Zackary's joy as USA collect first win

By Mark Stevens
15/10/22

USA captain Kate Zackary was full of praise for her team-mates as the Eagles collected their first victory of the Rugby World Cup with a 30-17 victory over Japan in Whangarei.

Rob Cain’s side overcame a 5-3 half-time deficit to run out comfortable winners in the end, courtesy of tries from Joanna Kitlinski, Alev Kelter, Elizabeth Cairns and Jennine Detiveaux.

Kelter converted the last two tries, as well as adding a penalty, to go alongside a first half penalty from Gabby Cantorna.

In reply, Megumi Abe, Hunan Nagura and Komachi Imakugi all scored tries for Japan.

“We came here to have a performance today, we needed a performance and the girls showed up and I’m really proud of them,” said Zackary, who was one of seven Exeter Chiefs players in the USA match-day squad.

“I’m honestly speechless at times, the girls came to play. We had some fantastic tries. Bitsy coming off the bench, coming right in and scoring a try from the kick was amazing. Jennine cutting up the middle, that’s something we’ve been working on the training park for a few months and it’s taken us a while to execute, so today was a good day to see that come off.”

Zackary, who herself was named the Mastercard Player of the Match, admitted it was a powerful second half showing from her side. She added: “I think a little bit of excitement crept in to that first half, so we were standing a little bit flatter, didn’t give ourselves time and space. In the second half you saw that we were able to get a little more depth, we were able to get some speed on the ball, get some space in front of them and you saw what happens when you can stretch the ball wide.”