
Relieved Carpenter relishes making long-awaited England debut in USA
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.'
Purchase your tickets to the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium https://www.eticketing.co.uk/rfu/
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Glasgow Times
2 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Draper triumphs in sprint finish for best T100 finish
The Isle of Man athlete was challenged by Ironman world medallist Sam Long to the line, but the 25-year-old had enough speed to hold off the American. It sees Draper improve on his 15th-place finish on T100 debut in Vancouver, as he also claimed the title of best of the Brits. 'It was really tough, it is never the most enjoyable way to end a race, but great to get the crowd going,' Draper said. 'I know Sam has a lot of fans here, and I came in as the first Brit, so there were a lot of people cheering for me out on the course. 'I've watched Sam do that with Lionel [Sanders], so it is cool that it is my turn. It is pretty cool to come out on top as well. 'I could see Sam closing on the run, he is a great runner, and I actually wanted him to close a lap earlier because he is also a great block for the headwind. 'He came onto me with about 2k to go and he attacked a couple of times, and I managed to go with him and with 500 to go he said, 'let's do this fair, side-by-side'. 'I am from a bike-racing background, so I thought not everyone likes to play it fair, but you know what, let's do it. 'We came in side by side, and I managed to get the inside line through the final bend and opened up a sprint. I guess I am still only young, so I have still got some speed in the legs.' Draper came out of the 2km swim in 20th place before moving himself up into 13th on the bike, which consists of eight 10km laps, with Long over two minutes behind him. The American began to close him down on the run as he posted one of the fastest times of the day, but was not able to stop Draper in a foot race. Jack Hutchens came home five minutes after Draper as the second-best Brit in 15th with Harry Palmer a place behind him. Draper added: 'Originally, I was the only Brit as a wildcard, and then Harry and Jack were later added, which is great. 'I wanted to see more guys that are so deserving, we are all racing against each other at super high levels. 'My goal was input-focused, so I wanted to swim, bike and run as hard as I could and use who I had around me and race Sam, in the end. 'I was just focusing on doing what I could, and I'd love to compete against those guys and see them do really well, it is definitely not a rivalry as such.' For information on how to register for the 2026 London T100 Triathlon on 25-26 July, visit


North Wales Chronicle
32 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Moses Itauma: Ben Davison's planning helped me fall back in love with boxing
Itauma, 20, is widely regarded as the most exciting prospect in the blue-riband division and faces his toughest test to date on Saturday when he takes on compatriot Dillian Whyte (31-3, 21KOs) in Riyadh. It will be the 13th fight of Itauma's (12-0, 10KOs) fledgling career and only his fifth under Davison, but the Chatham southpaw recently detailed how he started to 'hate' boxing barely a year after he turned professional at the start of 2023. Here's why Moses Itauma has boxed 10 rounds in his last 8 contests 😤 Buy Itauma vs Whyte NOW HERE –> | August 16 | Esports World Cup Fight Week | @EWC_en | Live Exclusively on DAZN — DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 8, 2025 'Being in the ring (sparring) with all these heavyweights Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce, Tyson Fury, Lawrence Okolie, I know that there are levels to boxing and I just felt like I was unable to learn any more,' Itauma revealed. 'I don't want to disrespect any of the coaches I tried or did work with. I love and respect them, but with Ben, he taught me a different side to boxing. 'He taught me there is more to boxing than punch, punch, get punched, punch back, punch, punch, punch. There is actually a whole chess game to this.' Itauma split from old trainer Alan Smith in March, 2024 after a first-round knockout victory over Dan Garber in his eighth professional bout and eventually decided to join Davison's stacked Essex stable after trials elsewhere. Davison, who has worked with Fury and more recently Anthony Joshua, is now a key figure in the team of a boxer widely tipped as a soon-to-be world heavyweight champion, but the Slovakian-born fighter may have considered his future in the sport if he had not listened to older brother Karol Itauma (13-1, 8KOs). 'What I mean with falling out of love with boxing is, it was kind of like I felt like I reached a barrier and I was unable to break it,' Itauma added. A post shared by Queensberry (@queensberrypromotions) 'I tried out a lot of coaches and Ben Davison was actually the last one I tried. If I'll be honest, when I went to Ben, I was like he has too many stars in the gym, he won't really have time for me, he won't give me time I need but my brother was like there is no harm in trying Ben Davison. 'And I went there and as I walked through the doors, there is a glass window on the door where you can see inside the gym and Ben has got all my fights up. 'He is writing in his notepad and he was like, 'you do this, I don't know if you're aware of it, now we need to make you aware of this and do this, this and this,' and I was like, 'rah, none of the other coaches did that,'. 'And it was only when I started sparring, he would say, 'if I do this, he will do this and you can capitalise,' and I would go and do it, it would pay off and I'd be like what! 'Obviously we just clicked from there but the most impressive thing is how you have so many stars in the gym but each individual fighter gets the necessary time.'


South Wales Guardian
32 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Draper triumphs in sprint finish for best T100 finish
The Isle of Man athlete was challenged by Ironman world medallist Sam Long to the line, but the 25-year-old had enough speed to hold off the American. It sees Draper improve on his 15th-place finish on T100 debut in Vancouver, as he also claimed the title of best of the Brits. 'It was really tough, it is never the most enjoyable way to end a race, but great to get the crowd going,' Draper said. 'I know Sam has a lot of fans here, and I came in as the first Brit, so there were a lot of people cheering for me out on the course. 'I've watched Sam do that with Lionel [Sanders], so it is cool that it is my turn. It is pretty cool to come out on top as well. 'I could see Sam closing on the run, he is a great runner, and I actually wanted him to close a lap earlier because he is also a great block for the headwind. 'He came onto me with about 2k to go and he attacked a couple of times, and I managed to go with him and with 500 to go he said, 'let's do this fair, side-by-side'. A post shared by T100 Triathlon World Tour (@t100triathlon) 'I am from a bike-racing background, so I thought not everyone likes to play it fair, but you know what, let's do it. 'We came in side by side, and I managed to get the inside line through the final bend and opened up a sprint. I guess I am still only young, so I have still got some speed in the legs.' Draper came out of the 2km swim in 20th place before moving himself up into 13th on the bike, which consists of eight 10km laps, with Long over two minutes behind him. The American began to close him down on the run as he posted one of the fastest times of the day, but was not able to stop Draper in a foot race. Jack Hutchens came home five minutes after Draper as the second-best Brit in 15th with Harry Palmer a place behind him. Draper added: 'Originally, I was the only Brit as a wildcard, and then Harry and Jack were later added, which is great. 'I wanted to see more guys that are so deserving, we are all racing against each other at super high levels. 'My goal was input-focused, so I wanted to swim, bike and run as hard as I could and use who I had around me and race Sam, in the end. 'I was just focusing on doing what I could, and I'd love to compete against those guys and see them do really well, it is definitely not a rivalry as such.' For information on how to register for the 2026 London T100 Triathlon on 25-26 July, visit