Thousands of rugby fans and hundreds of Bridgeview residents gathered at SeatGeek Stadium for the historic international rugby match between the USA Men’s Eagles and Romania on Friday, July 5th. The USA and Romania famously played each other in 1924 in Paris for the Olympic Games, and the exciting American Series Rugby game organized by USA Rugby and AEG Rugby at SeatGeek celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the rivalry between the two competitive teams as they battled for possession of the Pershing Cup.
The USA may have been the defending winners of the trophy, but the competition proved to be even fiercer this year. The Eagles and The Oaks went head-to-head for the first 45 minutes, with each team scoring one try, one conversion kick, and one penalty goal. Neither team could secure the upper hand, and the USA and Romania broke for halftime with the scoreboard reading 10-10. The intense struggle continued as each team traded tries and conversions while incurring penalties along the way. After much fighting, the score balanced on a knife’s edge at 20-19 with fewer than fifteen minutes to go. Fans hung on the edge of their seats as the tension grew. An unfortunate call against the Eagles gave another penalty kick to The Oaks, and a clean score put Romania ahead at 22-20 amid a roaring crowd. Hope was never lost though, and the Eagles had one more chance to make a penalty kick to put them ahead in the final few minutes of the match. Sadly, the kick went to the right of the posts, and the USA lost the Pershing Cup in a close and thrilling game. Both USA and Romania fans stayed to enjoy the wonderful postgame fireworks display celebrating Independence Day.
“SeatGeek Stadium often hosts international soccer matches, but this was the first international rugby match,” said Mayor Landek. “While I was rooting for the USA, I’m thankful that the historic match and postgame fireworks show once again demonstrated the international appeal and utility of Bridgeview’s Stadium.”
