The USA Men’s 7s team finished 9th in Dubai and tied for 7th in Cape Town, winning six and losing five over the course of the two tournaments, but was that all they could do?

Instead of giving you a blow-by-blow account (it’s all on video anyway), I thought I’d give you some observations on where this team is after those first two tournaments, and what I saw.

 

Can We Switch-Out Dubai?

The Dubai 7s is the traditional opener for the World Series, and, putting last year aside, the USA team usually does quite poorly there. The main reason, I think, is the time difference. Only the USA and Canada endures a full 12-hour time difference going from the Pacific Coast to the United Arab Emirates. It’s a brutal time difference to acclimate to. It would be nice if we could persuade World Rugby to shift Cape Town (ten hours difference) and Dubai. Cape Town is tough enough, but those two hours might make life easier.

World Rugby won’t change their minds, of course, and right now it seems a bit much in the budget to send players to Dubai a week earlier, but some kind of longer acclimatization is the answer.

 

That Coaching Weirdness

Mike Friday was spending November as the USA 15s team’s attack coach, and so Chris Brown was the official Head Coach for the tournament. Oddly, Friday decided to go to Dubai anyway (apparently on his own dime), and thus had to be the waterboy. Weird vibe, especially at halftime (interesting when Chris Brown was urging the players to actually look at him - were they tired and looking down, or wondering where Friday was?). Friday opted not to go to Cape Town - he doesn’t surf, I guess - and that was in some ays a good call. 

 

15s and 7s

A lot can be made of switching between 7s and 15s. I ask players whether it’s tough and they usually say “no” and then give me a long list of adjustments they have to make that means the answer is really “yes.”

In my opinion, for some positions, going from 7s to 15s doesn’t hurt you, especially since you’ve been in an everyday training environment. For a wing or outside center, playing 15s is fine, IMHO. For a flanker, it can be acceptable, especially if you keep up your long-term fitness, allowing you to play 80 minutes. For a halfback or flyhalf, I am not sure it’s that easy to make the shift.

Coming back from 15s to 7s is harder, I think. There’s so much less space and so much more contact in 15s, and the game can be so stop-start, that there are too many adjustments to make. For the players who had to come back from the Eagles 15s team after several games, I think the adjustment was difficult, and the entire experience somewhat tiring.

That brings us to Madison Hughes, who has pulled out of Cape Town to get some rest. That seems the right move. Hughes was good at times and shaky at times in Dubai, and anyone who saw his body language at the end of the USA v Tonga game would know he probably needed some time to shake those frustrations and get back on the 7s job.

 

Are the Eagles Any Good?

Well, yeah, they can be. On the first day of Dubai they didn’t look too swift against Scotland, and should have destroyed Uganda but really didn’t. Only near the end, when they played South Africa, did they start to look like a team that’s a World Series contender, which is what they should be.

Winning what used to be the Bowl and is now the Challenge Trophy is always difficult, because you have to win three games in a row.They did exactly that, and looked quite effective in doing so, dominating Russia, holding off Kenya, and beating Samoa fairly convincingly. Against Kenya you had that feeling that they once again would fritter away an advantageous position, and they did - up 14-0 they gave away two Kenyan tries thanks to a penalty and then the inability to win the restart when Kenya kicked off.

But I really liked how they responded - winning the second-half kickoff, going from one sideline to another, and exploiting a mismatch - the way it’s supposed to happen.

After that, the Eagles made Kenya work for it to score again, and did a reasonably good job of closing out the game - it would have been perfect but for Perry Baker stepping on the sideline which meant his second try of the day was called back. They didn’t get all bent out of shape after the disallowed try, and played good defense, got the ball back, and then didn’t try to do too much.

In Cape Town, again there were good moments and not-so-good moments. The most frustrating was probably the game again Scotland, where some crucial missed tackles and some very harsh penalty calls in overtime hurt them. (Baker was called for a high tackle that wasn’t high and a no-wrap tackle that was perfectly fine.) But I choose to focus on the game against Australia. In that match we saw what the USA can do when it all works. They played absolutely superb defense, not letting Australia get anywhere, really. Their tackling was right on the mark, and they took the tries that were on offer. They moved the ball, and, crucially, sent players in support of those who get tackled. It was a complete domination. 

 

Is Perry Baker a Superstar Now?

It was telling that Chris Brown made Baker the team captain for Cape Town, and the wing proved that he is a leader along with everything else. Baker’s kick-and-chase try against Samoa in the Challenge Trophy final in Dubai was sublime. His understanding of when the breakaway won’t happen has arrived, allowing him to keep out of contact and keep an attack going. His offloads, ability in the air, and of course his ability to make tacklers miss and score from 100 meters out, make him special. But he also showed he’s a team player, and has the skills to act on that attitude. 

Yes, he’s one of the best 7s players in the world right now. 

 

Is Danny Barrett one of the Best Too?

He could well be. Barrett looked fit in the last two tournaments, getting on his horse to take offloads, win rucks, and score long-range tries. He can’t always be the go-to man on the wing, of course, but he looked spry out there. I liked some of the work of a variety of players - and it’s always easy to overlook how Maka Unufe links it all together (don’t get me started on Rio again …).

 

Not a Finished Product

No, not at all. I think we see too many breakdowns in those connections. We don’t see everyone there to support a teammate. We don’t see a game with no mistakes, no penalties, no goof-ups. Winning restarts is kinds of a crucial part of the plan, and letting teams like Scotland and Kenya sneak back into contention is a frustrating habit.

But I see the potential. Anyone who can shut out Australia is a team that can win tournaments. The Eagles have just over a month to hone things for the next two rounds. I think they can do that.