Kobe: England’s squad players got the job done with a solid 45-7 bonus-point victory over the United States at the Rugby World Cup on Thursday against a determined Eagles side.
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With a four-day turnaround after their opening Pool C victory over Tonga, coach Eddie Jones rang the changes with 10 new picks but was rewarded with seven tries in humid conditions at a packed Kobe Misaki Stadium.
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Skipper George Ford, Billy Vunipola and Luke Cowan-Dickie scored before the break, with winger Joe Cokanasiga grabbing a brace and Ruaridh McConnochie and Lewis Ludlam also crossing in the second half.
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United States flanker John Quill was sent off in the 70th minute for a shoulder-charge to the head of Owen Farrell but the Americans never gave up and replacement Bryce Campbell finally got them on the scoreboard after the final gong.
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“It’s a good win again,” said player-of-the-match Ford. “We had to work for it again, the USA were a really physical, passionate team so we had to earn that win and I thought we did that very well.”
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England coach Eddie Jones was optimistic. “We wanted to go out hard against them and we scored early, but we probably got a bit seduced by the space and tried to move the ball too much,” he said. “The conditions were such, it was alike a wet weather game, but we found our rhythm and tempo really well in the second half. We made some handling mistakes but we will improve. The ball is like a cake of soap because we know we have got good players who can catch and pass, so it must be something else.
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“They had 14 players in the line and it was hard to get a numerical advantage. As soon as we started to play through them we were much better.”
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US coach Gary Gold, however, was disappointed. “You can’t be missing nearly 40 tackles in a game and still hope to be in the game,” he said. “It was a pretty awful performance by us tonight.”
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After waiting until the 24th minute to score on Sunday, England were quicker off the mark in Kobe, scrum-half Willi Heinz finding Ford running a beautiful line and the No. 10 went through to score under the posts after five minutes before Vunipola smashed over from the back of a driving maul.
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England’s third try arrived in similar circumstances, the United States powerless to stop a rampaging maul before Cowan-Dickie touched down.
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The red shirts of England were quickly into their stride after the break and claimed the bonus point try in the 48th minute when a rampaging Jonathan Joseph was stopped just short but Cokanasiga was on hand to score.
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Sevens specialist McConnochie showed his sense of timing just before the hour mark, taking a pass at full pelt and bundling over for his first international try in the 15-aside game.
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England’s seventh score came with four minutes left when replacement prop Ellis Genge barrelled his way through a host tired US tacklers before Cokanasiga finished off.
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Results
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Italy 48 Canada 7
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England 45 United States 7
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