America down Russia for first World Cup victory

The United States of America secured their first victory of the 2011 Rugby World cup when they beat Russia 6-13 at Stadium Taranaki in Pool C.

Man of the Match was awarded to USA Eagles Prop Mike MacDonald.

The US team, which lost their opener 22-10 to Ireland, enjoyed large periods of advantage in terms of territory and possession but could not fully convert them into points in the face of a doughty Russian defence.

Mike Petri scored the only try of the game, with US fullback Chris Wyles adding a conversion and two penalties in tricky kicking conditions.

Russia struggled both at the set piece, with the scrum wilting under pressure at times and the lineout malfunctioning, and also at the breakdown where US captain Todd Clever, fellow flanker Louis Stanfill and prop Mike MacDonald were outstanding.

But it was the debutants who got off to the better start when a charged-down clearance kick saw Sergey Popov and Andrey Garbuzov go close before the US infringed at a ruck.

Fly-half Yury Kushnarev stepped up to kick the third-minute penalty for Russia’s first ever World Cup points, to roars of delight from a packed house at Yarrow Stadium.

Kushnarev failed with a second ambitious effort from 46 metres in swirling wind shortly after, but Wyles equalled the scores with an 11th minute penalty for a blatant offside in midfield.

Momentum then swung the US team’s way.

America Samoa-born fly-half Roland Suniula broke the line, passed back on his inside to centre brother Andrew who offloaded to Petri, who fended off fullback Igor Klyuchnikov to go in under the posts for a try Wyles converted.

Wyles missed a second penalty but USA suddenly looked the dominant side as the Suniula duo and Clever began to punch holes in the Russian midfield.

When the Russian scrum wilted and collapsed in their own 22m area, the US kicked for touch but could not get over the line despite a sustained period of pressure.

Unable to clear their lines and with a scrum under the cosh, Russia defended valiantly and were again let off the hook as Wyles badly skewed a third penalty attempt on the half-hour mark to make it 10-3 at half-time.

Kushnarev missed a second penalty early in the second half after Northampton-bound winger Vasily Artemyev showed his capability of breaking down defences with some bullocking runs.

USA came racing back and Andrew Suniula almost crossed for a memorable try, side-stepping his way past a number of defenders but just hauled down short of the line.

Wyles then missed a third kickable penalty and a snap drop-goal, but eventually notched his second successful penalty in the 64th minute to stretch the lead to 13-3.

Centre Konstantin Rachkov cut the deficit with a second Russian penalty with three minutes to go, but it was too little too late and Russia will now move on to face a tough game against Italy in Nelson on Tuesday.

The US take on Australia in Wellington on Friday.

Final Score Russia 6 (3) USA 13 (10)

Scorers

USA
Tries: Petri
Penalties: Wyles 2
Con: Suniula

Russia
Tries :
Penalties:Kushnarev 2
Con:

Match Officials
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

Teams

Russia :(15-1): Igor Klyuchnikov; Vladimir Ostroushko, Konstantin Rachkov, Alexey Makovetskiy, Vasily Artemyev; Yury Kushnarev, Alexander Shakirov; Vyacheslav Grachev, Artem Fatakhov, Andrey Garbuzov; Denis Antonov, Alexander Voytov; Ivan Prishchepenko, Vladislav Korshunov (capt), Sergey Popov

Replacements: Valery Tsnobiladze, Alexander Khrokin, Vladmimir Botvinnikov, Adam Byrnes, Victor Gresev, Alexander Yanyushkin, Andrey