USA 5-40 England: Tourists overcome lightning delays to storm past Eagles in emphatic tour finale

England overcame two lengthy weather delays to preserve their spotless tour record with a 40-5 win over the United States on Saturday night.

Thunderstorms loitered in the vicinity of Audi Field throughout the afternoon, causing kick-off to be postponed for an hour.

They say lightning never strikes twice, but in this case it did exactly that. With the match less than half an hour old and England 14 points ahead, the players retired to the changing rooms for a further 40 minutes as more storms passed through the area.

While the stoppages clearly disrupted England’s rhythm, they rose above the challenging conditions to produce a composed display. Tries from Curtis Langdon and Luke Northmore had them in the driver’s seat early on, before Cadan Murley added a third after the weather delay to cement a sturdy advantage at halftime.

And they only improved after the break, scoring less than a minute into the second half through Jack van Poortvliet before romping to a 40-point advantage, only allowing their vice-grip on the match to loosen on last play as Shilo Klein pulled back a consolation.

With several England regulars prioritising the Lions tour, the door was opened for six debutants to enter the fray. Arthur Clark, Joe Carpenter, and Max Ojomoh all impressed after being drafted into the starting lineup, while Charlie Atkinson and Oscar Beard earned their first caps off the bench. So too did Gabriel Oghre, who marked his England bow with a late try.

The win marks the end of a successful summer for England, who emerge from their three-match tour of the Americas unbeaten despite the absent Lions.

When the sides eventually took to the pitch, it was the hosts who started faster, applying considerable pressure to the Red Rose defence with tactical kicking.

But the momentum flipped on the 10-minute mark as Christopher Hilsenbeck was sent to the sin-bin for halting an England attack with a deliberate knock-on.

It took barely two minutes for England to profit from the personnel advantage as Curtis Langdon broke free from a maul to dot down the opener, with George Ford drilling the afters. The veteran was at his creative best on Saturday, dictating England’s attack and hitting four of five conversions.

The onslaught did not stop there. The tourists had a try attempt held up shortly after, failing to make good on Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s pressure, before scoring a second of the evening moments later. A textbook set-piece from a five-metre scrum was finished under the posts by Northmore to put England comfortably clear.

Just as the tourists were hitting their stride, Mother Nature put a stop to proceedings, and the players were sent back to the changing rooms.

They were back on the grass 40 minutes later looking rather stiff, with a distinct increase in handling errors following the break.

Those jitters soon passed, though. Joe Carpenter was on a mission after having a try disallowed and broke the US line with a vengeance to leave the Eagles backpedalling. Possession was worked to Murley, who shuffled in off the flank and beat two defenders to put England well clear at half-time.

It took barely a minute for England to continue their run after the break. The first-half tryscorer Northmore turned creator as he set up Jack Van Poortvliet to run one in.

Feyi-Waboso then capped an impressive performance on return from suspension, blitzing through the US line and drawing both remaining defenders before flipping possession to Harry Randall, who walked in unchallenged. With the clock winding down, Oghre added England’s sixth, peeling off the back of a maul to charge over the line from close range.

The hosts turned over a scrum as the match reached its last play, and were determined to prevent a shutout defeat. Klein benefited from Chris Poidevin’s legwork to finish in the corner and make the result slightly easier for the Eagles to stomach.

The US women’s national team played a thrilling curtain-raiser earlier in the afternoon, edging past Fiji 31-24 in their first of two World Cup warmup matches.