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Harlequins players Chandler Cunningham-South and Cadan Murley stole the show as England rounded off an unbeaten July Americas tour with a dominant victory over the USA at Audi Field.
Klein (79')
Tries
Langdon (11'), Northmore (18'), Poortvliet (40'), Murley (41'), Randall (61'), Oghre (70')
Conversions
Ford (12', 18', 41', 62'), Atkinson (71')
Harlequins players Chandler Cunningham-South and Cadan Murley stole the show as England rounded off an unbeaten July Americas tour with a dominant victory over the USA at Audi Field.
Cunningham-South caused the hosts countless problems with his brutal physicality on both sides of the ball. American television commentators fittingly referred to the 22-year-old as a 'menace' due to his supercharged performance, one that was needed after slightly falling off the radar given England's embarrassment of riches across the back row.
Harlequins wing Cadan Murley scored a first-half try, made 11 carries, the third-highest metres (98), most clean breaks (3) and defenders beaten (6) in a standout performance, which also would have caused Borthwick to take notice.
Murley said: "We wanted to finish this tour on a high, and we talked all week about being ruthless. We stuck to our structure and when we got into the USA 22, we made it count.”
The match was delayed by 45 minutes due to lightning in the area and was later paused with the referee taking the players off the pitch due to further strikes, but despite disruption, England once again showed their impressive strength in-depth with a youthful team, without their healthy Lions contingent and injured centre Henry Slade, that was guided brilliantly once again by experienced fly-half George Ford.
Given the low number of caps and the heavy expectation to beat a very inexperienced US side, Steve Borthwick will be pleased with the workmanlike performance from his troops, even if they did fail to set the match alight for the full 80.
The visitors struck early through hooker Curtis Langdon, who was driven over from a well-constructed lineout maul. That set the tone for an opening period dominated by English forward power and sharp midfield running. Luke Northmore added a second try after slicing through the USA midfield from a first-phase move, and Jack van Poortvliet capitalised on sustained pressure to finish off a slick move just before the break.
A yellow card to USA fly-half Chris Hilsenbeck for a deliberate knock-on didn’t help the hosts’ cause, and England took full advantage with Murley crossing just before half-time after Ford had already slotted two conversions, giving England a commanding 24–0 lead at the interval.
Murley’s finish came after a clever cross-kick from Ford was gathered out wide, and the winger needed no second invitation to score in the corner.
After the break, England picked up where they left off. Harry Randall, on for van Poortvliet, was lively and decisive around the fringes and darted over for England’s fifth try following a sniping break from the base of a ruck. Gabriel Oghre added the sixth with a pick-and-go finish after a sustained spell of pressure near the USA line.
Charlie Atkinson, on for Ford in the final quarter, added the extras to Oghre’s try and managed proceedings well in the closing stages.
The USA did grab a late consolation through Shilo Klein, the replacement hooker bundling over in the dying minutes to ensure the home side didn’t finish scoreless, but it was scant reward on a night where England were in cruise control.
USA Starting XV (1-15) Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Kaleb Geiger, Pono Davis, Marno Redelinghuys, Tevita Naqali, Benja Bonassoa, Cory Daniel, Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz, Ruben de Haas, Chris Hilsenbeck, Toby Fricker, Tom Pittman, Dominic Besag, Rufus McLean, Erich Storti
USA Replacements (16-23) Shilo Klein, Jack Iscaro, Tonga Kofe, Vili Helu, Christian Poidevin, Makeen Alikhan, Juan Philip Smith, Lauina Futi
England Starting XV (1-15) Bevan Rodd, Curtis Langdon, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Alex Coles, Arthur Clark, Chandler Cunningham-South, Guy Pepper, Alex Dombrandt, Jack van Poortvliet, George Ford, Cadan Murley, Max Ojomoh, Luke Northmore, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Joe Carpenter
England Replacements (16-23) Gabriel Oghre, Fin Baxter, Trevor Davison, Ted Hill, Ben Curry, Harry Randall, Charlie Atkinson, Oscar Beard
