The USA Men’s 7s team were 2nd in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series before Sydney, and then dropped to 7th.
Little issues with the team’s performance made that big change.
“It’s just ruthless,” said USA Head Coach Mike Friday. “If you get things slightly wrong, a couple of ball presents wrong, that’s the difference between winning and losing.”
That happened also in the semifinal against Argentina in Hamilton.
“In some of our attacking play in Sydney we lose a couple of kickoffs and don’t get field positions vs Ireland and they beat us.
“The World Series is unforgiving. If you’re slightly off you run the risk of losing. That’s the nature of the brutality of 7s.”
And with the Series so close, you mess up a little and you slide down. Friday talks about that here.
Buy Tickets to the LA Sevens Here>>
There’s a Lot Going Right
“We’re finding our attacking continuity and we look like we’ve got different threats around the pitch,” continued Friday. “We’re working hard on keeping the ball alive as well as using our physicality and power.”
Friday said there needs to be more variety in their attack, but they also have to execute the basics.
“We’re at our best when we get our set piece launch right,” said Friday. “We’ve evolved our defensive system and how we work within that system is gradually getting better.”
