The US Eagles completed an encouraging fall on Saturday when they defeated Russia 28-7 at Allianz Park in north London. The win for Mike Tolkin's team was their second in a week, Georgia having been beaten in Tblisi last Saturday, and came two weeks after an encouraging performance in a narrow defeat by the Maori All Blacks in Philadelphia.
Prior to this month, in 2013 the Eagles had lost three times to Canada and once each to Japan, Tonga, Fiji and Ireland.
The Eagles' British-based professional players led the way on the artificial pitch at the home of Saracens, the employers of the full-back Chris Wyles. Wyles scored one of four tries, two of which came in each half, and the Northampton Saints lock Samu Manoa also crossed the line. The Life University No8 Cam Dolan scored the third try, adding to his try against the Maori, and the Old Blue fly-half Adam Siddall, whose late penalty beat Georgia, kicked three penalties and two conversions.
The lock forward Andrei Garbuzov scored Russia's try, which Ramil Gaisin converted to close the score to 15-7 early in the second half.
Tolkin was also able to field Leicester's Blaine Scully on the wing, Andrew Suniula of London Wasps at centre and the Stade Français forward Scott LaValla on one flank. The 18-year-old tighthead prop Titi Lamositele started the game, gaining the full cap that should enable him to join Wyles on a full-time Saracens contract.
The Eagles' next engagement is in March, when they face Uruguay over two games, for a spot at the 2015 World Cup in England. The first game will be held in Uruguay on 22 March; the return will kick-off on Saturday, 29 March, at the Fifth/Third Bank Stadium in Atlanta.
In other internationals played on Saturday, Canada won 52-8 in Portugal and Georgia recorded a notable victory, beating Samoa 16-15 in Tblisi.
The Eagles' win was not available for viewing in the US, causing comment among fans. On Saturday evening Nigel Melville, the president and chief executive of USA Rugby, issued a statement in explanation.
"We agreed to webcast the game on USA Rugby TV," Melville said, referring to USA Rugby and its Russian equivalent, "but were told late in the week prior to the match technical issues would force a significant increase in price of the stream. Reluctantly, we both agreed the cost was prohibitive and we would not stream."
Melville added: "I am personally disappointed we could not web stream our national team's match live and that the only alternative was to upload our analyst's video to our YouTube channel. In the future, we will not be playing games in Europe where we cannot get an appropriate feed and will do better by having more control over the broadcast elements of our fixtures."
US Eagles: Chris Wyles; Blaine Scully, Folau Niua, Andrew Suniula, Tim Maupin; Adam Siddall, Robbie Shaw; Nick Wallace, Phil Thiel, Titi Lamositele, Tai Tuisamoa, Samu Manoa, Todd Clever (capt), Scott LaValla, Cam Dolan. Replacements: Zach Fenoglio, Olive Kifili, Eric Fry, Graham Harriman, Derek Asbun, Shaun Davies, Seamus Kelly, Luke Hume
Tries: Wyles, Manoa, Dolan Cons: Siddall 2 Pens: Siddall 3.
Russia: Ramil Gaisin; Vasili Artemyev, Igor Galinovski, Dimitri Gerasimov, Vladimir Ostroushko; Sergey Sugrubov, Anton Rayabov; Grigori Tsnobiladze, Valeri Tsnobiladze, Evgeny Pronenko, Alexander Voytov (capt), Andrei Garbuzov, Alexander Khudyakov, Pavel Butenko, Viktor Gresev. Replacements: Vladislav Korshunov, Alexei Volkov, Innokenty Zykov, Denis Antonov, Artem Fatakhov, Yuri Kushnarev, Andrei Otrokov, Denis Simplikevich.
Try: Garbuzov Con: Gaisin.
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
