Relieved Carpenter relishes making long-awaited England debut in USA

Glasgow Times

6 days ago

The Leeds-born star, 23, made his international bow as part of Steve Borthwick's team that beat the USA 40-5 in Washington DC on Saturday night to round off a summer clean sweep of victories after an impressive 2-0 win in Argentina.
But the match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up.
The disruption followed several similar incidents at the recent Club World Cup in the US, with champions Chelsea's clash against Benfica delayed by nearly two hours after the Portuguese giants endured an even longer disruption against Auckland City.
Sale Sharks full-back Carpenter, watched on by dad Will, mum Jackie, partner Federica and brother Josh at Audi Field, was one of six players to be handed their debuts alongside fellow starters Max Ojomoh and Arthur Clark.
And asked about how the delays affected him, he said: 'Most of us getting new caps were just hoping the game was going to start, to be honest!
'Thankfully the weather held out eventually – there are a lot of happy boys in there and it's been a really special tour.
'It's probably not one the lads expected – it was probably the longest game of rugby a lot of the boys have had.
'But to go out there and get the win makes it very special.
'We've got a lot of strong leaders in there who led the way, kept us composed and got us chilled out and fired up at the right time.
'Mentally it's quite tough when you're about to start a game, then come off again.
'But I thought the boys handled it really well – to get three wins out of three is a great way to do it.
'The connections boys have made is massive and there are lots of happy faces in the dressing room right now.
'It was definitely special [to have my family here] – they're the reason I'm here. They've supported me throughout as a young one and as a professional.
'For them to be here for my first one is massively important to me.'
Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall and debutant Gabriel Oghre all scored to make it three transatlantic wins from three and extend England's winning run to seven matches – their longest streak since back in 2020.
Carpenter nearly got on the scoresheet himself only for his dream debut try to be denied after a narrowly-adjudged Murley knock-on.
USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England's work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style.
England will now enjoy their summer break before gearing up for crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
And Carpenter, who delivered a rock-solid display on debut, is desperate to be involved.
'That's definitely a goal of mine,' he added.
'Whether it happens or not I don't know – I've got to go back and perform for Sale now.
'We'll definitely enjoy the break and hopefully when autumn comes round I'm still performing and can get a few more caps.'
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