Awakening the 'sleeping giant'

The gulf between United States and New Zealand may be as wide as the Grand Canyon, but the potential is there for it to close rapidly.

This is the view of both the All Black and US Eagles camps, following the Kiwis' 74-6 win over the US national team in their historic match at Soldier Field – home of the Chicago Bears team that plays in the American National Football League.

And while both sides agree there is a world of work ahead for the US, they also admit it won't take forever.

The match was billed as an exhibition and turned into a clinic.

The All Blacks turned the Eagles blue with bruising defence, and then green with envy as they went on the offensive – spreading the field and sending a parade of ball carriers through the gaps and over the tryline.

"I don't see it being decades," US coach Mike Tolkin said, when asked how long it might take the Eagles to be on an even footing with the defending World Cup champions.

"Maybe it's wishful thinking," he said, adding: "But I see the athletes there and the guys who have been professionals and the way they've performed. So hopefully, it will be a lot less [time] than that."

His players' gave it everything, but with just a week together and with half his teammates still amateur, US Eagles captain Todd Clever said the result was inevitable.

"We got punished," Clever said.

"The question is, what are we going to do about it?" he added.

"To play at that top level in front of a prime time TV audience, we have to have more time together than five sessions."

The veteran flank said it is up to USA Rugby to capitalise on the interest created by organising more Tests against tier one opponents, attracting more sponsorship and establishing a US professional league.

All Black Steve Hansen said the Eagles showed encouraging signs a year out from their seventh appearance at a World Cup.

They were committed up front while he singled out England-based wing Blaine Scully as a player to watch.

However, he said it will take fundamental changes, which are under way through youth programmes, to make substantial gains.

"Once those young players come into international rugby, you're going to have a group of men who have grown up with the game.

"We'll see not only the physicality and the passion the USA team had in this match. We'll see them also have a lot more skill because they've played all their lives."

Hansen hopes the All Blacks can return to the US soon.

"If we did it every year, I suppose that excitement would dim.

"But you wouldn't want to wait another 20 years."

The match was played in front of a sold-out Solder Field crowd of 61,500 and a national TV audience, both impressive accomplishments for a rebuilding USA program.

But the action on the field was a different story.

The All Blacks used a handful of regulars in their starting line-up, and still managed a score just three minutes in on a try up the left sideline by Nathan Harris.

The Eagles countered with their best sustained ball possession of the match, repeatedly testing the centre of the All-Blacks' defence before settling for a penalty goal from Adam Siddall to close to 5-3.

That was the last moment the match was competitive.

Few people in either camp predicted a close match during the weeklong buildup – the New Zealanders were 50-plus-point favourites in some betting lines – though the Eagles were able to field their best side after US Rugby Chief Executive Nigel Melville was able to get four overseas-based US players released for the match.

It made no difference.

New Zealand quickly and methodically spread the field with crisp ball movement and easily exploited one match-up after another. No moment better highlighted the difference in skill and speed between the sides than the second try by the All Blacks' Sonny Bill Williams up the right side barely 20 minutes into the match.

Williams had Siddall in pursuit, so he cut back toward the middle some 20 yards from the try line, where the Americans' best player, Samu Manoa, braced for the charge. But Williams showed some nifty footwork by making a sharp left turn instead, slicing between the two as Manoa, who tried tackling him low, and Siddall, who went high, collided while grasping at air.

By then, the score was 38-6 and the rout was on.

"They're a big, physical team, and they did put us under a little bit of pressure when they had the ball," New Zealand's Kieran Read said.

"Once we got into the game, though, and looked after the ball a bit better, it worked for us and the guys were able to showcase their skills."

It was 43-6 by half-time and any chance of a momentum shift was quickly extinguished when the All Blacks put together another try less than a minute after intermission.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen rested his core of veteran players, including captain Richie McCaw, the most capped New Zealander of all-time and the game's only three-time international player of the year.

That was because after this match, the All-Blacks cross the Atlantic and get down to business: facing more traditional and much-tougher rivals England, Scotland and Wales on successive Saturdays.

Hansen said after the match that Williams injured a thigh, and teammate Cory Jane pulled a hamstring.

Neither was believed to be serious.

The USA, too, will have to pick up the pieces and get back to work in a hurry.

The Eagles face Romania, Tonga and Fiji later this month.

They have already qualified for the 2015 World Cup and hope to do the same for the 2016 Olympics, where rugby (Seven instead of 15-a-side) will return as a medal sport for the first time since the Americans won back-to-back gold medals in 1920 and 1924.