Wales Women’s ace Joyce was joined in the Barbarian starting XV by her fellow internationals Alisha Butchers and Elinor Snowsill. Joyce began at full-back and produced a remarkable performance.
Flanker Butchers also scored a try while Snowsill ran the show from fly-half as she produced one outrageous back-heeled kick which had the American crowd gasping in awe.
In the end a dramatic game ended in favour of the Barbarians with Joyce racing away to win in and break home hearts in the match’s final move.
Joyce said: “It’s pretty awesome to get four tries and playing in that position at full-back was pretty special.
“The last one was a team performance and all I had to do was run. Playing with such world class players was easy for me. I just run and put the ball down.”
Joyce insisted going behind — the Baa-baas had been 29-12 up at half-time — with time running out didn’t frighten her team-mates.
“We had a game in the Six Nations where the exact same thing happened,” she said.
“There were about three minutes to go, they scored, and one of the Welsh girls came on and said ‘Look, it takes 30 seconds to score a try and we’ve got three whole minutes’ and we did it.
“It was an awesome take by Carmen (Farmer) in the air to receive the ball, the forwards set a platform to swing it wide, and I just had to run a bit and put the ball down.
“Next for me now is to go back to Wales, play some Sevens and hopefully qualify for the World Series qualifiers and just go from there. Playing England in June? I hope so, I just have to wait and see what happens, but I hope so. I’d love to be playing.”
Joyce bookended the scoring at Glendale and opened the scoring with just 40 seconds on the clock.
Playmaker Snowsill then tried her luck with a back heel over the American defence from an old-school penalty move, but the USA defence covered to prevent what would have been a stunning try.
Amy Naber-Bonte’s try for the home side levelled the game up at 7-7 and it wasn’t long before Neariah Persinger put the USA ahead for the first time.
That was a momentary distraction from the Joyce show as the fleet-footed Wales star grabbed two more quick scores by finishing off classic Barbarian counter-attack moves.
It made it a first-half hat-trick for Joyce and there was still time before the break for two more Barbarian tries from Ireland wing Ali Miller and Butchers.
Four scores in 12 minutes made sure the Barbarians went to half time 29-12 to the good.
The USA came roaring back in the second half.
Momentum shifted when Ashlee Byrge stole the ball from a Barbarians scrum, ran inside the 22, and Eti Haungatau used her strength to wrestle the ball over the try line.
An outstanding team try for the USA was then finished off by Persinger as she grabbed her second.
From a set-piece a mesmerising display of passes had almost every Eagles player working through space until Persinger delivered the goods.
The Barbarians and Joyce were now all at sea and USA captain Kate Zackary caught a pass from Stacey Bridges and ran halfway down the pitch for a try which gave her team a 33-29 lead.
There was only a minute remaining following Zackary’s try, but still Joyce was not to be denied.
Taking the restart, the Team GB Olympic Sevens star squeezed through a gap, beat two American defenders, and ran clear for her fourth score and to win her team the game.
