Eagles Player Ratings: USA vs Portugal
A much different performance this week for the Eagles, as they fall to Portugal, 46-20. They were competitive early, making it a tight match with the Portuguese opposition, leveraging their physicality to force penalties and apply pressure. They struggled late in the second half as Portugal was able to run all over their defense and pull away. Ultimately, while the forward pack matched up well and at times had the leg up on their opposites, the backline struggled throughout and the Eagles were unable to take full advantage of the high penalty count of the Portuguese and their yellow card.
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: 7
After last weeks performance, Iscaro did not progress or regress that much. He was overall a good player and was again solid in the scrum. Like last week he caused a scrum penalty to regain his team possession in the first half. He did have a few moments with some poor ball skills, like a bad pass from the ruck leading to a knock-on. His work in the ruck seemed less aggressive but he still provided good support to ball carriers. Iscaro made some strong tackles and was ball running to cap off an above average performance for his standards.
2) Dylan Fawsitt: 4.5
The Butcher did not look like himself in this match. Last week he was the epitome of consistency at set piece. This week he had some good throws, but then had some terrible ones, with a few throws that went over the heads and hands of his jumpers. Maybe there was some communication issues at the lineout, but that starts with him. He needs to be more commanding for the ball to get some carrying opportunities and dominate in that aspect of the game, especially out wide or off a maul. That is what makes him so good in the MLR, and earned him his nickname, but he didn’t get a carry this match.
3) Kaleb Geiger: 5
Geiger had a rough start. He had good moments in the scrums but also had some struggles, to be expected of someone who has been a prop for under a year. In other aspects, he played his role and did not standout too much, he completed 7 tackles, good for a front rower, but his trio of carries went for as many yards, unfortunate considering his carrying is one of the best aspects of his game. For an international debut, this was not a great showing, quite average. This is likely due to nerves or inexperience, regardless he was probably hoping for a better showing.
4) Cam Dolan: 7.5
Cam Dolan continues to exceed our expectations. He continues to show his strong ball carrying and his astute knowledge of the game. He displayed some great skills and textbook support play to bag himself an early try for the Eagles, which put them ahead. Additionally, he looked good overall in the set piece, but had some errors creep in, the inconsistency at lineout also falls on the lineout caller. Defensively he was strong, but at the end looked gassed. This rating would have been a lot more if it were not for some of the errors in set piece.
5) Greg Peterson: 6
Greg Peterson is the captain and needs to maintain the focus and effort of the team on the field. The Eagles looked like they were already defeated when they were down with 20 minutes to go. We do not know what he said underneath the posts, but he needs to make sure this team has the motivation and confidence for all 80 minutes. For his player performance he was a solid carrier, tackler, and average at lineouts, while putting in a solid shift to provide support around the rucks. Additionally, he looked like he had some lapses on defense towards the end, like not setting up beside the ruck to prevent a pick and go.
6) Sam Golla: 6.5
Sam Golla’s play was good when he was involved, but in far to many cases for this flanker, his participation relied on play coming to him. Golla was often relegated to the middle of the field, so in many cases, while play was happening at the edges, he saw little use. His participation in set piece seemed to well handled, as seemed disruptive as the back pod of the lineout, contesting against the Portuguese. A boon of his was being one of the quicker players in the forward pack to work into position around those set piece components. Elsewhere he made 10 tackles in defense, and 6 carries including a nice line break inside the opposition 22 before being hit into touch.
7) Paddy Ryan: 5.5
Ryan’s kick chase behind McCarthy’s box kicks seemed to be his most memorable impact on the game, but other than that, he didn’t seem to be much of a game changer. He tackled well, putting 9 hits on and missing only 2. A few times in the second half the scrums wheeled his way allowing him to get off quickly, once in his favor, but in another instance he was penalized for his quick action. Overall, it would be fair to say that much of his open play decision making seemed to be made with his own plan in mind rather than truly working alongside the players around him. From swimming through lost breakdowns to looking like a solo runner regularly.
8) Luke White: 4.5
Luke White played for the first 60 or so minutes of the game, and he was more than certainly out of gas by that point. As time went on, he was slow and missing the impact on the field and set piece that USA needed. To be fair to him though, he worked hard in the first half, and tallied 10 tackles with no misses. As a crash line off of line outs he applied strong pressure in the middle of the field allowing us to get control of the scoreboard. His ball skills were lacking, he had an early knock-on and a late pass that didn’t quite make it to hand and ended in another knock-on.
9) Nick McCarthy: 6.5
McCarthy’s play didn’t have mistakes, but it wasn’t really possible for him to shine. His work from the base assisted in managing the pace of attack, but it didn't ever seem as if his forwards were prepared for him. His box kicking served the squad well, as it was the best open play kicking option, he provided some contestable balls for his outside backs and cleared his lines well when necessary. Overall his impact on the game was minimal, but it was not negative.
10) Luke Carty: 5
Carty served a few functions for the USA during this game. He was a basic distributor and he converted on his goal kicking. Outside of that, his game was middling. His defensive pressure on the game was a better than most, but his offensive prowess pulled down his play. Defensively he applied pressure well, and even had a strong impact on the breakdowns. As a playmaker, his choices and execution left much to be be desired, especially on attacking kicks. Unfortunately, it just felt like a failure to execute on the roles that are needed to make a large impact on the game from the flyhalf position.
