The boo birds might have made themselves heard at Stade de France but the USA will have been satisfied with their start at the Men’s Rugby 7s event in the Paris Olympics.
Playing against the host nation, the USA escaped with a 12-12 tie and while it wasn’t a victory, it was a good first step for a team expected to battle for a quarterfinal place.
France of course had huge crowd support and they started well, dominating possession and testing the USA defense. They could have had a try on the wing early but star Antoine Dupont’s pass was too high.
Weird referee calls punctuated this match, including USA getting called for a knock-on when the ball clearly went backwards. But at the same time, referee Adam Leal then played no advantage when France picked up the ball and were clearly set to score.
The French did score a minute or so later, to take a 5-0 lead, and after the restart, the Eagles found themselves pinned deep in their 22. They tried to get Perry Baker to run them out of trouble, but it didn’t quite happen. Instead France got the ball back and looked for all the world like they were going to score out wide. But Lucas Lacamp made a superb tackle that saved a try and earned his side a lineout.
From there the Eagles got a penalty, and took another lineout about 12 meters inside their half. That was all they needed. With the French worried about Baker on the outside they ran Lacamp up the middle. The UCLA speedster beat his man and was gone under the posts. USA led 7-5, and when they got a scrum with no time left in the half, kicked dead to some raucous boos from the French fans.
The second half wasn’t all that different from the first. France retained possession and forced infractions by the USA. They got a fairly favorable call to set up their next try and took a 12-7 lead into the closing moments.
But somehow the USA had held on. Orrin Bizer produced a brilliant tackle to force a knock-on in-goal to save a try, and then the Eagles took a page out of France’s playbook. Defensive pressure kept France from breaking out, and some good counter-rucking led by Stephen Tomasin put the ball on the USA side of the ruck.
Baker picked up, and with all eyes on him passed smartly to Marcus Tupuola, and the former Notre Dame College star raced to the corner.
That left it at 12-12, and when the USA earned a scrum with time up, you might have expected them to go for the win. But it’s a risky proposition, and in this format, the cost of a loss versus a tie is far more expensive than the cost of a tie vs a loss. They needed that tie, won the scrum, and Kevon Williams kicked it dead. Yes the fans booed, but it was smart rugby from the Eagles as they looked ahead to Fiji.
