Rugby: Seeing the Women Play

Having finally seen the U.S. women play Canada on TV (some weeks after the fact), here are some clearer thoughts on their game.



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Having finally been able to observe the US women’s team in action, courtesy of CBC Television, it is evident that the Eagles were somewhat unlucky to lose to Canada at Saranac Lake





Having finally been able to observe the US
women’s team in action, courtesy of CBC Television, it is
evident that the Eagles were somewhat unlucky to lose to Canada
at Saranac Lake.


This isn’t to say the Canadians
didn’t deserve to win. The northerners played a good, hard
game, and showed great commitment with ball in hand. But the
Americans could have walked away with a victory as easy as not,
had a few things bounced their way.


Some observations.


Certain Eagles tackled with abandon and
commitment, and while it would be nice to see a few more players
show this delight in contact, the big hits were still great to
see. Chief among these were prop Phaidra Knight, no.8 Erina
Queen, and wing Laura Cabrera. Even so, the Canadians made too
much ground up the middle of the pack.


The back row of Diane Schnapp, Queen, and Kerry
McCabe played very well together. Schnapp was sneaky and tackled
well. Queen was one of the few players who consistently made the
gain line all game.


The backline was fairly solid defensively, but
did not get their moves going until late. Hedwig Aerts showed the
sort of knees-up, hard running you want from a center, and
Cabrera’s 40-meter run, followed by a chip and chase (the
ugly kicks are often the most effective) was a highlight.


I thought the Eagles had scored a try late. The
ball was on the ground and close to the post. But referee Gary
Devoe (who had a very good game) ruled otherwise. He said later
that the ball was just a few inches from the line, and an
American player who would have been better off rucking over,
grabbed the balled and dove for the line — hands in the
ruck, penalty.


The Eagles showed very good skills in passing
out of the tackle, and the men might take a lesson or two from
that. They made several nice movements and had the Canadians
going on their back foot, but …


The Americans also lost way, way too much ball
in once tackled. I don’t know if the Canadians tied them up,
or maybe Devoe was calling holding on quickly, and the Americans
didn’t think they had the time to squirm that ball back.
Maybe it is simply a case of fighting to fall correctly get the
ball back any way you can. I don’t know, but too many
promising moves were stymied by balls lost in the ruck.


The lineout was not good. Megan Himan was
plagued with throwing problems (exacerbated by the wet ball). In
general, the Eagle ball won by the forwards was not clean and
fast until nearer the end of the game. These things I think will
be straightened with a little practice time.


Finally … goalkicking. Catherine Darrow
played well at flyhalf, but she did not kick for goal well,
missing three makeable kicks (and another that was pretty tough).
She did not get height on her kicks and my guess is that she did
not feel secure on the wet surface at Saranac Lake. She needed to
commit her plant foot better and swing harder, but,
understandably, she didn’t feel she could do that. I saw
this problem in other players who, instead of stepping off a
plant foot to change direction, took two or three steps to make
the move. Longer cleats might have helped.


Will the Eagles win any games in Winnipeg this
September? If it’s the team that played the second half
against Canada, then yes, they will. I expect them to beat
Canada, and quite possibly England. The team needs to ruck and
maul harder and more consistently to challenge the Kiwis.


Final Notes: Despite all the
Canadian complainst about lack of money in their sport, their
women's national team sported two sponsors on their jerseys,
while the Americans had only the small adidas logo.


The game was not shown at the scheduled time on
CBC (the afternoon of Saturday, August 26) because, according to
the network, the tape needed to be reformatted and fixed in some
way to work on CBC equipment. The game was eventually shown very
early Monday morning, without notice from the network,
drastically reducing the audience that saw it.



By Alex Goff
Published: 9/5/2000
 
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