England power past USA in Washington D.C. to complete summer tour clean sweep
England defeated the USA 40-5 in their final summer tour fixture in Washington D.C., having beaten Argentina in their previous two Test matches.
Steve Borthwick selected a youthful England side for the encounter, with six debutants named in the match day 23. Tries from Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall and Gabriel Oghre contributed to the win, while George Ford also added eight points from the tee and Charlie Atkinson rounded things off.
After an hour’s delay due to weather conditions in Washington D.C., it was the USA who started on the front foot, finding the corner after winning successive penalties. However, they were unable to profit from the position as 23-year-old debutant Arthur Clark read the lineout to defuse the danger.
With 10 minutes played England enjoyed a period of possession and as they tried to spread the ball, USA fly half Chris Hilsenbeck knocked the ball on deliberately and was sent to the sin bin.
From the resulting penalty Ford kicked for the corner and, after the initial drive was brought down illegally, Langdon capitalised from the back of the maul to open the scoring and Ford duly converted.
Five minutes later Northmore won a turnover just inside the England half and Ford kicked deep into the USA 22. An excellent chase and tackle by the returning Immanuel Feyi-Waboso kept the pressure on the hosts and forced a forward pass by the USA to give England a scrum.
England showed their power before Bath centre Max Ojomoh released Northmore with a well-timed pass for his centre partner to score his first international try on just his second cap. Ford, who contrastingly won his 100th cap in the first Argentina Test, added the extras and gave Steve Borthwick’s side a 0-14 lead.
As the game approached the half-hour mark England’s scrum won a penalty inside their own half and a brilliant kick by Ford took his team to just five metres out. Alex Dombrandt then looked to have scored England’s third, but the try was ruled out for an earlier obstruction.
The game was then paused due to lightning in the area, but when play resumed England continued pushing for a third try.
With three minutes left of the half, a pinpoint cross-field kick from Ford found Murley, who kicked ahead before Joe Carpenter scooped up the ball to dot down. However, a knock-on by Murley saw the try disallowed.
England looked to finish the half with a flourish as a well-worked move from the backs released Carpenter on the right wing. The debutant was brought down inside the USA 22, but as the ball came back to the left, Murley cut back inside to score his third Test try. Ford’s conversion drifted wide, but England returned to the changing room with a 0-19 lead.
Borthwick’s men had clocked up the metres at half time, having already made 299 metres according to the England Rugby Match Centre. Carpenter and Murley had contributed 71 and 93 metres respectively.
England started the half well as the impressive Chandler Cunningham-South carried hard in the midfield with just a minute played. The ball was recycled and found Northmore in space, who then passed inside for Van Poortvliet to score, and Ford converted.
Just after the hour mark England scored their second try of the half as Ben Curry’s inside ball released Feyi-Waboso in acres of space. The Exeter Chiefs wing then found replacement Randall, who stepped to score, four years after scoring on his debut against the USA and Ford’s conversion made it 0-33.
The replacements, including debutants Oscar Beard, Atkinson and Oghre, injected energy and it was the Bristol Bears hooker who peeled from a rolling maul to score. Atkinson then added the extras to give England a 40-point margin, before Shilo Klein crossed for the USA to make it 5-40 at the death.
