USA ruin Russia’s World Cup debut

The United States ground out an abrasive 13-6 victory over World Cup debutants Russia here on Thursday to get their campaign back on track.

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 before the Americans held off a late fight-back.

“It’s an awesome feeling I’m proud of the boys for sticking in there,” said US captain Todd Clever.

“We made it tough on ourselves but the crowd helped us get through that one. I was very nervous, they’re a tough team and they’re improving and they’re just getting better and better.”

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 Clever, fellow flanker Louis Stanfill and man-of-the-match prop Mike MacDonald were outstanding.

Russia coach Nikolai Nerush was left lamenting a wasted opportunity in their history-making match.

“We really wanted to show what we could do, we really wanted to win,” Nerush said. “Unfortunately, the lineout didn’t go well and the balls we could have won could have helped us win the game.”

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 USA 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 Stadium Taranaki.

AFP