U-20 Women’s National Team Close South Africa Tour with a Win

from USA Rugby:

NELSPRUIT, South Africa – Before a packed crowd at Nelspruit Rugby Stadium, the USA Under-20 Women’s National Team wrapped up its South Africa tour with a nail-biting 21-17 victory over the South Africa U-20 Women on Saturday, June 28.

The game did not get underway exactly as the U.S. side would have liked, as the South African team came out with incredible speed on the outside and outpaced the USA backs on the kickoff to go up 5-0 within the first minute of play.

A resilient USA U-20 squad regrouped and the forwards continued to gain momentum off repeated pick-and-goes until Tayo Mafe touched down for the first U.S. try at nine minutes in. Catherine Parkhill’s conversion made the score 7-5 in favor of the visitors.

Toward the end of the second half, a slight breakdown in discipline saw a South African player head to the sin bin and the U.S. took advantage, with Tara McGrady catching a swift break down the sidelines and the forwards following close in tow with excellent support.

The ball again found the hands of USA hooker Tayo Mafe, who touched in for her second try on the day and another spot on conversion from Catherine Parkhill grew the U.S. lead to 14-5 at the half.

The USA U-20s came out strong after the break, with standout Seymira Salami darting in for a try in the corner and Catherine Parkhill successfully booting an impressive kick to bring the tally to 21-5.

However, the U.S. fell into a patch of trouble when captain Lisa Henneman was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle and Parkhill was shown red. The South African side capitalized on the adjustments among the U.S. backs to pull within striking distance, 21-17, following tries in the 16th and 21st minutes.

The final eight minutes of play saw the U.S. go down to 13 players when Seymira Salami was sin binned for not releasing, but the team’s forwards continued to dominate and the entire U.S. team committed to fend off the South African team for the victory. Despite one last desperate attempt for the try line by South Africa, the final blow signaled an end result of 21-17.

“The team put in an amazingly gutsy performance. They stayed focused and disciplined and were able to gut it out to the end. There were times when it looked like we might miss out by one point, but this team simply would not allow that to happen,” Under-20 Women’s Coach Bryn Chivers said.

“The entire coaching staff is immensely pleased with the team’s performance and we’re so thankful for the great amount of support we’ve received from our hosts and the fans in South Africa.”

For more information on the USA Under-20 Women’s National Team, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/womens_u20.

USA 21
15. Tyra McGrady (Indiana), 14. Seymira Salami (State College, PA), 13. Marie Timm (USMA), 12. Lisa Henneman (C) (Seattle Women), 11. Blaine Martin (Brown), 10. Sadie Anderson (Fort Collins, CO), 9. Catherine Parkhill (Armstrong, MN), 1. Joanna Kitlinski (Grand Valley State), 2. Tayo Mafe (Michigan State), 3. Rachel Sommer (West Linn, OR), 4. Mallory Ives (Colorado State), 5. Anneke Brand (Texas Tech), 6. Candace Barley (Maryville, TN), 7. Jozy Gessner (Summit, CO), 8. Katie Johnson (Hopkins, MN)

Replacements: 16. Jay Marie Hill (Stanford), 17. Brittany Rose (West Chester East), 18. Alex Hartley (Brown) repl. Johnson, 19. Brittany Woodard (Hyde School, DC), 20. Kayla Morisoli (San Jose State) repl. Martin, 21. Lauren Danielsen (Summit, CO),
22. BriAnna Barto (Summit, CO) repl. Hartley

Tries: Mafe (2), Salami
Conversions: Parkhill (3)
Yellow cards: Henneman, Salami
Red card: Parkhill

**USA U-20 Women’s National Team Game 1 vs South Africa, go here.

**USA U-20 Women’s National Team Game 2 vs Developmental team, go here.

**Bryn Chivers gives an update on events, venues etc for upcoming U-20 WNT Events, go here.