USA Defeat Portugal on the Fourth of July

USA Rugby had a Fourth of July to remember fondly. The National Men’s team, the USA Eagles pulled-off a hard-fought 30-29 victory over Portugal in Denver, Colorado. Fly half Chris Hilsenbeck was the hero as he struck a 79th minute penalty to put the USA Eagles one point ahead with second ticking down.

The match had no shortage of drama, including one yellow card per team and two Portuguese players being red carded. There were also outcomes behind the win and loss as the USA move up two places in the World Rankings from 16th to 14th above Portugal and Uruguay.

Manuel Cardoso Pinto was the star of the match with three early tries and an additional score in the second-half. The former Peñarol winger / fullback’s four-try haul were all of Os Lobos tries. Up against them were three tries from the USA Eagles with Cory Daniel, Paddy Ryan and Dom Besag scoring one each.

Cardoso Pinto went over in the 2nd, 9th and 23rd minutes for Os Lobos. Samuel Marques converted the second try before the USA Eagles opened their account. Cory Daniel’s 14th minute score was converted by Chris Hilsenbeck.

The third Cardoso Pinto try had the momentum firmly in favor of the Portuguese. This did not last, however, as two key moments saw Portugal losing the upper hand. First, a Dom Besag cross-kick saved the way for Seattle Seawolves Paddy Ryan’s to score on 29 minutes. Second, Manuel Vareiro was red carded by Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi on 31 minutes. Vareiro was sent-off for kicking Perry Mayo in the face while catching a high ball.

The USA Eagles used the numerical advantage in their favor to go into half-time with a 21-19 lead. They did so with Portugal actually playing with 13 after Martin Bello had been yellow carded in the 27th minute. The try to give the Eagles the lead was scored bu Dom Besag at the close of the half. Besag provided a support run to get a pass of the deck from Kapeli Pifeleti who had broken the line.

The second half featured just one try. Replacement Hugo Aubry converted Cardoso Pinto’s fourth score of the evening. It came in the 63rd minute after a brilliant break and pass try assist from fellow winger Raffaele Storti. Portugal were 29-27 up but Os Lobos found themselves in trouble with the referee minutes later.

Flanker Benjamín Bonasso brought to the attention that he had been stomped on by replacement Portuguese hooker Pedro Vicente. The TMO confirmed the foul play which saw Os Lobos suffering a second red card.

No points came from the incident as the USA’s second-half points came in the form of 55th, 61st, and 79th minute penalties to former German international, Chris Hilsenbeck. Samuel Marques’ one second-half penalty and the final Cardoso Pinto try were the visitors’ second-half points. Hilsenbeck’s match winning penalty was not an easy attempt. He landed a long-range penalty from 40 meters out.

The USA Eagles now travel east to Charlotte, North Carolina. Their next World Rugby Nations Cup task is a home test match against Zimbabwe. It will take place on Saturday, July 11 with kick-off scheduled for 7:30pm Eastern.

MATCH NOTES

Manuel Cardoso Pinto scored four tries for Portugal.
Two Portuguese players were red carded.

SCORING

USA (30)
TRY – C Daniel (14′), P Ryan (29′), D Besag (40′)
CON – C Hilsenbeck 3 (15′, 30′, 40′)
PEN – C Hilsenbeck 3 (55′, 61′, 79′)
YC – T Lopeti (17′)

PORTUGAL (29)
TRY – M Cardoso Pinto 4 (2′, 9′, 24′, 63′)
CON – S Marques 2 (10′, 25′), H Aubry (64′)
PEN – S Marques (50′)
YC – M Belo (28′)
RC – M Vareiro (32′), P Vicente (65′)

LINE-UPS

USA
1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti, 3 Tonga Kofe, 4 Nathan Den Hoedt, 5 Jason Damm (capt.), 6 Benjamín Bonasso, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Paddy Ryan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 Chris Hilsenbeck, 11 Perry Mayo, 12 Dom Besag, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Rufus McLean, 15 Mitch Wilson

Replacements: 16 Shilo Klein, 17 Ezekiel Lindenmuth, 18 Mason Pedersen, 19 Brandon Harvey, 20 Nafi Ma’afu, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Luke Carty, 23 Julian Roberts

PORTUGAL
1 Luís Lopes, 2 Luke Begic, 3 António Prim, 4 Martim Bello, 5 Duarte Torgal, 6 José Madeira (capt.), 7 João Granate, 8 José Monteiro, 9 Samuel Marques, 10 Manuel Vareiro, 11 Manuel Cardoso Pinto, 12 Tomás Appleton, 13 Guilherme Vasconcelos, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Vincent Pinto

Replacements: 16 Pedro Vicente, 17 Nuno Mascarenhas, 18 Cody Thomas, 19 Guilherme Costa, 20 André Cunha, 21 Hugo Camacho, 22 Hugo Aubry, 23 Martim Faro

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS