The USA Women’s 7s team takes the field at their home tournament Saturday in Atlanta with more than just the pressure of representing for the home crowd on their shoulders.

The Eagles have been in a slump, a slump that was only made more frustrating by the fact that on several occasions they’ve come very close to beating the top team on the world circuit, New Zealand.

But they have also fallen badly against other teams, notably Canada, and slipped against teams they should beat handily, such as Fiji and France.

In their sat four tournaments the Eagles are 10-13, and that includes the Amsterdam 7s where they went 4-2 - the only time they won more than they lost.

Of the ten wins, three have come against Russia, and three against Brazil. They’ve beaten Spain twice, and China and Ireland once. All poor to middle of the road teams. Against Canada they are 0-3, with a points against of 99. They are 0-4 against New Zealand, have, thankfully, only played England once (losing 14-5), and have lost twice (both times 14-12) to France.

It’s a clear delineation - the Eagles can’t really get code to the top, are about even money against the middle (1-1 v China, 3-1 v Russia, 0-2 v France), and beat up on lesser teams only.

They do this because they aren’t powerful enough or physical enough. They get pushed off tackles by England and Canada, and thrown out of rucks. The physicality of the game creates dropped balls. 

They are slow to the breakdown, and run away from support, thus creating turnovers or holding-on penalties, which are the same thing. 

Against Spain or Russia or Brazil, they are the aggressors, but not against Canada.

This doesn’t have a lot to do with experience in the game. Some aren’t happy that Head Coach Ric Suggitt has brought in so many from outside rugby to play for the team, but it’s the experienced players who are committing the silly side-entry and offside penalties. It’s the experienced players who are running away from support or losing the ball in contact.

The inexperienced players certainly don’t react to the game as quickly as they need to, but an argument could be made that Alev Kelter is the best player on the team right now, and she’s about as big of a newb as you could have.

But I’m not going to pick apart Suggitt’s selection at the moment. He’s got the players he’s got and they’re the ones booting up tomorrow. Instead I’m going to pick apart what they’re doing.

1. Tackling. Too many of the USA players go into the tackle high, and while that’s OK against slighter opponents like the Brazilians and the Spanish, against Canada it means you get someone’s hand in your face. They have to duck under the fend and come exploding under the arm and into the thorax. 

2. Rucks. Ballcarriers have keep on their feet until someone is close by, and then force themselves to the ground. Ruckers have to do more than just hold. They need to knock opponents back.

3. The passes have to be more crisp. The USA passing and catching is flat and slow. Players aren’t running onto the ball, and there’s no variation - quicks hands to the wing, then one pass and crash. It seems quick hands to the wing never happens, and the wingers don’t have any space to work in.

4. Catch the ball no matter what. We’re past the point where the players are getting used to it all. Now they need to catch the ball, even if there’s a New Zealander up real close, or they hear footsteps. Catch first, then make your move. But catching is all.

Those four improvements, in my opinion, get the USA past the middle and on to challenging the higher-echelon teams. Let’s see if we see them in Atlanta.

The Atlanta 7s will be broadcast live here

v South Africa - Saturday, March 14 - 1:50 p.m. ET 
v Russia - Saturday, March 14 - 4:34 p.m. ET 
v New Zealand - Saturday, March 14 - 6:56 p.m. ET