Time to Perform for Women 7s Team
Time to Perform for Women 7s Team
It's put-up or shut-up time for the USA Women’s 7s team.
After a long period of piecing together the team, Head Coach Ric Suggitt now needs to see the jigsaw actually show a picture.
The Eagles finished 7th in the World Series in 2013-14, with their chief rivals from North America, Canada, well ahead of them, and Spain, Russia, England, Australia, and New Zealand all better, also. Only in Atlanta and Amsterdam did they do well, winning the Plate in both of those tournaments.
The issues? They were myriad. Tackling was inconsistent - startling in its physicality at times, and distressingly easy to break at others. Mistakes were common - even in games they won the Eagles would fumble away scoring opportunities. But those mistakes were most galling in games they lost - a try here, a missed score there translated into eight potential wins turning into seven losses and a tie.
The mistakes certainly could be chalked up to lack of experience (several of the players are still quite new to rugby) and mixing up the lineup so much that players didn’t know each other. But there has also been a worrying lack of power and confidence in the USA play. While players from Canada and Australia burst through gaps, break tackles, and control the ball in contact enough to offload to support, the USA seemed just a degree less aggressive.
There were exceptions, of course. The most obvious was Jillion Potter, who somehow willed the USA to some of their better performances, and is sadly not playing now as she battles cancer. It’s a huge emotional loss, because Potter got it - she know that one big hit wasn’t enough. She knew that one tackler cannot be sufficient to bring you down.
But at the same time, if you don’t have that team, don’t try to be that team. Why power through if you have a light team built on speed and guile? You don’t. Instead you need to pass better than anyone else (the Eagles don’t), and need to read the game well enough to always be in support. If they aren’t a power team, the Eagle women have to keep that ball moving - so no drops, no one-pass and run, and let’s get the offloads done at pace.
The USA has to get this now, because Dubai kicks off Olympic qualifying. If they are to return to the days when they were a medal contender, they need to be in contention in most, if not all, tournaments. If they can finish in the top four this season they are in. If they fail to do that they need to win the NACRA qualifier. The nightmare scenario for both the USA and Canada is if both fail to make the top four this season, because it means one of them will have to battle through a repechage tournament next November.
And it all starts with the opening game against Russia. Oddly, it doesn’t have to start with a victory (although that would be nice). Instead it needs to start with the right character. Will the Women’s 7s Eagles team that plays in Dubai, new players, lack of experience and all, be able to play their kind of game? Will they use all of their talents? Will they avoid game-killing errors? Will they stick to war works for them, and not send a small player to steamroll a larger opponent, or expect Jessica Javelet to run in tried without any support? Will they stick to their defense?
If they do that - if you see an Eagle team that displays its unique character - then maybe that jigsaw puzzle does have a picture.
