England have seen a lot of records crumble around them in this WXV Global Series but the world champions were not going to let a 35-year winning streak go against the USA. The last time the Eagles claimed a victory over the Red Roses was in the 1991 Rugby World Cup and since then England have won all 22 matches they have played. The Red Roses got back to winning ways and while their recent losses to Canada displayed the top sides had caught up with the world No 1 team, Friday’s outing against the USA evidenced that outside the top three there is still a gap to be closed.

The USA headed into the match in good form with five consecutive wins, including victories over Wales and Ireland, and their No 8 Freda Tafuna has been one of the standouts across all of the teams during the WXV. However, England were able to contain the bright spark and despite good performances from Alev Kelter and Hope Rogers, the hosts did not have enough firepower.

Related: Red Roses suffer back-to-back defeats for first time in 10 years as Canada make statement

There were two key elements to England’s win: Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and a strong second-half performance from the front row. The wing Moloney-MacDonald may have been dropped from the matchday 23 against Canada last time out but she responded perfectly with four tries. It will be the exact retort John Mitchell would have wanted and the head coach praised the Exeter star afterwards for her consistency. Breaks by players such as Maud Muir gave the visitors the extra few percentages they needed.

It was far from a polished performance by England though. Wasted chances against Canada contributed to both defeats and an error-strewn attack was on display again in the first half on Friday. The Red Roses had some great plays, namely Moloney-MacDonald’s first try, but they could have punished the USA more often had it not been for knock-ons and rogue passes.

A disappointing note throughout the match was the empty-looking stands in the 25,000-capacity stadium in New Jersey. The official attendance was not announced but much of the ground had no fans. That was not helped by a 5pm kick-off time but a game of this magnitude deserves a bigger audience than the one that showed up.

The last time these two nations met was in the opening game of theWorld Cup last year. The Red Roses won that one 69-7, and once again England got the scoreboard ticking early on. It was less than five minutes before Moloney-MacDonald acrobatically finished and she added another shortly after.

The USA’s Rogers got a try back and in doing so closed in on the American women’s all-time points record with the score bringing her just four points away. But it was England who held a 17-7 half-time lead after captain Meg Jones scored and Moloney-MacDonald secured her third and fourth tries early in the second period.

Kelter put in a huge hit on Jones and despite the tackle producing momentum for the world’s sixth-ranked side, it was England who went over through Mia Venner. The Gloucester-Hartpury wing has been impressive over her two starts in this away leg of WXV and she will give Mitchell a selection headache in 2027 if she continues in her current form.

The loss will leave a sour taste for the USA, not just because England’s replacement hooker Bryony Field, Maddie Feaunati and Sadia Kabeya turned a narrow win into a thumping one, but the team’s co-captain Georgie Perris-Redding hobbled off with injury.

This game was both teams’ last of the calendar year so the USA will have to wait to bounce back from this loss at the 2027 Pacific Four tournament. England will hope they have started a new winning streak to extend in the Women’s Six Nations but the important things they will take forward, according to the captain Jones, are the lessons learned from this tour.

“We have gained so much feedback from where we want to keep growing and getting better,” she said. “Ultimately teams are getting better, that is the nature of it. It happened in the men’s game, it’s happening in the women’s game and we just have to start being more unpredictable.”