to register their first wins of the 2024 WXV 1 campaign.

Head coach Sione Fukofuka believes that better performances are still to come, with the extra time spent together on the training ground key to any success.

“We have been together for two weeks which has been great, we have been able to get a fair bit of work done, but the reality is we have still got a bit of work to do to compete with the best team in the world,” he reflected.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We did some really positive things through that game, but we also then let ourselves down at times at not competing and completing what we wanted to do.

“By and large really positive but lots of learnings to take away that hopefully we will be able to build into next week when we get some time together.

“There were a couple of mauls that we didn’t capitalise on, our game management at times put us under pressure so we will do a fair bit of work on transitioning out of our half into theirs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“When we got access to the 22, we scored points and looked really strong through our carries and ability to transfer the ball into space. It’s our ability to compete for 80 minutes that we will be chasing.”

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.