Eagles Player Ratings: USA vs Georgia

The Eagles were competitive for most of this match against a very good Georgian side. They brought physicality and energy against the #11 team in the world, and never gave up the fight. They did, however, give up a high number of penalties and failed to take advantage of being up a man and multiple trips to the Georgian 22. The final score was 22-7 in favor of the hosts.

Today we will be looking at each player’s performance and giving them a rating on a 1-10 scale. In this case, 10 is near perfection, 8 and up is great, 7 and up is good, 6 is above average, and 5 is average.

1) Jack Iscaro: 6.5

Jack Iscaro is looking to be the future for the Eagles going forward at the loosehead position. He battled a top tier scrum well with few errors, given his little experience against high level sides like Georgia. Defensively he looked good. He was a tackling machine at the start of the second half with multiple strong tackles in a short period of time. He was a strong ball runner and showed he was eager and unselfish to offload the ball and get quick pop passes for his teammates to make extra meters beside him. He did look a tad slow to ruck clearing which is crucial against such an aggressive team leading to turnovers. Overall this tour was a great platform for him to improve.

2) Dylan Fawsitt: 7

This match was vintage Butcher. His lineout throws looked good with the exception of one. He displayed himself well in the mauls, directing to set the USA up in scoring positions. Unfortunately, they could not capitalize. A criticism from last week was he did not carry the ball much out wide, this time he had a couple carries with good meters against the wing. On defense he showed his strength, making 9 tackles, but missing 4, a number he will need to keep down to be more effective in the future.

3) Kaleb Geiger: 6

Kaleb Geiger improved compared to his performance last weekend. He looked stronger in the scrum compared to last week, but he still struggled at times. He gave up only one scrum penalty when his footing slipped, but did well to hold himself up for the Eagles’ put-ins. It is tough to go against one of the best scrums in the world with little experience. In other aspects of the game, he played fundamentally well with really strong leg drive in offensive and defensive mauls, but did have a knock-on and only got a pair of carries close to the Georgian line. We hope he takes a lot of lessons from his first two matches on the international stage.

4) Sam Golla: 5.5

The MLR rookie of the year had his worst match of the tour in our opinion. As usual he looked aggressive on defense, going 7 for 8 on his tackles, but he seemed to be less efficient in his carrying on attack. At the breakdown the Eagles were under pressure from a very aggressive side and he did not help much to counter this as he looked slow to rucks and gave up a penalty for not releasing. His ball carrying was subpar, he made 10 carries for only 6 meters as he was pushed backwards a few times. Despite this performance, he is a bright star for the future of the USA Eagles, and will hopefully spend more time at his preferred position, lock.

5) Greg Peterson: 6.5

Captain Peterson must have had a great pep-talk before the match to keep the boys to not fold to a tough-physical opponent. He led by example, putting in some strong tackles and being aggressive at the breakdown. He had great retention at the lineout with solid push forward in the offensive mauls, and applying excellent pressure early on Georgian mauls, even splitting one to end their attack. He looked organized on defense and picked players out to have big tackles. He also must be given credit for a solid scrum against a heavier pack. He did have some handling errors like a failed offload at the goal line. In the end, he seemed to be a big catalyst for the Eagles’ improvement last weeks performance.

6) Cam Dolan: 7

Cam Dolan continues to be one of the best Eagles. This match he continued to have really strong ball running. There were multiple occasions the Georgian defense needed several defenders to bring the big backrower down, showing he still has a lot left in his tank. He displayed good leg drive in his carrying and made life difficult for the opposing defense. He had 7 carries with 15 meters gained. On defense, he would cut big Georgians down with clinical tackling with 7 total tackles and forced some turnovers. Cam Dolan proves that he is like fine wine, getting better with age.

7) Paddy Ryan: 7.5

Paddy Ryan is a workhorse and a menace on the rugby pitch. He was chopping down Georgian ball runners like a lumber jack, completing all 10 of his team leading tackle attempts. He would regularly fly up on defense and complete great low tackles. He displayed an aggressive style on defense and at the breakdown. In terms of ball running he made good positive meters and displayed his dynamism in the loose, making 13 carries for a solid 38 meters. He took a hard shoulder to the chin to draw a yellow card in the first-half. He looked to play more cohesively with his teammates compared to last week.

8) Thomas Tu’avao: 5

For 13 minutes Thomas Tu’avoa looked promising for the Eagles. He had a handful of great runs and looked poised to put the Georgians under pressure for much of the match. He had 3 carries totalling 17 meters carried. He was also involved early and often making a lot of strong tackles. Unfortunately, an injury cut his first start short, hopefully, it is nothing that will require too much time to heal.

9) Ruben De Haas: 7.5

De Haas provided good ball to his forward pack to maintain pressure on the Georgian defense, and provided a great support line to give Dyer an option as he bagged himself a try. As per the USA gameplan, he kicked quite a few box kicks, the majority of which did their job to either gain territory and release pressure, with a few also giving his teammates a great ball to contest. Defensively, he dropped into the backfield often to provide extra support in kick battles and acquitted himself well on the few tackles he needed to make, but did give a poor effort to allow a try as he was caught flat footed after Niniashvili made a break in front of the line.

