As Men's World Series Tightens, USA Moves Up
As Men's World Series Tightens, USA Moves Up
It’s a banana race … all in a bunch.
The Men’s Sevens World Series got no more spread out after a wild weekend in Hamilton, and all that did was raise the stakes for the remaining tournaments, especially the LA Sevens.
Samoa took 9th and dropped from 1st in the World Series to 5th. Tied for 1st South Africa took 7th in Hamilton and slipped to 4th. These types of changes are very tough to do normally because the spread between teams in the standings is normally larger.
New Zealand and USA, 3rd and 4th going into Hamilton, are now 1st and second after the All Blacks 7s took 2nd and USA 3rd.
Argentina, which loves shaking things are did just that, beating New Zealand at their home tournament and jumping from 8th to 3rd in the World Series standings.
Fiji … Fiji! … is now 8th.
But it’s an 8th that’s not too far back. A wonky showing from Samoa, France, or Australia next week and the Fijians are right back in it.
Holding On
GRR talked about the relegation prospects, too. With the World Series going down to 12 teams per tournament next year, the 15th team will be dropped from the Series, and the teams ranked 12, 13, and 14 will be in a tournament in London to figure out who gets the final spot for 2023-24.
Japan remains the likeliest team to drop as they finished 15th again and dropped behind non core team Tonga, which finished tied for 11th, getting five points (Japan has four after finishing 15th in all four tournaments).
Kenya got a boost to ensure they will at least be in that London playoff, while Uruguay, after making the top eight in Cape Town, tied for 15th and got just the one point, putting them back in contention for that relegation/promotion playoff. Great Britain isn’t out of the woods either.
And that’s actually the thing. There is a massive gap between the stronger teams and the others. 1st is New Zealand with 63 points; 9th is Ireland with 46. The gap between 1st and 9th is 17; the gap between 9th and 10th (GB) is 21.
The USA
Brilliant work from the tireless Stephen Tomasin and thrilling runs from David Still, Malachi Esdale, and, when they really needed it, Perry Baker, put the USA past Australia 28-14 in the quarterfinals.
In the semis, Argentina was impressive in scoring early to take a 14-0 lead. Joe Schroeder scored at the end of the first half but the Pumas were always in control and won 24-14.
In the 3rd-4th game Head Coach Mike Friday did one of those things he does and started a group that didn’t really have an obvious leader. No Tomasin. No Kevon Williams. No Perry Baker. But they rose to the occasion, following a plan of defensive pressure to force mistakes. They got a penalty, tapped quickly, and Aaron Cummings cut through two tacklers and reached over for a 5-0 lead.
Same thing off the restart; same result, and from that tap David Still was in around the outside. Now it was 10-0.
France responded exploiting a missed tackle just before halftime, and then with Naima Fuala’au in the sin bin (deliberate knock-on), just bulled their way through for a 14-10 lead.
Friday isn’t a masochist, of course, and on came Baker, Williams, and Tomasin in the second half. Tomasin won a key penalty to get the ball for his side and Williams was instrumental in setting the platform for Ben Broselle to seal it 15-14.
But the message from the coach was clear—you newer guys are expected to get it done.
No on to Sydney, and then LA, and a chance to spread out this bunch.
