The USA Men's 7s team Head Coach Mike Friday has picked 16 players to travel for the USA Men’s Sevens National Team’s first international competition of 2021.

The event takes place in Madrid, Spain from Feb 20 to 21 and 27 to 28 with six senior national men’s and women’s sides competing across both weekends. A LIVE stream location will be announced by tournament organizers this week. 

The squad will compete internationally for the first time in nearly a year following strong scrimmage performances in the Golden Eagles Showdown last December. Martin Iosefo will lead the group as Captain with Kevon Williams serving as Vice Captain. Starting lineups picked in the days before each weekend.

Alongside the USA are Portugal, Spain, Kenya, Argentina and France. All participating teams will play each other once before the fifth-place, third-place and championship final commence on Sunday. 

Hosted by Spain Rugby, the tournament has worked closely with local governments to ensure COVID-19 best practices are followed for both weekends. All teams are required to undergo testing and quarantine measures before arrival and during their stay in the country. Contact tracing, daily monitoring and regular symptom checks are also mandated by all parties involved. 

“We’re looking forward to bringing back some competitive normality and, as a group, to experience the numerous protocols for international travel as we ready for the Olympics," Friday said.  “While we are tracking well on our performance plan as a squad, we’re not operating on all cylinders. This means we have to dig deep and focus on our execution on both sides of the ball. We’ll continue to test and challenge facets of our game during these two weeks, as well as our ability to execute repeated efforts both in training and competitive games.

“[Assistant Coach] Phil Greening will remain at the training center to work with the players who are tracking to be where they need to when our next block begins in March. The tournaments themselves will be highly competitive with a blend of international teams bringing many different styles of play and pictures for us to work against. This is a chance we welcome after playing ourselves for the past year. 

“Above all else, the Dawgs are excited to be let off the leash and represent their country once again.”  

America's college and high school programs are featured heavily in this roster, as is the Rudy Scholz Award for the top men's collegiate player. The 2019 Scholz Award-winner, Harley Wheeler (South Doyle HS, Life University) is there, as are Scholz Award nominees Jake Lachina (Army), Cody Melphy (Littleton Eagles, Life University), Marcus Tupuola (Belmont Shore, Notre Dame College), and Christian Dyer (Jesuit Sacramento, Cal). Iosefo played his college rugby at Montana, while Williams earned national notoriety as a 7s player at New Mexico Highlands.

Matai Leuta was a collegiate All American at Monterey Peninsula College, Maceo Brown was a standout at Grand Canyon and Tempe's U19s, Ben Pinkelman (Cherry Creek, Colorado State) was a USA prospect while still in college. Joe Schroeder (Royal Irish HS team) passed up rugby for a cheerleading scholarship in college, while Brett Thompson (Tempe, Arizona) played football at Arizona then returned to rugby for Wildcats.

Faitala Talapusi didn't attend college but played forLife West after starring for Peninsula Green in Northern California. Maka Unufe was much the same, playing superbly for United in Utah and then going straight to the USA 7s program in 2011.

USA Men’s Sevens Roster 

Malon Al-Jiboori Forward 10 World Series Tournaments
Perry Baker Wing 47
Maceo Brown Utility 14
Christian Dyer Utility 0
Martin Iosefo (C) Center 46
Jake Lachina Utility 0
Matai Leuta Forward 40 
Cody Melphy Halfback 6
Ben Pinkelman Forward 37
Joe Schroeder Forward 12
Faitala Talapusi Halfback 3
Brett Thompson Forward 32
Marcus Tupuola Center/Wing 8
Maka Unufe Halfback/Center 43
Harley Wheeler Utility 1
Kevon Williams (VC) Halfback/Wing 27

USA Men’s Sevens Traveling Staff
Head Coach | Mike Friday
Strength & Conditioning | Jon Hood
Performance Analyst | Dave Gardner 
Athletic Trainer | Kevin Ng
Team Manager | Scott Novack 

Madrid Sevens Men’s Schedule (for USA)

Feb 20
vs Portugal | 5:06 AM ET
vs Spain | 7:51 AM ET
vs Kenya | 11:20 AM ET

Feb 21
vs Argentina | 5:06 AM ET
vs France | 7:51 AM ET
5th Place | 9:52 AM ET
3rd Place | 10:36 AM ET
Final | 11:20 AM ET