Lessons from Hong Kong Fuel Singapore Effort
It's hard to decide what USA 7s team to evaluate after Hong Kong; was it the team that went 3-0 in pool play, and the team that dominated Wales in the Plate Semis? Or was it the team that just gifted South Africa 28 points in the quarterfinals, and was shut out by England in the Plate Final?
USA Coach Mike Friday said he and his team had mixed emotions about the tournament.
"We showed clearly where we are as a team when we perform, and that was clear to see on Day 1 and Day 2 when we won the group," said Friday. "We showed great resilience to deal with the setbacks of going behind and sticking to our plan, and then dominating the contact area and possession and being clinical with our opportunities."
Friday - Ebner, Blair to Get Time
USA Men's 7s Coach Mike Friday confirmed with Goff Rugby Report that Carlin Isles remains injured and in fact the speedy USA winger has returned back to the USA for treatment.
Nate Ebner remains with the Eagles squad, and it's likely we will see him on the field for the first time when the USA plays in the Singapore 7s this weekend.
"We were looking after Ebner first and foremost," Friday explained after naming the New England Patriot defensive back to replace Isles, and then not using him in Hong Kong. "He had had a very tough two-day tournament in the Hong King 10s, and it would have probably been too much physically for his body to cope with, after only being with us for three weeks, to ask him to go again."
HK 7s Ends at Plate Final for USA
The USA Men's 7s team ended Hong Kong losing the Plate Final to England in what was an up-and-down Sunday for the Eagles.
The opening game of the day was best forgotten as soon as it was done, as turnovers, interceptions, a wet ball, and pretty much everything else bit the Eagles in the tail feathers. it's difficult to consider what the USA could have improve on in that game against South Africa, because almost all they touched turned wrong, and South Africa won 28-0.
As wrong as it all seemed in that game, it seemed right in the next one. Wales hardly saw the ball for the first six minutes. Some good phase work saw Zack Test and Martin Iosefo get close to the line because the ball was recycled for Perry Baker to go in on the right wing.
Eagle Women Win Plate in Atlanta
KENNESAW, Ga. – The USA Women's 7s team ended their stint at the 2016 Atlanta 7s with a 5-1 record and the Plate; the only team the Eagles lost to was eventual champions Australia in the quarterfinals.
The Weekend was a good one for the USA team, playing as the players are under new Head Coach Richie Walker. They showcased much-improved support play and were fairly dominant in most games, beating Spain, Japan, and Fiji by large margins. Their only really close win was over New Zealand (12-5), and they looked in control against a tough Russia squad 19-7 in the Plate Final. Only the 22-5 loss to Australia blemishes their time in Atlanta, and it's not much of a blemish.
Eagles Over Aussies to go 3-0 in HK
The USA Men's 7s team finished Pool Play 3-0 Saturday in Hong Kong after beating Argentina and, at the end of the day, Australia.
The USA team looked pretty solid throughout, and in both of those games weathered early deficits before putting the game away. Against Australia, Folau Niua was pinged for a holding-on penalty right at the beginning and from there the Aussies worked it to the right and then back to the left for a relatively simple try.
USA Men Smooth in Comeback Over Argentina
The USA Men’s 7s team put together as good a eight-minute period of rugby as you would want to see in their opening game of Day Two in Hong Kong.
And the eight minutes were even more important because thanks to the first six, they were down 14-0.
The Eagles received the kickoff from Argentina and even though the ball didn’t travel ten meters, the Americans opted to play with it. That might have been a mistake as Argentina got the ball back, and ran some impressive phases back into the USA 22, and eventually Rodrigo Etchart cut back against the grain for a try and a 7-0 lead.
Eagle Women 3-0 in Atlanta
The USA Women’s National 7s team did what few expected them to do Friday at the Atlanta 7s, going 3-0 to win the pool, and that included a 12-5 defeat of New Zealand.
Having spent the first two tournaments of the 2015-16 season with the top nations out of their reach, the Eagles were more polished, defended better, and worked their offensive pattern better Friday than they have in some time.
The USA started the day with a fairly consistent 24-0 defeat of Spain. Lev Kelter and Lauren Doyle scored tries in the first half, and Doyle and Kristen Thomas touched down in the second in a game where the Eagles scored 12 points in each period.
Next up was Japan, and the USA jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead thanks to Richelle Stephens, Thomas, and Kate Zackary, and then cruised to win 31-12. Zackary scored a second and Megan Bonny finished it off.
Stephenson Talks U20s Prospects
The USA U20 team that is off to Harare, Zimbabwe is little changed from the one that defeated Canada in January to qualify, and Head Coach JD Stephenson is fine with that.
