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K. Sanele (19', 27'), L. Carlton (32'), F. Tafuna (38', 43', 64'), G. Perris-Redding (60'), K. Zackary (76')
Tries
F. Granzotto (7'), F. Sgorbini (13'), V. Minuzzi (55'), B. Rigoni (68')
B. Vogel (20', 28', 33', 39', 61', 65', 77')
Conversions
M. Sillari (14', 69')
This told us the USA Women can now do more than bully a game; they can manage one. A week after Texas, the same matchup produced a very different level of control. The Eagles’ tight five strangled Italy’s launch, the back row kept them on the back foot, and the decision-making around the red zone was sharper. Add Bella Vogel nailing everything off the tee, and pressure finally converted into a margin that matched the territory.
It also told us the Azzurre don’t survive long stints without clean platforms. They can still cut you when the ball gets quick and wide — they did again here — but when the opposition scrum is steady and the lineout entry is one-way traffic, Italy end up defending too many sets, conceding too many penalties, and chasing lost metres. That is exactly what happened in Nashville.
There was a flicker that this might be different. Italy scored twice early and asked the same questions they asked in Mansfield: tempo, width, a wing finishing in the corner. But once the Eagles declined threes and stacked scrums and corners, the contest tilted. The USA scrum was secure all night, their lineout was faultless, and the maul/pick chain around the five-metre channel began to pay out. Two finishes to Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele from tighthead said it bluntly: Italy couldn’t hold the gain line when the carries came in waves.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAKS
TACKLE
TACKLES MISSED
TURNOVERS WON
PENALTIES CONCEDED
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The numbers back up the feel. The Eagles owned 59% possession and forced Italy to make 228 tackles. USA’s set-piece was spotless — 14/14 lineout and 5/5 scrum — while Italy’s scrum coughed under pressure and they simply didn’t see enough lineouts to get moving in exit or attack. That lack of launch is a symptom of territorial strain and a cause of it, a loop the Azzurre never escaped.
Selection continuity mattered too. With Vogel steering from first-receiver when needed and kicking at 100% (7 from 7), there was no leakage on the scoreboard. “The way she sees the game, the way she directs it, is fantastic,” Georgie Perris-Redding said recently, and Nashville fit the quote. Where Texas wobbled late, here the Eagles kept their boot on field position and made their visits count.
Personnel told the story up front. Freda Tafuna was relentless: 27 carries and a hat-trick, the kind of volume that bends a defence’s spacing even when the outcomes aren’t glamorous. Lauryn Carlton and Sanele both finished close-range movements born of repeat advantage, while Rachel Ehrecke and Kathryn Treder did the dog work — Ehrecke with heavy carries, Treder with clean throwing that denied Italy any cheap turnover. When Perris-Redding wasn’t scoring herself she was clearing bodies, hitting 17 tackles and running for big metres through contact. The platform was collective and ruthless.
Italy’s bright spells were familiar and real. Francesca Granzotto struck early again, and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi lit the second half with a counter and three offloads that briefly stretched the USA edges. Francesca Sgorbini carried and finished with bite. The back row’s work rate was enormous — Alissa Ranuccini led a tackle count that told of effort rather than control — and Michela Sillari was clean off the tee when chances finally came. But that’s the point: chances were rationed. Living off turnover ball and deep-phase defence isn’t a plan, it’s a fire drill.
Where did it turn? In truth, it was the accumulation rather than a single moment. Italy’s 12-point head start disappeared the minute the Eagles chose structure over chase: scrum options, corner kicks, and patient multi-phase on front-foot ball. Tafuna either side of half-time broke Italian resistance, and when Minuzzi scratched one back, Perris-Redding replied off momentum and Vogel’s conversion reasserted the gap. By the time Kate Zackary arrived to finish another forward-led surge, the contest was long decided.
Does 54–24 flatter the hosts? Not really. Eight tries with seven conversions, perfect set-piece, four penalties conceded and a possession/territory strangle is a fair reflection. If anything, the Eagles will kick themselves for the soft edges that let Italy in twice early and once late; that looseness out wide remains on the to-do list before England. They also coughed a couple of turnovers that better sides will punish. But the core identity — scrum/lineout strength married to calm red-zone choices — is real and traveling.
Italy leave with clarity. Their outside backs can hurt teams, and their contact work stands up for long periods, but without reliable exit options and more than a couple of lineout launches, they’re defending mauls and pick chains until the dam breaks. Discipline at 9 penalties conceded fed the USA entries; that has to tighten. Integrating youth is valuable, but the set-piece reliability that dipped a week ago and the exit accuracy under stress are the urgent fixes.
For the Eagles, Nashville was confirmation: the same pack that nudged Italy around in Texas can now convert that squeeze into a proper scoreboard. Vogel’s radar, Tafuna’s carrying, Sanele’s scrum-side menace — all of it stacks up into a blueprint that will translate against stronger opposition. Next up is England in New Jersey. This felt like a team arriving with the right sort of certainty about who they are and how they win.
