USA v. Portugal

I traveled to Portugal this past weekend to watch the Eagles 15s squad play in their first test match of the tour.  I haven't seen Kevin play 15's for the USA yet, so it was worth the hectic day of travel to be there.

Kevin is now in Scotland continuing on the tour, so I get to write a brief opinion of the Portugal match before he has time to edit it all.

Even though Portugal fought close for the entire 80 minutes, the stadium was shockingly quiet from start to finish. It seemed like this lifeless atmosphere translated to the field as the Eagles started off a bit sluggish and sloppy, with numerous dropped balls and a quick knock-on within the first few minutes. After an early penalty, the Portugal kicker took the opportunity to slot the first of his numerous kicks.  

It appeared like Todd gathered the boys to get their heads in it, which helped a bit but the game continued to progress at a pretty slow pace. To be honest, the majority of the match was unexciting despite the close score. But thankfully there were some solid moments that ended with some points on the board. Taku scored a nice corner try in the first half, Paul ran over a guy that led to an easy 40 meter run down the sideline, and the backline strung some passes together for a team try in the second half.

Final score was 22-17. In the end, a win is a win. It's always hard to put together a clean and solid game after only a couple trainings together. Many of the guys have been playing overseas in different systems, so it takes some time to adjust.

Next match is verse Scotland, but it's not a test match so several players will be rested.  

The progression of Kevin's "MO."

  

We stayed in the surfer town of Carcavelos - very close to the capital city of Lisbon. This huge fortification, Forte de São Julião da Barra, was a short jaunt from the hotel. It used to protect the Tagus river entrance from enemy ships, but is now used as the residence of the Ministry of Defense. Thought I'd throw in a little history to the mix!