Wow. What an event. That’s the first thing that has to be stated regarding the USA vs Italy test held Saturday night at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.
An announced crowd of more than 17,200 made it the best-attended rugby event ever in the USA. The fans loved it from start to finish. The bars outside the stadium were jam packed before the start – actually to the annoyance of some who had to wait. One bar manager said he had NEVER seen his place that busy – and this is where people go before or after Dynamo (MLS soccer) and Astros’ (Major League Baseball) games.
The Western 7s Qualifier, held earlier at the Houston Amateur Sports Park, buzzed with anticipation for the test match. Rugby fans were excited, and they did not leave unhappy, even though the 30-10 loss by the Eagles was not the outcome they wanted.
Check out this article by Tom Dart in The Guardian.
Photo by Rusty Steving
Onto the game:
1. The ref really killed the flow. The two red cards against the USA were nails in the coffin for the Eagles and the spectacle. It really got boring watching the USA just fight to survive with 13 men.
“The loads of penalties killed the flow,” U.S. Captain Todd Clever said after the game. “We want to play rugby and it just slowed it down so much.”
“It’s a tough ask to play flowing when you only have 13,” Fullback Chris Wyles said. “It showed that we have a lot of heart to make those try-saving tackles and step in there to stop attacks. But we can’t attack as well.”
U.S. Coach Mike Tolkin felt the red card on Andrew Suniula was “harsh”
2. The USA can play with the big fish.
“The lessons we can take away from this game is that we can play with these guys,” Tolkin said. “Despite everything, we were still in positive positions at times.”
The last try by Italy has to be chalked up to just the dam finally giving way, and the Italians made USA indiscretions costly with penalty kicks. However, Italy’s second try was really the only well-worked score. The Eagles were pretty stout on defense.
However, they can’t let tries like the relatively-easy first score get by. They know it, but they have to work on it. These cheap tries – like the one Canada scored on the lack of finding touch – need to be avoided if the USA wants to make progress.
3. Italy can freaking scrum.
“We put a lot of emphasis on the scrum after Canada,” Italian Captain Martin Castrogiovanni said after the match. “We were able to set the platform and get the ball out to the backs. But it was tough up front.”
Tolkin said he thought the U.S. scrum had improved since the Eagles lost to Italy in the 2011 World Cup. But the Italians really killed it on several occasions Saturday night.
4. Houston rocks!
“We went to an Astros game, and really enjoyed it,” Castrogiovanni said. “Texas and Houston have treated us really well.”
“Texas has been fantastic,” Italy’s Chris Burton said. “Great training facilities, just nice people.”
“The crowd was great,” Clever said. “We can’t say enough about Houston and the hosts. They have been great.”
The officials with BBVA Compass Stadium went on and on after the game about how surprised they were that Texas rugby officials were able to gather so much support from clubs in the state. The pre-sale, group tickets were the best they had ever seen, they said.
USA fans enjoyed the game.
One official with the stadium said she thought it would be, “you know, a nice crowd of nine or 10 thousand. Then the Texas guys tell us they want a sell out. They almost did it. I thought we would have to temper our expectations, but we blew them away.”
The big rumor of the week is that Houston leads for the rights to host the USA vs Ireland in 2013. It makes a lot of sense – 17,200 is a lot of cents – from every angle. A) history is now on Houston’s side. B) The stadium is right downtown, so it is easy to access and easy to entertain. C) Texas has the third-largest number of rugby players behind California and the Northeast.
No matter where it is held, Ireland will be a big draw. So, it is not impossible to maybe see that sell out coming if the game were held in Houston.
We are totally biased, of course. With that written – USA Rugby would be foolish not to host the Irish in Houston in 2013. All the other cities outside of Texas can suck it.
“All the other cities outside of Texas can suck it.” Exactly the American mentality that was so embarrassing at the game with people booing at injured Italian players and during penalty kicks. BBVA Compass Stadium gave us a wonderful new venue and we acted like heathens.
PAt! You are DAMN SKIPPY right!
Houston also had a great gate when the Springboks came to play in 2001. If you play it they will come! Great support!
Oh, Becci. We really were trying to be funny. Please don’t let a few (probably drunk) overzealous jerks ruin our moment in the rugby sun. We deserve to bask today.
And Kansas City really can suck it. Oh, and screw any city in Nebraska.
Some of the fan behavior embarassed me and my kids (both of whom play university rugby). They noted that the 4 drunk “kids” in front of them who booed the Italian kicker and who cheered Italian injuries were soccer dudes, who kept asking for law explanations, and thankfully left about half-time.
And who didn’t explain to the vendors (inside and outside the stadium) that they’ run out of beer about the time the game started?
Becci,
The fans over seas boo as well, watch some international matches on TV. It’s not a great response to a penalty shot, personally I think dead silence is more unnerving.
Russell
People werent booing an Italian injured player, they were booing an italian player milking an injury(soccer style) untill the red card came out.
There we go, have the fattest city in America host another important test in the US. Way to exacerbate the American stereotypes, I’m sure that state is just a classy, excellent example of what we want to be represented as….
Rugbybum, say what you will of Houston but leave the rest of Texas out of it.
Admin, it wasn’t just a few. Oh, did I leave out the part where seasoned, i.e. old enough to know better, rugby players were yelling out names at the Italian players like Pepperoni and Pizza from the third row in the stadium, or the 35 year old frat boys who were cat calling during the Italian national anthem.
BTW, Rugbybum, Houston isn’t even in the top ten of fattest cities anymore. Memphis in #1, although San Antonio is #3. But, the general behavior at the game was less than classy.
Russell, I’ve watched more international games on TV than you can imagine and I have a lot of international friends from several rugby nations. The ones who attended the event were appalled and disgusted at the display.
You can’t paint the picture that every fan in attendance was disrespectful of the visiting side. I didn’t see any of that where I was sitting. Remember, lots of animosity exists among teams fan bases in major US sports. Rugby at this level of attendance is virtually brand new in the US and who know’s how many non-ruggers who dont know the culture of the game were there? I’m sure the Americans aren’t booed when they travel abroad…
The night was amazing, lets celebrate where were going and how the sport is growing and accept there will not be 100% class among the crowd. Ever heard of soccer hooligans?
I’m an Irish rugby fan and I can say that I always enjoy when our 2 nations meet. It isnt just because we put up a few dozen points however, the American fans are always very polite etc. I think one of the recurring problems for US teams is that nobody takes them seriously. Italy’s line-up for example was not as strong as they could have fielded. Time and time again the “big 9″ teams(NZ, Australia, SA, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, and Argentina) field weak teams that give a rather glossy scoreline to the games with the US. The simple issue is that after a long season many of the big players dont want to travel to the States for a meaningless tour and that is something the US rugby union needs to look at. The US has a long way to go yet I think and this is evident when you consider that teams like the England Saxons and Irish Wolfhounds who are teams made up fr 3rd or 4th string players beat the Eagles handily each time they meet. I have heard it suggested that an exhibition game be played in the US and have say Ireland play England or I have even heard talk of a possible Lions V Argentina or even New Zealand game. That would do a lot for the game in the states I think and with the greatest of respect to the Eagles and their fans it would give the American public a chance to see 2 top teams go at it in a competitive international game. The Lions would bring some of the very top players on the planet to the US and that could only be good. The reports I hear however are that the NFL are putting the spoke in and refused to let the giants stadium be used in 2009 for a possible Lions exhibition game!