5th for USA as Confidence Grows

11.30.2025Elite 7s, Eagles

Kaylen Thomas for USA Women 7s at 2025 Dubai 7s. Alex Ho photo.

Kaylen Thomas means business. Alex Ho photo for World Rugby.

Author: Alex Goff

Fans watching New Zealand win the Women's Dubai 7s might well be frustrated given how the USA team beat those self-same Black Ferns on Day One.

And indeed, the USA ended the tournament in fine style, beating Great Britain and Canada to go 4-1 on the weekend and take 5th. Their only loss was their opening loss, a pop quiz in the classroom of international 7s where the Americans learned that static banding at the waist and arm tackling Fijians won't cut it.

They learn quickly, however, and boy does this USA team have pace.

The USA had followed that loss to Fiji with wins over New Zealand and France, which is pretty impressive.

Eagle Women Bring Surprise, Pace to Dubai

But GRR expressed a little concern that the young USA team might have put everything into this first day of competition. They had tough games ahead of them, too.

Well, we needn't have worried.

Ariana Ramsey sped in for a try three minutes in, looping around Kristi Kirshe to go 60 meters. The Dartmouth grad and former Atlantis phenom looks faster, and certainly more confident, this season. She's one of the veterans now and she takes control of situations like a veteran. But that try wouldn't have happened if Kaylen Thomas hadn't been working hard in cover defense.

Team GB responded but by the time the British scored again, Ramsey has run in three times and Thomas twice. The first from Thomas was hands out and she had to run more than 80 minutes. Her second was on a flat pass at midfield where she spun out of contact before putting on the jets.

Ramsey gathered the second-half restart when it bounced off a GB shoulder, and was in. GB fumbled the next resstart and from the ensuing scrum Ramsey, at halfback, just went herself. Off the restart once more this time Ramsey forced a holding-on penalty, and tapped before calling her own number to run in.

Ashley Cowdrey, who also showed good work as a runner and over the ball, was getting her first real minutes in this match. She converted all six of those opening tries. And Sariah Ibarra capped it off with a 90-meter try that she converted for a 49-14 win.

It wasn't all speed with the ball. The Eagles forced GB to miss more tackles than they made, and the USA defense was strong, too, when they had to be, forcing the British to move the ball back and forth in a largely vain attempt to find space. But the key in this game was forcing mistakes on the restart and getting a short field on which to attack.

USA 49 Great Britain 14
Tries: Ramsey 4, Thomas 2, Ibarra
Convs: Cowdrey 6, Ibarra

So that put the Eagles into the 5th-place final against Canada. This is a very experienced Canadian side led by Breanne Nicholas and Charity Williams, who have both played in more than 35 SVNS World Series tournaments. Four of that squad had won a Silver Medal in Paris in 2024.

And Canada scored first, with Asia Hogan-Rochester nabbing a loose ball and Kennedi Stevenson coming in on the end of the line to stake her side to a 7-0 lead. But this USA team didn't panic against New Zealand and they didn't panic here. Canada's restart didn't go 10 meters, and after Ramsey tapped and ran herself, skipper Kristi Kirshe took it on herself to get the game-tying try, cutting up the middle in trademark fashion. This was converted by Tahna Wilfley.

The USA's defense to close out this half was very good. So much, in fact, that when Canada got a penalty near midfield and time was up in the first period, they opted to just end the half rather than keep playing.

In the second half Sarah Levy's brilliant run set up hands out and a long pass from Su Adegoke to Thomas and she took the corner.

That made it 12-7 USA. But Canada scored right after that with the always clutch Williams speeding the length of the field and Asia Hogan-Rochester's conversion making it 14-12 for Canada.

But another restart error gave the USA a free kick at midfield.

And there followed perhaps their best team try. Off the tap they went left and then right. Thomas was bottled up but she had young Belmont Shore product Nalu Liufau, who then offloaded to Kirshe. From that ruck Liufau sent it to Ibarra (another Belmont Shore player) to Wilfley and then Coulibaly. She committed two defenders and Ibarra was there as halfback to feed Liufau working hard to get behind the breakdown.

She turned it up field, was tackled, and Wilfley popped to Ibarra, who broke through one tackler, forcing two more to converge on her.

That left Levy free on the outside and Ibarra lofted a nice one-handed pass. A player who has been quietly pushing for time and waiting for her moment, produced her second big moment of the weekend, and Levy cut back to angle in under the posts and nudge the USA ahead 17-14, and Wilfley's conversion made sure Canada needed a try to at least tie it up.

They didn't get it, as Levy's defense forced an errant pass and Ibarra kicked to touch to end it. The USA takes 5th.

USA 19 Canada 14
Tries: Kirshe, Thomas, Levy
Convs: Wilfley 2

Dubai Top USA Scorers:
Ariana Ramsey 6 Tries
Kaylen Thomas 5 Tries
Ashley Cowdrey 6 Conversions
Tahna Wilfley 5 Conversions (Total 15 points)
Sariah Ibarra 3 Conversions (Total 16 points)

As we said, perhaps they are better than 5th. But they also aren't perfect. Their tackling needs to be more consistent. Defensively their overall speed has helped them cover for missed tackles. But they have shown they can beat teams that are bigger and very physical, and they can put up points.

Fifth place is a start for a young team, and, more important in the long term, going 4-1 has to give them confidence.