England North U17s defeated the USA High School All Americans in a tight, tough encounter 12-6 Tuesday at the Wellington International Festival in England.

A pair of Fitou Fisiiahi penalty kicks accounted for all of the All-Americans points in the encounter and two first half scores by England North was enough to give them the eventual edge.

England North must have taken notice of the HSAAs in their opener against Wales Under-16s on Saturday as the Englishmen had braced themselves for the punishing American scrums and game planned accordingly.

Inside center and HSAA captain, Fisiiahi, led by example slamming into the midfield defense and setting up go-forward ball for the HSAAs power runners. The All-Americans were able to stretch the defense against England North and showed an emerging mastery of basic but crucial attacking skills

Putting backs into space and pressuring the English fringes well in the second half wasn’t quite enough in the end though, and England North prevailed.

A developmental tournament, the Wellington College competition is designed to allow players and teams to progress and the HSAAs did just that.

Despite the loss, a few scouts for a number of English academies found themselves drawn to the powerful American forwards, namely Titi Lamositele, Kelepi Fifita, and Lisala Kanongataa.

“The game was outstanding to watch but our boys were devastated they lost the chance to beat England North. The progress the boys have made over the past week has been tremendous,” said H.S. All-Americans Head Coach, Salty Thompson.

Thompson continued to say that the team dynamic is there. “They arrived a bunch of individuals and have molded into a very promising team. This ‘95 born U\under-17 group will be around for one to two more years of high school,” said the coach with the hope of keeping players in the program and helping to prepare them for the USA’s senior national teams.

The HSAAs will play Belgium Under-17s on Friday April 13 at 5 a.m. Mountain/7 a.m. Eastern in their last match of the tournament.

HSAA lineup: