Rugby Fans Assess USA at Rio
We asked our social media followers what they had to say about the USA efforts at the RIo Olympics. As usual, our readers had many interesting and insightful things to contribute - here is a sample of their comments:
Colin Miller: Nothing against MH, who had a great (if not his best) tournament. I think 2 points could more easily have been made up by taking better care of the pill.
Cal Russo: Listen...We've seen the Elephant. We know what it takes and how to get there. It's up to us in the USA to give these Athletes the Coaching, Training, Facilities and Finances to be consistently Top 3 at every 7's International Rugby Event. We can do this. Just need to dig deeper and work harder.
... And I have Faith in our new USA Rugby CEO, Director Alex Magelby and Coach Friday.
Why the Eagle Women Didn't Win a Medal
This is an opinion column by Goff Rugby Report editor Alex Goff - Criticism of an Olympic performance is a dicey thing; you have to be aware that being at the Olympics is, for most athletes, a once-in-a-lifetime event, something to be celebrated, and I’m not really all that interested in bringing a player’s pride in representing her nation at Rio down all that far.
But … I do feel also that a team, in this case the USA Women’s 7s team, is not immune from criticism. These are the best our country has to offer, supposedly, and we have expectations.
This first-ever Olympic outing for Women’s Rugby was exciting, historic, and beautiful to watch. The Australian team that won Gold deserved to win it, and played terrific rugby to do so. And the New Zealand team that took Silver and the Canada team that took Bronze were, likewise worthy of great praise.
USA Ends Rio With Victory
The Rio Olympics is over for the USA Men as the Eagles defeated Spain 24-12 to secure 9th.
The United States ended up 3-2 in the Games, losing two close ones to Argentina and Fiji, beating Brazil twice, and Spain once, but never really finding the form they wanted.
In this 9th-10th game, the Eagles had some changes. Perry Baker was out injured, and injury replacement Martin Iosefo was brought in and started. Head Coach Mike Friday used every single player at his disposal except for Nate Ebner, who had a pretty good tournament, but likely wasn’t needed.
USA Beats Brazil - Will Play for 9th
The USA Men’s 7s team will play for 9th in the Men’s Rugby 7s competition in Rio after beating Brazil.
As has been the story for the tournament, it was an inconsistent performance from the Eagles, but they did enough thanks in large part to the athleticism of certain players.
Head Coach Mike Friday made a few changes for this game, starting Carlin Isles, and that worked out fairly well. Brazil struck first, punishing some USA penalties and then, after Nate Ebner slipped off a tackle, powering over Isles in the corner. Ebner tapped his chest as if to claim responsibility for the score, and he was quickly in the action to try to fix the mistake.
Brazil’s restart was out on the full and Folau Niua got the ball moving, linked with Madison Hughes who found Ebner who passed off nicely out of contact to Isles for a try in the corner.
No Quarters for Eagles
No medals for the USA Men's 7s team, as they lost to Fiji 24-19 Wednesday morning, and ended pool play 1-2 and just out of quarterfinal contention.
As predicted in these pages, one pool had three 2-1 teams, making it very difficult for a 1-2 team to get in as a better 3rd-place team. As it turned out, New Zealand ended up 1-2 with a points difference of +19. The USA, then, needed to win, tie, or survive a loss by three or less. They just missed it.
The Eagles started off well, keeping the ball alive and not going into contact against a Fiji team that looked very good in contact. Working the ball right then left the USA got to ball out to Danny Barrett, who then put on two moves and powered in from about 40 meters.
All Americans to Face Brothers
The Men's Collegiate All Americans have been selected to face Brothers RFC Wednesday in Brisbane, QLD.
For more on the upcoming game, see Head Coach Gavin Hickie's comments here.
Here is the lineup:
USA Shuts Out Brazil - Goes to 1-1 in Rio
It was a little dicey at the beginning and a little slow in finding momentum, but the USA won their game against Brazil to move to 1-1 in the Men's Rugby 7s competition at the Rio 2016 Olympics Tuesday.
The Eagles were coming off a last-second loss to Argentina, and needed not only a win, but a big win, to keep themselves in quarterfinal contention. Head Coach Mike Friday shook up the lineup a little bit, starting Chris Wyles and Nate Ebner and leaving Danny Barrett and Maka Unufe on the bench. Early on it seemed as if whatever lineup the Eagles had, they weren't going to be able to get the ball. Brazil dominated possession early on.
Eagles Drop Men's Olympic Opener
Argentina defeated the USA with a try at the end of the game to open the Men's Rugby 7s Olympics for both teams.
In a game full of controversy and hard hitting, the USA never found its rhythm, and neither of their super-fast guys, Perry Baker or Carlin Isles, got the ball with any kind of space or opportunity to show what they can do.
Argentina came at the USA hard and dominated the first half, punishing penalties to get a try midway through the period. But they were set up by knock-ons by the Eagles, as well as a series of needless infractions in the rucks.
USA Beats Fiji, Shoots for 5th
The USA got some measure of revenge over Fiji, winning the 5th place semifinal against the Fijians in RIo.
The USA’s Olympic medal dreams may be over, but there are still rugby games to be played and national pride at stake. The Eagles lost to Fiji in the opening game of their Olympics thanks to mistakes prompted by Fiji’s blitz’ defense.
And it looked as if the same story would play out in this game. The Americans could not find their way through the Fijian defense, and were pressured into dropped balls and iffy passes.
Bottled in their own end, the Eagles gifted Fiji a first-half try. Alev Kelter took off up the left sideline and offloaded to Kathryn Johnson. The pass a high and Johnson a little too close to react, and the loose ball was toed ahead by the Fijians almost to the tryline.
USA Women Out of Medal Contention
There will be no Olympic medal for the USA Women’s 7s team after the Eagles lost a tight, tense quarterfinal 5-0 to New Zealand Sunday at Deordoro Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
The USA was much improved on Sunday from their Saturday effort, tying Australia and almost beating New Zealand, but in the end a crucial lack of tactical awareness saw them lose a quarterfinal they could have won.
USA Women Rebound Against Colombia
The USA Women’s 7s team did what they needed to do after the initial disappointment of losing to Fiji, beating Colombia 48-0 to move to 1-1 and drastically improve their points difference in the Women’s Rugby bracket at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The Eagles showed none of their poor ball handling from earlier in the day, and torched their Western Hemisphere rivals for eight tries in each half.
The game seemed to start slowly for the USA, but then captain Kelly Griffin zipped into a gap, attracted the attention of several Colombian defenders. She then offloaded to Alev Kelter, who did the rest.
USA Women Opens Rio ... With Loss
The USA women lost 12-7 in the opening game of the Rio Olympics Women’s Rugby 7s event.
It was an exciting and historic day for the sport as rugby returned to the Olympic playing fields, but the USA team didn’t execute the way they wanted to, or can.
The game started with a perfect kickoff from Alev Kelter, with Kathryn Johnson going up for the ball to knock it back.
The Eagles had the ball then, but Bui Baravilala bounced around too much with the ball and her loopy pass wide for Vix Folayan wasn’t on point and Folayan couldn’t handle it.
Folau and Maka Walk On
USA 7s players Folau Niua and Makan Unufe can be seen taking it all in as they walk into the Olympic Stadium with Team USA Friday.
Here they are:
Olympics Begin!
The USA rugby players got to walk on with the rest of the Team USA contingent at the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony.
Here's a GIF of the USA entering the stadium. You can see Nate Ebner, Chris Wyles, and Danny Barrett (and maybe a few more).
AAs - All About Attitude
You might be surprised by who isn’t starting for the Men’s Collegiate All Americans in the opening game of the team’s Australian tour, but don’t worry, you’ll see everyone eventually.
The game itself will have open subs - a situation requested by the Darling Downs club, but one that fits right in with what Head Coach Gavin Hickie wants to do.
“It works out very well for us because we want to have every player get at least ten and get a blow-out,” said Hickie.
The Coach added that it’s important to look at the starting 15 that he picked as the All American team.
