USA targeting 80-minute performance against Ireland in WXV 1

Prior to the USA’s final WXV 1 match against Ireland, head coach Sione Fukofuka and Kate Zackary have spoken of the team’s intent to put in an 80-minute performance at BC Place.

A key theme running through the discourse around their performances at this competition and further afield has been the burgeoning confidence within the squad as their international matches and time together increase.

"A big part was building combinations and confidence,” Fukofuka said. “We don't get a lot of time together so the two weeks prior to the England game we worked pretty hard to push through our content but also a lot of our physical development through that period. The players that have started each game allow us to start the game in the manner that we want to.

“Strong set piece, really big ball carries, and compete hard at that collision area. We feel that the extra week together allows those combinations to get even stronger. As you saw against France, we competed really well but we also are pretty excited about what our reserves, our bomb squad, can add to that level. Clearly the platform is laid by the starting group.”

The USA will have played nine Test matches this year at the completion of WXV, starting with a match against South Africa in London in March, finishing third at the Pacific Four series after playing Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, facing Japan twice in August, and rounding off the year at WXV 1.

Captain Zackary discussed what a marker of success would be from the final WXV 1 match to finish off the year: "A key thing is a lot of confidence across our team. We've still got a couple of players who are only in single-digit caps, we've got players who are higher up, we've got a whole range.

“The biggest thing is we're ending out the year on a high with a huge four-week block together. Like Sione said, we've been building and preparing for the last four weeks so I think that marker of success is really about rounding out a really big year.

“It's not just this tournament, we started back in January with the camp and then we've played South Africa, we've had PAC 4, we've had this event, we've played Japan. It's been a massive year as a team and I think the biggest thing is that we've seen the growth all the way from day one through to here.

“There's been a really massive growth among the team and so those markers are just about the individual confidence and secondly probably around our set piece. Obviously, I'm a bit more on the forward mindset and one or two takeaways just some of our lineout success and our scrum success that we haven't had traditionally.”

The growth in the squad has been nurtured through increased periods of time in camp. Fukofuka explained the desire to compete for a full 80 minutes in this weekend’s fixture.

The head coach said: “In our practice, if you see where we are this week compared to where we were three weeks ago, it's chalk and cheese. The professionalism and the accuracy that is on display at the moment is so pleasing. That comes with time together and the opportunity to work in this environment. Through the games, we competed against England for long periods of time but clearly there were periods there where they were able to get momentum and I thought they did that really well.

“I thought against France we were much better. Reviewing the game we felt we didn't take opportunities at the start that could have changed the shape of the game which was disappointing but at the same time, kept ourselves competitive.

“That ten minutes after half-time was a bit disappointing when we allowed them to get that jump and extend the lead, but we were so happy with how we finished the game. Clearly some of our bomb squad members came off the bench and added real impact, but then our starters also kept pushing for that 80 minutes.

“This week what we're looking for is a collective effort from minute one through to minute 80. We know with Ireland's confidence that that's what it's going to take. We're pretty excited about it and we've loaded accordingly. This is a deload week for us where we'd planned to pull back within our practice to be as fresh as we can do we do get those 80 minutes.”

One area of improvement from the game against France, which finished 14-22, was the penalty count. It reached a total of 14 for the USA, 10 of which were conceded in the first half.

"We've been pretty cognisant that when we have the ball in particular we control a lot of our own destiny, so making sure that we have support around the ball, making sure we remove the threats,” Fukofuka explained.

“You would have seen that last 25 minutes, I don't think we gave away another penalty. We have it in us to adjust our behaviours, we just took a little bit more time to adjust to the referee than we should have and we allowed to France to put us under pressure. This week, more of the same really. We control our own actions and we're pretty confident that when we do that we can play the style of rugby that we're chasing.”

The USA have made one change to last week’s starting team, Cassidy Bargell coming into the fold to make her first start. Bargell came onto the field in the 55th minute and marshalled the USA to reduce the deficit to eight points at the final whistle.

Fukofuka said: "It's not a surprise that in the last 25 minutes when she entered the game, we picked up our pace, our ruck speed was quicker, we had more possession, our penalty rate went down. It's not all on the back of Cass obviously but she brings a whole lot of energy and a whole lot of speed to the ball. That's exciting. Her width of pass allows us to play that little bit wider so there's a whole lot of excitement that comes with her.”

Bargell has fought and continues to battle through bowel disease, and this November will mark three years since her ostomy due to severe acute ulcerative colitis.

“What is so important, and if you know a little bit about her story, is that perseverance to come back what she's gone through to make her debut at the start of the year, go through the disappointment of not playing as much as she would have wanted to, and then really added to value to our playing group. We're excited to see her start for the first time,” Fukofuka added with pride.