The USA men's 7s team has some serious work to do this weekend in Bordeaux.
With Kenya and France having mirrored each other the last two Championship tournaments (one taking 7th the other 8th and then reversing it) those two sit 7th and 8th, tied at 14 standings points.
For anyone to chase them down to be in that coveted top eight, and thus book a spot in SVNS 1 for 2026-27, they will have to finish very high in Bordeaux (something like 4th or better) or hope one of those teams crash.
In the end, you can't worry about it, said USA speedster Lucas Lacamp.
"We're still a group that's that's definitely learning and developing," Lacamp told GRR. "We've shown glimpses of, I'd consider, brilliance and really good stuff, and now it's just like trying to get that consistency.
"In a perfect world, we perform well enough to be able to be on [SVNS 1] next year, and of course, that's what we want," he continued. "But it's one of those things where ... would you rather be able to learn and experience and grow as a group, you know, take the learnings, take the mistakes, because obviously the mistakes are going to happen, take the mistakes now, take the learnings now, so that when you get to '28, you've learned them, you've ironed out the errors, you've grown as a group, you've connected as a group."
So the idea, said Lacamp, is to earn that spot, not get there because of a stroke of luck, and be there because the USA team raised its level and were simply playing better.
He points to how experienced the top-ranked teams are, and, in the end, the team needs that experience.
So, no, they're not score-board watching.
Meanwhile, we saw some flashes. After losing to Spain 26-21 and Fiji 19-7 (in a game where it was tied midway through the second half), and France 19--14, they showed they could be in position to win games. Being a little rushed maybe? Lacamp that is maybe true, but also not quite the issue—the team needs to learn to be dynamic, unpredictable, and push it.
But against Great Britain they fell behind 14-0 and it could have been 21-0 but for a forward-pass call.
And then in the second half the Eagles stormed back with tries from Orrin Bizer, Stephen Tomasin, and Lucas Lacamp to make it 21-14. GB scored at full time to tie it, but a brilliant counter-ruck from Lacamp and some smart passing inside set up Tomasin for the game-winner.
