Eagle Women Looking Good on Day One in Vancouver
Eagle Women Looking Good on Day One in Vancouver
It’s job done for Day One at the Vancouver 7s for the USA women.
The Eagle women kicked off their Vancouver campaign playing as if they needed to win the tournament right then and there. The frantic nature of their play—captain and recent returnee Spiff Sedrick getting dragged into touch after trying to reel off a big break, for example—led to China having the better of possession and territory in the first half.
A turnover, a missed tackle, and then a 50-50 call that didn’t go their way resulted in a try for Wang Wanyu. China got the ball back and pressured the USA again and bullied their way over through Chen Keyi.
The Chinese were physical, worked hard off the ball, and didn’t go down easily.
But with time almost up in the first half and stuck in their 22 the USA got a break. Sariah Ibarra made lemonade out of some broken play and raced in from long range. She converted her effort and the teams changed ends with China up 10-7.
You could tell that USA Head Coach Emilie Bydwell told her team to revert to their pattern and relax a little. The result was some short-range offloads and less panic. Jess Lu picked up and dove over from close range, and then some really good teamwork and unselfishness from Lu set up Su Adegoke for her first SVNS World Series try.
Up 21-10 thanks to some solid kicking from Kayla Canett, the USA was up two scored with time winding away. China kicked deep and almost scored. That play wasn’t pretty, but what it did showcase was what any coach wants to see from late-game subs—effort. It was Adegoke and debutante Tessa Hann who raced back to save the try, and that’s just as it should be.
In their second game the Eagles took control early against a young Ireland team. The Eagles won the ball early and sent it wide to Hann, who broke through and raced 80 meters to score.
Off the ensuing restart, the Eagles forced a knock-on and from that scrum sent it wide to Ariana Ramsey, who went in, out, in out to take the edge. We’d hardly started and it was 12-0.
They got to play a little more defense after that before Sedrick forced a holding-on penalty, tapped quickly, and got close before the Eagle support worked it close to the line. Finally they went wide to Hann and she had her second of the game and third of the tournament.
Autumn Czaplicki for a yellow card for a high tackle after that and Ireland was able to capitalize to score right before halftime.
But any thoughts of gaining momentum were put to rest when the Eagles won their own kickoff to start the second half and sent it wide to Ramsey, who did what Ariana Ramsey does. That made it 26-5 and Alena Olsen’s weakside run off a scrum made it 31-5.
After that Head Coach Emilie Bydwell rang the changes and the less experienced players started to make some goofy mistakes. The result was two tries for Ireland at the end of the game, but by then the result was decided. USA 31 Ireland 17.
So a 2-0 day and that’s good, but the younger players do have to learn when it makes sense to counter-ruck and when it makes sense to bounce out and defend. The late Ireland tries were most because of USA players missing their defensive assignments. But this team is playing well, and, as we’ve said previously, Kayla Canett is having her best season for the USA.
Saturday brings a date with mighty New Zealand, who are looking very, very good. After that will be a quarterfinal match.