11) Nate Augspurger: 3.5
Augspurger had a couple of missed tackles in front of his line that resulted in tries for the opposition. He let a few balls bounce around him that Portugal were then able to regather. Seemed out of position when the opposition kicked, he did put in some decent tackles to slow the Portugeuse attack. A far cry from his form last week, especially on defense. He didn’t see much ball come his was on attack as the USA played narrow for most of the match, so he was unable to make his mark on that side of the ball.
12) Tavite Lopeti: 8
Lopeti was a rock in defense, he gave up nothing when carriers came his way, and even mixed in with the forwards on the try line as he went 7 for 7 on his tackles, including a try saver as he forced a carrier into touch at the end of the match. He provided great line speed on defense and put Portugal under pressure, but did get caught out of position once or twice. On attack he seemed like the only player in the backline that could manage any go forward, his hard carrying forcing multiple defenders to come in and complete the tackle on him as he kept his legs pumping for hard yards. Made a few nice short passes in some set plays and tried to get those outside of him on the few opportunities he was able to. Tried a grubber that went nowhere, a hard carry into the defense would’ve likely helped keep the attack moving.
13) Mika Kruse: 5
Kruse brought good line speed next to his midfield partner, Lopeti. He one tackle in defense, and was primarily a dummy runner on attack. As an outside center he needs to organize his defense better, something he will hopefully improve upon with more time at the position. As stated he was pretty quiet on attack getting the ball only once for a half dozen meters.
14) Christian Dyer: 4
Completely quiet, you would be excused for forgetting that he was on the pitch. Forced a knock-on early to regain his team possession. Finally started seeing the ball in the final ten minutes after he moved inside. He overcooked an attacking kick in the 72nd minute, it seemed like a decent idea to put Portugal under pressure with Futi steaming ahead beside him, but poor execution as it went out on the full. He got another carry a few minutes later but was immediately chopped down, and he had a nice offload to Futi for his big break at the end.
15) Mitch Wilson: 3.5
Wilson often looked lost in the backfield, regularly letting kicks go over his head and bounce, granting Portugal time to get into his face before he made a hurried kick. He even gave up a lineout by trying to catch a ball way over his head just for it to fall into touch inside his 22. His return kicks, even when he had time, were easily handled by Portugal, and defensively he was in the wrong place often to field kicks and to make a tackle. He got carries out of the backfield but got little if any go forward on them, getting stopped dead in his tracks and couldn’t make defenders miss. Also knocked on a pass from White that was very catchable but little in front of him—an international level player should be catching that ball.
16) Peter Malcolm: NA
Malcolm substituted into the match with only seven minutes left. He completed two throws in the lineout and one tackle, but just didn’t get enough time on the pitch to show much.
17) Jake Turnbull: 5
Turnbull came in late into the match to get Iscaro some rest, after a long shift on the pitch. Once he appeared with less than 13 minutes left, the Eagles already looked defeated. He came in to help bring some energy and provide some fresh legs, but it did not seem to help that much. He made a few strong tackles and some carries, and seemed to have improved his scrummaging somewhat, but didn’t participate in many anyway.
18) Paul Mullen: 6.5
Paul Mullen came onto the pitch to help out an inconsistent scrum, doing a solid job of that. He helped the US improve in that aspect of the game in the second half. Along with improving the scrum he did have some strong clear-outs at the ruck and did help us maintain possession. Aside from that, Mullen was fairly quiet in the match, making a handful of tackles and getting a carry into the Portuguese defense.
19) Thomas Tu’avao: 5.5
Tu’avao came on at roughly the 62nd minute at 8 man, and immediately defensive pressure was found. Within his first 2 minutes, he had strong breakdown and line pressure, finishing with 6 tackles in the match. Unfortunately, in these later parts of the game, the components around him did not have the same energy and intensity that he brought to the pitch, Particularly in moments where he’d bring a big contact and moments later the line was not set allowing for Portugal to slip through other cracks. His few minutes showed a lot of promise, but he was not able to assimilate his fresh energy into the rest of the team around him.
20) Viliami Helu: NA
Helu came in with only a few minutes left on the clock, not enough time for him to make an impact.
21) Ruben De Haas: 5
Ruben De Haas came in for McCarthy with about 15 minutes left in the game and did not turn it around for the USA. It was clear he had a plan and the intent to execute on it, with constant attempts to apply pressure with ball in hand through either grubbers or passing on the move, but nothing seemed to stick. His grubber bounced off the foot of the opponents, and his efforts to get the attacking line moving lead to nothing. He did however continue to apply good box kicking pressure when the decision was made, and showed that with two kicking 9s, the USA should adjust to use and abuse that.
22) Chris Mattina: 3
Made a great attempt to get back and save a try but did not release and gave away a penalty try, he may have thought he was still inside the try zone. Picked up a yellow card as well. When he came back on he threw away possession after a great run by Futi, making an offload straight to the defense. He didn’t get to field or return too many kicks but seemed out of position at times.
23) Launa Futi: 5
Futi brought some fire and enthusiasm when he entered the match. He looked to put a shot on someone, at times to his team’s detriment, allowing gaps to form on the outside that the skilled Portuguese backline exploited for a try, he also gave up a high tackle penalty. His defense when he found himself in middle of the field seemed much better. It’s hard to fault someone for putting in effort, but Futi needs to play with more control and avoid doing too much, something that should be fixed as he gets more time. He inserted himself well on attack, and looked to potentially have a try assist until Golla was put into touch, he leveled a Portuguese defender on his first carry out of the backfield. He finished with a great run in the final minute and had a nice offload to Mattina. In the end Futi had 4 carries and 52 meters made, the most of any player for the Eagles.
