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The USA Collegiate All Americans defeated Connacht Development, a team of Connacht Academy, along with some provincial players and some hopefulys, 19-17 Saturday at Connacht.
Led by superb performances from Chris Saint at scrumhalf and Cam Dolan at blindside flanker, the All Americans came back from a 14-3 halftime deficit to overhaul their hosts.
Tries from Chris Lilly and Steve McCauley, both converted by center Tadhg Leader, put Connacht ahead, with the All Americans managing only a penalty kick from fullback Joe Cowley.
But a mere few minutes into the second half Saint sped over for a try, which, with Cowley’s conversion, made the score 14-10 Connacht.
Penalty kicks from Cowley at 52 and 56 minutes nudged the All Americans into the lead. Connacht brought it back with a Leader kick. But with 11 minutes to go, Cowley’s fourth penalty put his side up to stay.
It wasn’t easy, though, as the Americans had to defend doggedly in the closing moments. The players battled hard and the team suffered several injuries – it remains to be seen how serious.
All Americans 19
Tries: Saint
Convs: Cowley
Pens: Cowley 4
Connacht Development 17
Tries: Lilly, McCauley
Convs: Leader 2
Pens: Leader
All Americans
1 Mikey Su'a
2 Andrew Cook
3 Ray Forrester
4 James Lynch
5 Nate Brakeley
6 Can Dolan
7 Ryan Roundy
8 Shaun Potgeiter
9 Chris Saint
10 JP Eloff
11 Don Pati
12 Seki Kofe
13 Seamus Kelly
14 Madison Hughes
15 Joe Cowley
16 Mike Shepherd
17 Nick Wallace
18 Jake Mizell
19 Hynie Leaatoa
20 Jamie Kelm
21 Alec Gletzer
22 Pat Sullivan
23 Nick Evans
24 TJ Allred
Connacht Development
15 Alex O’Meara
14 Steve Macauley
13 Conor Finn
12 Tadhg Leader
11 Matt Healy
10 Darragh Leader
9 Chris Lilly
1 JP Cooney
2 Kurt Haupt
3 Jamie Dever
4 Danny Qualter
5 Jonathan Gardiner
6 Dave Heffernan
7 Aaron Conneely
8 Danny Kenny
Referee: Eanna O’Dowd
Attendance 250
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