Clever joy as Eagles keep Bears at bay

UNITED STATES captain Todd Clever admitted he was a nervous man after his side held off a late Russian rally to win their Pool C encounter 13-6 in New Plymouth.

The Bears were making their World Cup debut and a good start saw them take a 3-0 lead through a Yuri Kushnarev penalty.

But the USA enjoyed the better of the contest with Saracens full-back Chris Wyles kicking two penalties and converting Mike Petri’s well-worked try to seal the win.

But Eddie O’Sullivan’s men were given a late scare as a Konstantin Rachkov penalty narrowed the gap, before Russia rumbled into the 22 in search of a levelling score, but the USA held out.

Clever, whose side had a short turnaround after losing to Ireland on Sunday, said: “I was very nervous. They are a tough team and they are improving, every time we play them they are getting better and better. I am just so proud of the guys that we were able to finish that.

“It’s an awesome feeling [to win]. I am proud of the boys for sticking through. We made it tough on ourselves but the crowd got us through. Mentally we were there but physically we were a little slow off the cuff, but we have a break before our next game so hopefully we can be back to 100%.”

The Eagles next face the daunting challenge of Australia in eight days’ time.

And Clever is looking forward to facing a side of the quality of the Wallabies, now that his side have a win under their belt.

He said: “We want to improve every game and we look forward to that.”

Scorers for Russia: Pens: Kushnarev, Rachkov.

Scorers for USA: Try: Petri; Con: R Suniula; Pens: Wyles 2.

RUSSIA: Klyuchnikov, Ostroushko, Rachkov, Makovetskiy, Artemyev, Kushnarev, Shakirov, Popov, Korshunov, Prishchepenko, Voytov, Antonov, Garbuzov, Fatakhov, Grachev.

Replacements: Botvinnikov for Popov (73), Byrnes for Antonov (60), Gresev for Garbuzov (58).

USA: Wyles, Ngwenya, Emerick, A. Suniula, Paterson, R Suniula, Petri, MacDonald, Biller, Moeakiola, van der Giessen, Smith, Stanfill, Clever, Johnson.

Replacements: Scully for Paterson (38), Usasz for Petri (67), Pittman for Moeakiola (39), LaValla for Johnson (66).

Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU).