Eagles Player Ratings: USA vs Romania

The USA defeated Romania in Bucharest 31-17, in what was a great performance for the first squad under Scott Lawrence. The first 60 minutes were superb for the Eagles, who dominated all faucets of the match. However, they faltered somewhat in the final quarter, but held on for a convincing win. 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: 8.5

It’s only his third Eagles cap (he is undefeated when playing for the USA), but Iscaro was dominant in the scrum, earning several penalties at his opposites expense, and always getting great push, regularly applying pressure on the opposing pack. His impact was magnified when the scrum struggled after he exited the field. Around the pitch he carried hard and didn’t make any glaring mistakes on defense, made strong tackles, only 3 but was effective in defense.

2) Dylan Fawsitt: 7.5

The butcher was precise on his line-out throws as the Eagles went a perfect 17 for 17 when they had the throw-in. Likely could’ve gotten himself a try if the mauls hadn’t stalled. Strong tackler and a physical ball carrier throughout, he made 11 tackles with just one miss and had 5 carries for 18 meters.

3) Paul Mullen: 6.5

Mullen was solid in the scrums for most fo the match, he did give up 2 scrum penalties though, but was overall quiet throughout despite being on the pitch for a full 80. Not to say he was bad, just mostly unremarkable. He did the basics well, making 6 solid tackles but missed a pair, only made 2 carries.

4) Cam Dolan: 8.5

Dolan showed he’s still got juice in the tank at 33. Bagged himself the opening try to get the USA's run started, and was a menace in the line-out, stealing multiple balls, including in his own 22 to end a potential scoring opportunity. Made 9 tackles with only one miss, but was fairly quiet in the carries department.

5) Greg Peterson: 7.5

Put in work around the park, wasn’t very flashy, was physical in defense, making good hard tackles. Seemed to tire a bit towards the end, but was a major contributor to an excellent lineout. Great leadership from the captain, as his presence seemed very important for the forward pack.

6) Sam Golla: 7

Golla was great defensively, making 11 tackles without any misses. He forced a pair of turnovers through his physical tackling. Golla was quiet on attack with only 4 carries but seemed dynamic with his carrying, using both his strength and speed to put the defense under pressure.

7) Paddy Ryan: 7.5

Ryan scored a try on debut, an excellent start to hopefully a long Eagles career. Defensively he made 11 tackles with a pair of missed tackles and forced a turnover. Great discipline, didn’t give up a penalty to Romania. He carried the ball well, getting opportunities often and making good use of them to get over the gainline.

8) Luke White: 6

White was mostly unremarkable, while he was solid in defense with 8 tackles and no misses and a pair of forced turnovers, you want your eight-man to be a dynamic and powerful ball carrier, and while he got a lot of carries they didn’t seem to go anywhere and were mostly ineffective. He seemed somewhat hesistant to carry off the back of the scrum.

9) Nick McCarthy: 9

Probably the best player on the pitch for the USA. His defense was solid, while he wasn’t asked to make many tackles he made the most of them and forced a turnover to put the USA in good position. In attack his speed was paramount to a dynamic and physical gameplan, his delivery was fast and accurate, with only one poor pass, the attack did seem to slow some when he retired to the bench. He wasn’t asked to kick too often, but when he needed to his kicks were accurate and made with purpose. He also gained good meters and scored an excellent try near the corner from a great pass by Augspurger.

10) Luke Carty: 5

Carty went two for four from the kicking tee, with several difficult kicks from the touch line. A few misplaced attacking kicks cost the USA some attacking opportunities, and took the pressure off of Romania. His distribution was mostly clean but lacked creativity, the gameplan seemed to run a lot more through the scrumhalf. He did have a couple of carries where he beat a few defenders and gave the team good momentum.

11) Nate Augspurger: 7.5

Augspurger’s defense in the wide channels was immense for the USA, shutting down several attacks where Romania were looking dangerous. He had an exceptional try saving tackle on Florin Surugiu, unfortunately Romania scored a few phases later. He chased on hard on kicks and set up a great try for McCarthy, and beat a couple defenders on his few carries.

