USA Men on the Edge in Vancouver
USA Men on the Edge in Vancouver
Things are going to same way they have all season for the USA Men’s 7s team.
They produce moments or periods of solid play, but just falter when it comes to the crux of the matter.
The Eagles looked solid against co-SVNS-leaders Spain and had the game at 7-7 when Lucas Lacamp scored an impressive try.
But a very unlucky yellow card against Aaron Cummings (he jumped to catch a ball, raising his knee, and the Spanish player near him never jumped at all and the Cummings knee hit the Spaniard square in the face), led to a Spanish try and a 14-7 lead.
With time up Jacob Broselle burst down the sideline an excellent run, and he curved around as far as he could to touch down. But Stephen Tomasin’s conversion attempt didn’t go over, and that was it, Spain 14 USA 12.
Against Fiji the Eagles traded blow for blow for a while, and it was 14-12 with the first half nearly over when Fiji cut through for another.
While players were working hard, they fell off way too many tackles against the Fijians, especially in the second half.
So Fiji 33 USA 12.
This team is not able to consistently free up strike runners, and they aren’t able to force turnovers at the rate they need, either.
And right now they are in major trouble in terms of making the quarterfinals in Vancouver. The one thing they have going for themselves is the new bonus point system, where a close loss adds a point.
So … what the Eagles need to do on Saturday is beat Uruguay. If they do that and France loses to Argentina by more than seven or Australia loses to South Africa by more than seven, then they are through to the top eight and get a standings lifeline.
A loss to Uruguay will mean no better than 9th.
