The performance of the USA Women’s National Team this past weekend, during which they pushed England 17-13, might be an indication that the Eagles should have high hopes for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in France this August, or it could be just one result among many.

Certainly it was encouraging, as England has challenged New Zealand as the top team in the world, and it’s seemed for some time that everyone else is playing for third.

But did the 17-13 score flatter the USA? Perhaps a little. The wind was a huge factor in the game, with the teams going against the breeze (USA in the first half and England in the second) spending long periods pinned in their own 22.

“We lost the kicking game in the first half,” said USA Head Coach Pete Steinberg. “The second half was a very strong performance by us and England struggled to get out of their half.”

Kicking effectively, with a wind in your face, is a crucial skill, and that ability actually starts with the forward pack. If your forwards can get good, clean possession in your 22, then your flyhalf or fullback has more time to hoof the ball downfield. The kickers, through, have to walk a tight line between going for distance - and risk missing touch when they want to find it - and finding touch only to give the opposition an attacking lineout 20 meters from the line.

Here, the Eagles did fairly well in that they held off the England pressure for much of the first half. They were hurt by a yellow card, but came out of the first half down 12-3, which wasn’t too bad.

“We will always lead with our defense and in all the games the defense has been very strong,” said Steinberg, who gave a nod to his defense coach. “Peter Baggetta has built what could be the best defense at the World Cup.”

This wasn’t the best 15 England could have started, and that also kept the score close. But at the same time, England’s subs bench was strong, and when the reserves came on, it was the USA that was the stronger.

In part that’s because the Eagles have discovered what they need to compete against the likes of England, and that is physicality. England has been the more physical team, perhaps the most physical in all of world rugby, but the USA can match them, or at least showed Sunday that they can. That’s not the whole puzzle, but it’s a few pieces of it.

“We were the more physical team and actually the bigger pack,” said Steinberg. “England were very good at the tackle contest on the ground and that is something that we need to work on.”

But …

“In the scrimmage on Wednesday we really struggled offensively so we pulled back, made it simpler and it worked well. However, technical execution hurt us. We are confident that can be improved with the 12 days we will have in France together.”

So the USA WNT matched England for grit and physicality, defended well, and put enough pressure on to score two tries to England’s three. If they can execute better with the possession they got, they might improve on those two straight 5th-place finishes at the Women’s World Cup.