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| Photo: John Wagner |
With the Eagles 2014 now closed we are going to take a look back at some of the key elements of the season. Today we begin with the team's overall record. Later we will look at team stats, player stats, and individual elements of the team.
The Eagles finished 2014 with three wins, five losses, and one draw. When you compare that to 2013 when they had eight losses and two wins it looks like a great season but it's worse than 2012 when they had three wins and three losses. In all but two matches (the World Cup qualifying series against Uruguay) the U.S. played against teams ranked higher than them in the standings. That also included two Tier I nations in Scotland and New Zealand, something that is a rarity outside of a World Cup year.
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Also in comparison to 2013 the results were a lot closer for the Eagles. The average margin of loss for the Eagles was 26.4 but if you take out the New Zealand match that margin shrinks down to 16. Their biggest loss of the year outside of the New Zealand came against Tonga (40-12) while they lost to Fiji by six, Japan by 12, and Scotland by 18. The average margin of victory in the three wins was 10.66. Their biggest win came over Uruguay by 19 points. They beat Romania by 10 points and Canada by three points.
There are two ways to look at the numbers. On the one hand the U.S. still had more losses than wins. No matter what the margin they are still losses and that won't help the Eagles gain confidence and improve in the World Rugby standings. The fact that several of the losses were close is also disappointing. They should have beaten Fiji and were close throughout the first half against Scotland, Japan, and Fiji. If they had also beaten Uruguay in their first match, which was arguably the most disappointing result of the season, and come away with a win in a couple of more matches throughout the year they would have had an even record.
That's a lot of maybes but if you look past the disappointment and compare the Eagles of 2014 to the Eagles of 2013 the fact that they were in so many games is a positive. In particular against the likes of Fiji and Scotland. If they continue to play Tier I nations sooner or later the Eagles are going to finally get that elusive win.
When the Eagles won this year they almost universally looked strong doing it. They Romania win was their best of the year and they eventually put Uruguay away after letting it stay close in the first half. The Canada result was close but important in that is showed the Eagles can pull out a close match. That has been an area they've struggled in over the last year and they regressed a little against Tonga and Fiji but they didn't have leads in that match like they did against Canada.
Scoring was up this year at 21.2 points per match. For a team that has struggled so much in the past to put points on the board that's a good sign. At the same time they left a number of chances on the board, in particular in the November series, and gave up 31.8 points (26.6 without the All Blacks match).
Overall, it was a down year in terms of results but overall it was a much more positive year and a build stone for the Eagles. They seemed to get better as the year went along aside from the New Zealand and Tonga matches (really only the Tonga match is egregious). There is still a long way to go for the team, including more regular wins against the likes of Tonga and Fiji as well as a win over a Tier I nation, but there was progress. A year out from the World Cup that is what you want to see from a team that has struggled over the last few years.
Uruguay 27-27 Eagles
Eagles 32-13 Uruguay
Eagles 6-24 Scotland
Eagles 29-37 Japan
Eagles 38-35 Canada
Eagles 6-74 New Zealand
Romania 17-27 Eagles
Tonga 40-12 Eagles
Fiji 20-14 Eagles