USA U18 Girls 2-0 on Day One at Global Youth Sevens
USA U18 Girls 2-0 on Day One at Global Youth Sevens
It was a good day for the USA U18 Girls team at the Global Youth 7s, as the squad finished the day 2-0 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Game 1
The USA girls team beat McDowell out of Canada 24-0 in their opener. It was defensive that produced the USA tries, as they were generally happy to pin McDowell in their half and force errors. That is basically what happened, although the USA team kept giving penalties that they didn’t need to give up and that slowed their progress.
Some good tackling from Annie Henrich produced the first payoff turnover with Lola Unga bursting through to score the opening try. More defensive pressure eventually produced a scrum and from there Henrich sliced through a half gap and was over. Conversion good and it was 12-0.
Good ball movement set free Shawnee Asiata, on the field as a blood sub just a few seconds earlier, and she was in at the corner to make it 17-0 at halftime.
In the second half some good ball-handling and a nice surge from several players put Asiate in for her second.
The USA was less-than-precise after that and didn’t quite crush the rest of the game, but they came away with the shutout 24-0.
Game 2
In the second game the USA played Aotearoa Maori. This was a bit of a different prospect as the Maori were athletic and powerful in the tackle. It was the Maori that broke through right off the kickoff, exploiting a bit of a disorganized USA chase. They looked for all the world to be through for the try, but Tahna Wilfley chased down the runner and saved a try. The USA players organized their defense and pushed the Maori back about 30 meters before a turnover led to Fane Tausinga to race through and score the opening try.
Kicking off again the USA bottled up the Maori, now that they knew what they were up against, and a dropped ball was a gift for Kiyanah Edwards to take to the house for a 10-0 lead.
More defensive pressure produced another turnover and this time Marley Larkin—like Tausinga and Asiata, a Majestics player out of Utah—swung through to score. Henrich converted and it was 17-0.
Henrich (sister of Women’s Eagle Emily) and Wilfley (daughter of former Men’s Eagle Link Wilfley) combined nicely for a try for the latter and it was 22-0 at halftime.
The Aotearoa Maori probably counted themselves a bit unlucky to be so far behind, and that would be fair, but fortune favors the more powerful defense and that’s what saw the USA team through.
A nice switch move set up Henrich go through for a try, and the Americans added another out wide with Asiata finishing it off nicely.
The Aotearoa Maori scored two tries late to show that, hmm, maybe they are pretty good, which is true. Final score 36-14.
Next up for the USA team is New Edition. They will play tomorrow, Friday USA time, at 2:30PM ET.