10) Luke Carty: 6

Carty’s kicking game seemed much improved upon previous matches, and he played with physicality on defense and on his handful of carries as he showed that he won’t give up much when targeted. His kicks regularly found good distance and touch when that was his aim, but he needed to find grass a little more often against a very good Georgian backfield that for the most part weren’t challenged. He only needed to make one goal kick, which he converted, and overall did the basics well to keep a simplistic attack moving as best he could. He did give up a scrum after running past the mark, a mistake that shouldn’t be made by an international 10.

11) Nate Augspurger: 4

Augspurger had a solid game up a silly penalty in the waning minutes, after making a great tackle on a rampaging front rower, he could not get out of the ruck area and attempted to tackle the scrumhalf from an offside position. Prior to that he had put in some big shots on defense and made a couple of good catches in the air to regain possession for his side. He didn’t get too muc ball and would’ve had a much higher rating if it weren’t for his yellow.

12) Tommaso Boni: 5

Boni was fairly quiet this match, he didn’t get a lot of ball to come his way, his pair of carries made little meterage, and he while did a solid job in defense, he was never forced to make many tackles. He did link well with Lopeti to create good line speed and cover the middle of the field for most of the time he was playing. Overall, he did well at the simple things he was asked and just never had a moment to shine.

13) Tavite Lopeti: 6

Lopeti is clearly putting his hand up as a great crash ball option for the Eagles. He once again carried hard into the opposing defense, 12 carries for 39 yards, and as usual brought great line speed on defense, linking well with the players beside him, but was not challenged much as he only had to make 2 tackles. This was a more lowkey game for him as the match was predominantly played amongst the forward packs.

14) Christian Dyer: 6.5

Dyer’s highlight of the match was a great break down the sideline where he set up De Haas for the score. Elsewhere, he found himself more involved in the attack and had some good carries. Defensively, you could see his experience at 13 come through, he made several hard tackles and didn’t miss, as he came up fast with the defensive line to shut down most of the Georgian attack in his channel.

15) Chris Mattina: 6

Mattina’s handling of the kicking game from the backfield was a major improvement for the USA compared to the previous two matches with Wilson. While his kicks didn’t find a lot of space he found good distance regularly and was confident in his reception of the Georgian kicks, two areas that have been a struggle for the Eagles recently. He lead the Eagles with 18 carries for 112 meters out of the backfield that helped create good go forward, Mattina also inserted well into the line with crisp passes, as he was an important piece in Ruben De Haas’ try, linking well with Dyer. He had a few moments where he tried to do too much and lost the ball, and on defense he was average with a few missed tackles.

16) Peter Malcolm: 5

Malcolm coming in at the end was good for the USA to get some fresh legs as well as to reinvigorate the guys to not quit. But, mistakes got the better of the team. The replacement hooker did look good at the lineouts and at the set piece for the Eagles, and had a few carries into the teeth of a stout defense. He wasn’t asked to do much but did the little he was asked to do well.

17) Jake Turnbull: 6

Turnbull joined the Eagles midway through the second half. He came in and helped relieve pressure at the scrum and provide strong legs for the forwards. At the end of match, he along with the other replacement front rowers, displayed strong push at the scrum. He, like many of the other replacements, showed that they did not want to quit in this match.

18) Paul Mullen: 6

Paul Mullen came on as a tactical substitute to relieve pressure at the scrum. He did just that. In the second half the USA looked very strong and stable and even got some forward push against one of the best packs in the world. He looked to get involved on offense getting positive meters on all 2 of his carries.

19) Nate Brakeley: NA

Brakeley’s only got onto the pitch for a few minutes at the end of the match when the final result was already decided. He made a couple of tackles and a carry but not enough to give him a grade.

20) Luke White: 7.5

Luke White came on to the pitch early for an injured Tu’avao. He was a boss for 67 minutes of hard nosed ball running. Consistently he would get good go forward especially after initial contact, he lead the forwards with 16 carries for an impressive 54 meters. He had several opportunities to score, but he came up short. Defensively he looked fine except for one instance where he drifted too much leaving a large gap in the defense for a Georgian ball carrier to score.

21) Nick McCarthy: 6

McCarthy seemed to inject some extra pace into the game as he provided quick and crisp ball for his forwards and backline partners. Like De Haas, his box kicks were well placed, even if not particularly dangerous. Overall, Nick was solid, and performed well in the execution of his duties. He didn’t seem to flash quite as much as we saw in previous matches, but there was little he did wrong.

22) Dominic Besag: 5

Besag is now one of the youngest USA Eagles to ever be capped. Overall his performance was mostly forgettable, he made carries at speed but when making contact it was obvious he needs some more physical development. On the defensive side he completed several good chop tackles and did a good job to keep in position within the defensive structure. He did the basics well and just didn’t really do much that was memorable, but it was a proud moment for the teenager and a performance that he can be proud of.

23) Launa Futi: NA

Futi came into the game quite late and only got to make a few passes and didn’t get much of a chance to defend or carry the ball. He just didn’t get much time to make any kind of impact.