USA 13 – 6 Russia
Carl Kinsella
When the draw for Pool C was made, and both Russia and USA were both pulled from those shiny Lotto balls there must have been on thought going through everyone’s head.
“Oh. Awkward.”
Cold War Mark II is what springs to mind, but this time it only took three minutes for blood to be drawn, and it was to the World Cup debutantes and a penalty from Yury Kushnarev. Much to the benefit of any journalist sat in New Zealand’s Stadium Taranaki, the symbolism kicked in at exactly this moment. What with Russia having sent the first ball into orbit, between the posts, they got cocky. Kushnarev tried another penalty from 60m out and just like a faulty, Soviet inter-continental ballistic missile.. It fell short.
First of all, Chris Wyles matches Kushnarev’s feat of putting the ball over the bar. This was swiftly followed by Suniula feeding American scrum-half Mike Petri – who became the first man to land behind the try-line, after a burst of unbelievable pace. Albeit contentiously, because nothing in American history will ever be without theories of conspiracy. It appeared that Mike Petri touched the ball to the ground before he crossed the line, but the TMO ruled a try and chants of “USA!” ensued, as Chris Wyles kicked a conversion he couldn’t miss.
America dominated the remainder of the first half, with Russia’s staunch defence holding the deficit at 7, nothing more than a converted try away from drawing level. Eddie O’ Sullivan’s new girl played a very central game, often turning back inside after drawing the Russian defence line out towards the flank. A game of heavy men making heavy tackles. The quality and composure in America’s back-line of Ngwenya, Paterson and Wyles, but this began to wear away with Wyles’ wayward penalty kicking, falling short at first, and then missing the target entirely. This was followed by the removal of the injured games Paterson. Russia nearly capitalize in the forced American reshuffle, Otroushko seizing on a toppled scrum an rushing in from the flanks, but there were too many components of the Russian attack that simply lacked the pace to get by the American line (who swarmed every player Russian player with three of their own). The move broke down with prop Moeakiola and the whistle was blown for half-time after a first half played at great pace in no direction.
A hard rain began to fall as the teams took the pitch for the final 40 minutes, and the momentum immediately fell in Russia’s favour as Suniula slid off the pitch having caught the Russian launched ball forward, but after Russia’s light pack collapsed in the scrum again, America were on the attack, again at great pace, overturning another Russian line-out, with captain and flanker Todd Clever joining in the ruck in front of the Russian try-line. But it wasn’t long before the Russians staked their claim on the game again, for the first time since the game’s exposition.
A wonderful chip from Kushnarev towards the right wing had to be watched all the way by Ngwenya, who got in front of the Russian attacker and touched it town to safety. While the Russians tried to build a foothold, Mike McDonald introduced himself with a big tackle, gaining a penalty and taking back the momentum and after a phase-building attack, the Americans again came forward with dynamism and speed and strength from McDonald and the ever-threatening Wyles. It was this tack that nearly saw America put more daylight between the two sides but Suniula was sunk after admirably hurdling Russian challenges.
Having been smothered by the Russian defence, with players like Klyuchnikov all bringing the body blows (terrifying Ngwenya enough that he threw the ball forward at one point, simply to get it as far away from him as possible), Wyles decided to try a drop goal and narrowly missed. He was given a chance to atone from a similar position, to make his record three from six in a game where neither kicker impressed, perhaps due to heavy New Plymouth winds. Ten points between the teams with fifteen minutes of play to elapse, with Russia hoping that the USA would tire – this being their second game in Pool C.
The Russian pick and go system simply couldn’t break The Eagles’ back line, as they were barricading their try-line as though it was Cuba, and an extremely poor penalty kick from Kushnarev meant that Russia went into the last ten minutes needing more than a try and a conversion. Russia literally threw and kicked the game away – a weak performance from Kushnarev and a line-out that was utterly dominated and often thwarted by American second row Van Der Giesen. Kushnarev’s poor kicking was highlighted by Konstantin Rachkov scoring a penalty three minutes from time.
With one minute to go there were seven points between the two teams, could the Red Tide seal a final victory in the name of Brezhnev, Krushchev and Gorbachev? But the whistle went, and the USA had held on to their lead and stumbled into safety through a tight game throughout which they were the better side. The USA won the game through pace and clinical finishing, as well as their ability to harass the Russian scrum and line-out. In the end, the Russian team, a team of fighters had a right to feel slightly hard-done-by, particularly by their penalty-taker, who may or may not have been a double-agent for The United States. He’ll certainly have to defect after this painful performance.
