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G. Perris-Redding (9', 21', 46'), H. Rogers (27', 32')
Tries
F. Granzotto (14', 75'), V. Vecchini (37'), A. Muzzo (54'), V. Zanette (57')
B. Vogel (10', 21', 28', 47')
Conversions
F. Granzotto (55')
B. Vogel (75')
Penalties
This was a check on narrative as much as a result. USA Women arrived riding a run built on a heavy-duty pack and a habit of finishing stronger than opponents. They left Mansfield with both themes reinforced: five tries from tight-five and back-row shoulders, scoreboard control when it mattered, and the composure to close a wobble. Italy, again, had enough strike to worry anyone but not the 80-minute precision to cash in.
The detail is stark. All five American tries came from the forwards, with Georgie Perris-Redding poaching a hat-trick around the gain line and Hope Rogers rumbling for a brace. The Eagles lived in the Italian 22 because their carriers kept winning collisions and their lineout didn’t blink. Freda Tafuna didn’t dot down this time, but 13 carries for 109 metres and 14 tackles tell you who set the tone. Italy’s threat was real — ten clean breaks and two bursts from Francesca Granzotto — but their 67% lineout and a yellow card at 60 minutes bled control just when they had the hosts on a leash.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAKS
TACKLE
TACKLES MISSED
TURNOVERS WON
PENALTIES CONCEDED
YELLOW CARDS
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The swing wasn’t a single moment so much as a pattern. Italy landed a counterpunch at 7–5 and had width when they held tempo, yet every time they were dragged into repeated defensive sets the USA tight five ground them down. That is why a 26–10 interval lead felt decisive: it wasn’t slick shape beating blue shirts, it was contact dominance. Then, straight after the break, Perris-Redding’s third pushed it to 33–10 and forced Italy to chase from deep. The Azzurre obliged, especially with the ball in Aura Muzzo’s and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi’s hands, but a chase game magnified their soft edges.
There was jeopardy. The Eagles lost Telesi Uhatafe to the bin and conceded twice in that window, Vittoria Zanette knifing in after Muzzo had already scored, dragging it back to 33–22 with time enough for trouble. That yellow said something about USA discipline that won’t please them. But the next card was Italian — Giorgia Cuoghi on 60 — and with parity restored in numbers the Eagles got back to playing the corners and forcing maul/goal-line sets. Even when Granzotto’s late finish clipped it to six, Bella Vogel iced the game with the penalty that turned it back into a two-score ask. That, too, is part of their current identity: they choose the percentage play late and back their pack to deliver the penalty they need.
Individuals mattered because of how USA played. Perris-Redding was everywhere: 17 carries, 14 tackles, and the instinct to arrive on the ball when Italy were stretched thin. Rogers’ double underlined the point-of-contact dominance — 14 carries, 14 tackles, and a day that asked questions Italy couldn’t answer near their own line. Tafuna, again, was the drumbeat carrying threat that bent the defensive picture for everyone outside her. Vogel’s boot deserves its own line: four conversions and that nerve-settling penalty, plus sturdiness in the tackle. Around them, Rachel Ehrecke and the locks kept the carry count high and the tempo suffocating.
Italy were not passengers. Granzotto finished twice and added a conversion, Minuzzi was a persistent problem on kick return, and Alyssa D’Inca punched holes while getting through 14 tackles. In the pack, Giulia Cavina and Giordana Duca worked themselves into the ground. The attacking shapes are there, and when Sofia Stefan had the tempo she wanted, the USA edge defence creaked. But this window keeps telling the same story: post-score focus and set-piece consistency cut them off at the knees. A 6/6 American lineout against 8/12 in blue cost launch after launch. The eight turnovers they won should have tilted territory; too many of them came without the next action to bank points. And the Cuoghi yellow, arriving just as momentum tilted, was a hammer blow.
Does nine points flatter anyone? If anything it lets Italy off the hook for the long mid-game period where they were second-best at the gain line and conceding repeat entries. The Azzurre’s late rally narrowed optics, but the Eagles had already built enough headroom through ruthlessness close in. Flip it, and the USA won’t love the defensive looseness that allowed ten breaks or the yellow that reopened a contest that should have been shut.
For the Eagles, this extends a run that now has definition: a side leaning into forward power, trusting their red-zone craft, and playing the late beats with clarity. Their head coach’s pre-match line fits: “Jack Hanratty: We are confident going into Italy, but we definitely need to stay humble — we’re still proving that we are a top-six team in the world.” On this evidence, that proof is accumulating, but the breakdown turnover count and penalty timing are live work-ons.
For Italy Women, the takeaway is bracingly simple: the attack can hurt good sides, but the set piece and discipline keep dragging the ceiling down. Fix the lineout and the moments after they score — when concentration and exits really count — and the rematch in Nashville becomes a very different argument. Keep handing a pack like this much ball and field position, and you get the same ending.
