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Hamilton Sevens a Chance to Make a Move

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Hamilton Sevens a Chance to Make a Move

David Still is an emerging star. David Barpal photo.

The Sevens World Series stop in Hamilton, NZ is a huge event for the series as a whole.

As we discussed earlier this month—Tracking Olympic Prospects as LA 7s Approaches—the men's standings are kind of packed close, so no one is in a position where they can be assured of one of those four automatic berths to the 2024 Olympics.

While certainly Los Angeles (tickets available at lasevensrugby.com/tickets) will be instrumental in deciding those top four, Hamilton will be a place where one team could create some separation. And remember, as we also point out—The Other World Series Chase: To Stay in the Series—other teams have to be worried about not coming back to next year's smaller circuit.

 

Pool A
Samoa
Fiji
France
Kenya

 

Pool B
New Zealand
Great Britain
Australia
Tonga

 

Pool C
USA
Uruguay
Ireland
Japan
 

 

Pool D
South Africa
Argentina
Spain
Canada
 

Pool A ius a bit brutal with a tough road for Kenya to get to the top eight and fix their overall standings points total, and one of three higher-standings teams (Samoa, Fiji, and France) not getting to the Quarters.

The seedings for the tournament are based on how teams finished in the last tournament, so Australia, certainly one of the nations everyone is worried about player, are actually the 3rd-seeded team in Pool B. But they could easily return to the form that saw them win in Hong Kong. 

The USA is in a very good situation. Ireland seems a bit down this year but can't be ruled out. Japan is in desperate position to get out of the standings cellar. Uruguay is a bit of an upstart team and can't be overlooked. But the USA team has a huge chance to make a move here without running their players into the ground on Day One. Of course, making the Top 8 is only half the battle. In the quarterfinals they will meet, most likely, New Zealand or Australia ... oh, OK ... that's different.

South Africa and Argentina are easy favorites to progress from Pool D. So that means the race to stay in the circuit for Spain and Canada will likely be about being great on Day Two.

The Eagles

Head Coach Mike Friday is taking 14 players to the Hamilton-Sydney two-tournament trip, with two changes. Maceo Brown is in for the injured Lucas Lacamp, and Adam Channel is in for Lance Williams. The rest of the lineup is the same, which is good because these players have been playing quite well.

“The fellas have persevered and put in a lot of work on this block," said USA captain Kevon Williams. "All we need to do is come out and be confident in each other and our game plan. Everything else will take care of itself.”

“We are looking forward to getting back out there and representing," added Friday. "We were disappointed that we didn’t progress further in Dubai and Cape Town and it was the small moments, some of which were not in our control, which were the difference. 

"We are motivated to continue moving forward as a group and impose our attacking DNA and defensive intensity. We have and are working hard to get better and more consistent as a group and whilst there has been a break for the holidays we are physically progressing these last two weeks to be ready and prepared for that first game in Hamilton.”

This is still a fairly inexperienced team, but those players who we'd call inexperienced are improving rapidly. David Still and Malachi Esdale are developing a chemistry and thanks to the generosity of Perry Baker and Kevon Williams, they are getting chances to showcase their ability.

The players who work the breakdowns the most have a very high work rate. We've mentioned them in previous articles, with Aaron Cummings, Stephen Tomasin, and Joe Schroeder standing out especially. Overall their defense is quite good.

The Hamilton Sevens will be on Peacock and the games will be at 4:16PM ET on Friday vs Japan, 7:44PM vs Ireland, and 10:28PM vs Uruguay.

USA Men's Team to Hamilton
Player Position World Series Apps
1. Aaron Cummings Forward 6
2. Ben Broselle Forward/Wing 14
3. David Still Forward/Wing 11
4. Maceo Brown Center/Forward 20
5. Joe Schroeder Forward 25
6. Kevon Williams (C) Halfback/Wing 39
7. Naima Fuala’au Halfback 17
8. Malacchi Esdale Center/Wing 10
9. Stephen Tomasin Utility 46
10. Faitala Talapusi Halfback 11
11. Perry Baker Wing/Center 59
14. Marcus Tupuola Halfback/Center 17
15. Gavan D'Amore Forward 12
16. Adam Channel Forward 6