The Junior All Americans did, after all, beat the Canadians, and Canada finished 2nd in the tournament in 2015, and so the simple act of qualifying indicates that the USA team has a good shot at doing well.
USA U20s Named for World Trophy
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (USA Rugby Release) – USA Rugby's AIG Men’s Junior All-American Head Coach JD Stephenson has selected a travel squad of 26 athletes for the upcoming World Rugby U20 Trophy in Zimbabwe.
Also director of rugby at Lindenwood University, Stephenson was hired as interim head coach of the MJAAs last fall, and held two camps in two months to nail down selections for the U20 Trophy qualifier team to take on Canada. Captained by Hanco Germishuys – now one of the youngest American players in professional rugby with PRO Rugby‘s Denver team – the MJAAs defeated their border rival, 19-18, to reach the under-20 championship event in Harare.
Eagles Open HK With Win
The USA Men's 7s team did as expected and won their opening game in the Hong Kong 7s.
The Eagles weren't superbly dominant in the game, but defeated Portugal 21-5 nonetheless. Martin Iosefo picked up where he left off in Canada, giving the Eagles the forward charge they needed with a nice dummy and a gallop to the line. Perry Baker scored a typical Perry Baker try to make it 14-0 just before halftime, but Portugal slipped on in before the break to make it 14-5.
As often happened, Portugal hung tough and it wasn't until right at the end the game that Madison Hughes zipped in to seal the deal at 21-5. Hughes converted all three tries.
Walker and Eagles Get Ready for Atlanta
The USA Women's 7s team kicks off at the Atlanta 7s Friday at 5th Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga., and it's an important day for the Eagles.
With a new coach, the USA team is looking to change its fortunes, not only in terms of the World Series, but in terms of its Olympic preparation. Training at Life University, they were able to use excellent rugby facilities, and concentrate on the task at hand.
"The people at Life have been really, really generous and have come out and helped us as much as they can," said new USA Coach Richie Walker in a USA Rugby video interview. "They gave us two new players to train with, so we have 14, which puts us at 7-on-7, which really, really helps us. The coaching staff ... have been tremendous. They've just been open arms for us."
Ebner Replaces Injured Isles in USA Team for Hong Kong 7s
HONG KONG (USA Rugby Release) – Nate Ebner will make his HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series debut for the Men's Eagles Sevens this weekend at Cathay Pacific / HBSC Hong Kong Sevens, the seventh leg of the 2015-16 season.
The former AIG Men's Junior All-American last month announced his intention to train with the residents at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., for a chance to compete with the U.S. team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games. Though he was not originally selected to the 12-man national team, the New England Patriot of the National Football League traveled to Asia with the Samurai International Rugby Football Club to compete in the GFI Hong Kong Football Club 10s tournament.
25 Years Ago, the March to the Top Began
Twenty-five years ago, the United States was marching to the top of the Rugby world.
Now, it was the world of women's rugby, which was, at the time, nowhere near as popular as it is now, but the Americans were, nevertheless, the best. The USA Women's National Team played its first game in 1987 - a good 11 years after the Men's team played its first modern international. But bolstered by some excellent athletes and smart coaching, the Eagles started off well, beating Canada three times in a row in their annual clash (1987 22-3, 1988 26-10, 1989 28-3).
In 1990, the Eagles finally played somebody different, touring New Zealand to play Netherlands (a 42-0 win), the hosts (a 9-3 loss), and the USSR (32-0 win). That tour was the precursor to the 1991 Women's World Cup - a somewhat unofficial competition that nevertheless involved 12 national teams.
Woman 7s in Crucial Week in Georgia
The USA Women's 7s team is training at Life University this week as the all-important Atlanta 7s looms starting Friday, April 8.
As the premier rugby program in the southeast, Life University’s facilities provide the ideal location for the Eagles as they train at the Life U Rugby Complex. Life University’s rugby complex is one of four regional Olympic Development Academies (ODAs) designated by USA Rugby in 2014 to identify and train rugby players for inclusion in the pool of players from which the U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s rugby teams will be selected.
USA Elite Training Group Listed
LAFAYETTE, Colo. – The first Eagles Elite Training Squad (EETS), incorporating more than 50 capped and non-capped U.S.-eligible athletes, has been announced.
Following the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship competition in which first-time Men's Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell capped 24 new players in five matches, the coaching staff and high performance staff convened to enhance the program’s approach to elite athlete development.
“Congratulations to these athletes, selected to the first Eagles Elite Training Squad,” said USA Rugby Director of Performance Alex Magleby. “Now the hard part comes really, with increased accountability on the athletes to meet and dramatically improve the physical and technical standards that will be required to play at the international level for the U.S. Eagles.”
