The Wallaroos appeared to use last week’s defeat against New Zealand as pure motivation when they turned up on a sunny 28 degree day in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The Wallaroos, on the back of a strong performance from flyhalf Arabella McKenzie beat the Americans for the first time in 20 years.
The first thing I noticed during the coverage was that this was my first experience watching rugby with commentary from a guy with a North American accent. The caller, whose name I couldn’t find, was on song and did a fine job. Not quite Gordon Bray with the regular high school references but he was across each player and it flowed well.
From the kick off it appeared the Wallaroos had a clear game plan. Big forwards were going to run the ball hard and straight off two passes from each phase; the attack was fast but not frantic. Bree-Anna Cheathem carried hard early on and seemed to get over the gain line each time.
After 12 minutes the Wallaroos seemed to have threatened but had no points. The persistence and commitment from the squad was impressive not only for showing composure in the heat but as the commentary pointed out the synthetic field would have made things even hotter. The highlight for the first quarter was possibly Ashley Marsters perfectly reading a lineout pass to sprint through, take the intercept and gain 60 metres from her run. A less exciting but also memorable moment was Ivania Wong’s impersonation of Mike Hussey at the MCG when she lost sight of the ball in the sun but was able to keep her cool, wait for the bounce and then regather.
Despite the fast paced attack, the first points came off a rolling maul with Grace Hamilton bagging it. The patience shown and the determined drive by the forwards was pleasing. Shortly after the US were attacking in the Australian 22 and it took Marsters, again, to halt their progress with a classic pilfer at the breakdown.
It was difficult not to acknowledge Arabella McKenzie, despite an early handling error she seemed to be running the contest by directing the play at a continuous rate. This was a reminder of what a flyhalf can do when front foot ball is on offer. Novocastrian Layne Morgan at half back seemed to appear at each ruck at lightning pace which allowed the attack to continue without disruption and keep the Americans on the back foot. The scrum was also dominant throughout.
The second try to Eva Karpani was also off the back of a strong lineout and driving maul. Karpani was dangerous in every touch and trucked up a stack of metres. The US retaliated with a try shortly after to make it 12-5. The Wallaroos then immediately struck back with some of their most exciting attack which started in their own half. The finish was a fantastic effort from McKenzie to hit the line, get her arms free and find Karpani who timed her run perfectly to take the offload and barge over for her second. 19-5.
The Wallaroos exit from the restart was textbook and caused a US error, which caused a scrum penalty leading to a lineout 5m out which saw yet another driving maul try. As a Brumbies fan this made me quietly happy. A late penalty goal saw Australia leading 27-5 at the break.
The second half saw Australia pick things up again with a perfect combo of keeping the ball alive and going wide to find space. Maya Stewart finished this off with her first try after some slick passing. USA then hit back: Jeannine Detiveaux gave a perfect fend on Emily Chancellor to score her first. 34-12.
Ivania Wong scored in the 54th minute off the back of some phases in their 22 after another strong lineout win. Shortly after Stewart scored her second when she pounced on a loose ball to run 80 metres to score, Australia 46 USA 12. Georgina Friedrichs then scored her first after receiving a fine pass from Wong; half century brought up.
Detiveaux scored her second for the US and showed that her first ‘Don’t argue’ was no fluke. Stewart scored her hat trick after a neat chip kick from McKenzie. 58-17 final score.
On Saturday morning the Wallaroos take on Canada, currently ranked 4th on the World Rugby site. The Wallaroos attack against the USA was flawless; it was fast, constant movement and there was a regular stream of support. It’ll be interesting to see the squad adapt to what will likely be a tougher task. There may not be as much easily won front foot ball but coach Tregonning clearly did his homework for this match so let’s hope he and the team do the same for Saturday and the Wallaroos can finish off with 2 wins and a loss. (It is unlikely we can win the whole thing, unless USA beat NZ…)