12) Tommaso Boni: 7.5

Making his debut for the Eagles showed to have a great mind for the game and to be an asset for upcoming players. Showed his ballhandling and distributive skills with some good passing, and displayed glimpses of hard-nosed running. He was aggressive defensively securing himself a turnover and only missing one tackle. Overall solid performance except for a knock-on within the Romanian 22.

13) Mika Kruse: 7

Mika continues to be a solid player for the Eagles. He has flares of solid ball running and the defensive pairing of him and Boni showed to be stout, regulalry in good position to slow down or stop the Romanian attack before it could get started. He did show some issues tackling a tough runner like Tevita Manumua (but who wouldn’t). He also provided the last pass for Dyer’s score and did well overall in distributing a few balls to his wingers.

14) Christian Dyer: 7

Dyer wasn’t given too many opportunities on his wing but made the most of what did come his way. He got himself another try, his 10th in 13 appearances for the Eagles. Only made one tackle but for a turnover and was rarely caught out of position to keep his channel clear of Romanian attackers. He had limited involvement in the kicking game but the few he had were decent aside from a grubber with too much heat that went out the back.

15) Mitch Wilson: 4

Wilson struggled mightily in the kicking game, his clearances didn’t get a lot of breathing room for the Eagles, and his kick coverage was lackluster at best. His eordt moment was allowing a kick to bounce right in front of his line, which he then knocked right into the hands of a Romanian for an easy try. He had more missed tackles than made and while he did have a few nice runs, he never seemed to really put the defense under serious pressure.

16) Joe Taufete'e 5.5

Big Joe kept the clean lineout ball going with the few he threw into, but was part of the substitutions that lead to the scrum falling apart. He didn’t get to show a lot of powerful carries, but played the role of distributor as he drew in defenders and made short passes to his fellow forwards. It seemed like Lawrence wanted to use his gravity with ball in hand to open holes for others. Kept himself clean without giving up a penalty.

17) Jake Turnbull: 3.5

Poor from Turnbull, looked seriously over matched in the scrum, which gave the Oaks momentum and renewed their confidence to help get them back into the match. Made a few tackles and a single carry but did little around the park overall, neither good nor bad there, but very poor in the set piece.

18) Takaji Young Yen: NA

Just wasn’t given enough time on the pitch to show what he could do. Stepped onto the field with 2 minutes to go to earn his first cap, hopefully will get more of a chance next week.

19) Nate Brakeley: 4.5

Came on late and just wasn’t given much opportunity to make an impact, with just two tackles and no carries to his stat sheet. Put in an effort to support carries around the rucks and seemed solid in his work.

20) Thomas Tu'avao: 4.5

Called for obstruction in a kineout maul that was meters out from the Romanian line and could’ve resulted in a score to end the match. Elsewhere he looked good with limited carries and opportunities on defense, making 2 tackles and 3 carries for a dozen yards. Only his first cap, he’ll have more opportunities to show his ability.

21) Ruben De Haas: 5

Ball seemed to slow down with De Haas, as he arrived to several rucks late, slowing momentum and even giving away possession. He had a couple box kicks that were well plwced for his team to contest possession but also overcooked a grubber during the final attacking opportunity while his team had advantage. He wasn’t called upon to do much on defense or with ball in hand, hopefully he’ll get his mojo back for the rest of the matches.

22) Chris Mattina: NA

Mattina came in with little time left to earn his first cap, made a pass and got to kick off but not enough time for Mattina to show anything.

23) Tavite Lopeti: 4

Didn’t see many opportunities with just a pair of carries into the defense. He went 2 for 3 on his tackles and seemed out of position on defense a few times, which is not what you want in the midfield. He’s shown what he can do in the past, and coming on for a team that is on the back foot can be difficult to find your footing.