RAIN bookended Day 4 of the AFL 2024 Transatlantic Cup and although it made the early game a little slippery early it did not fall during the three great matches today.

The USA and Great Britain played in the opening match of the day. The tall Bulldogs team looked tall and up to the fight against the Revolution from the opening bounce, and it was the spearhead Walkden who kicked the first goal of the day as they burst out of the middle. But from then on, he was well held by the US defenders. 

The US looked to have the edge at quarter time and the Bulldogs looked to be second to the ball. But they turned it around and kept the US scoreless in the second term after taking the lead early in that quarter.

The Bulldogs were spreading well and winning the contested and uncontested marking count and able to get first use of the ball on the ground. The Revolution were unable to make any substantial progress as the ball spent most of the time at the Bulldogs end of the ground.

The Bulldogs lead by 16 points and when Welton kicked a great goal on the run early in the last, it seemed like it might be a bridge too far for the Revolution. The Bulldogs locked the ball into their forward half until the last minute when Linehan kicked a consolation goal to see the final margin a 21 point win to the Bulldogs who are now 2-0. 

Also 2-0 after today is the Ireland Warriors. The Canada Northwind burst out of the blocks dominating the first quarter kicking 4 goals to 2 and it again looked like we would be in for a close contest and perhaps an upset. 

But the Warriors steadied to level up by half time as they lifted their workrate and were outmarked the Canadian around the ground.  The early dash of the Canadians disappeared and under pressure were unable to regularly dispose of the ball effectively, and in fact they were goalless for the last three quarters.  

The Irish meanwhile piled on four goals in each of the last two quarters. Cinco, Bridges and Rathgeb worked hard in defence for Canada, but it was the rotations and movement of the Irish that allowed them to create space and mark inside 50 regularly.  Allen was the best for the Irish kicking four goals across the match and spearhead O’Dwyer added two goals to bring his tournament tally to 7 goals, leading allcomers.  In the end if was a 55 point win to Ireland.

The final match of the day saw Colombia and France both searching for their first win of the tournament.  It was a fast paced match, but the French controlled it on the scoreboard from start to finish. The start being dominated by big man Ribeyrolles kicking two first quarter goals.

Boubet, Boscart and Rourye were also multiple goal scorers for the French who managed to use their height and continually play on from marks and free kicks to catch the Colombians off guard.  There was no better exponent of this than Clement Decaux who was best on ground. 

Some silver linings for the Jaguares though, as they improved on their understanding and application of the 6-6-6 rule and the growing confidence of a number of players. This included Damien Marin who kicked Colombia’s first every international footy goal in the second quarter of the match, and the lanky Alejandro Marin (no relation) who began to get aerial today, and kicked the second goal for the Colombians in the final quarter.  

France now 1-0 have a tiny chance of advancing in the tournament if they can have a big win over Canada on Wednesday as well as one of the other European sides losing.  For the group of teams from the west of the Atlantic, all spots in the group are still up for grabs going into the final match, but Canada and the USA look most likely to advance to the Finals Round 1.

Tomorrow we have Women’s Round 3 matches with Canada vs France from 10am, followed by Ireland vs Colombia and Great Britain vs USA.