Weird Road to Quarterfinals for USA Men in Vancouver
Weird Road to Quarterfinals for USA Men in Vancouver
THE USA men squeaked into the CUp Quarterfinals in Vancouver despite one of the most lopsided losses in their history.
The Eagles, having played poorly in LA, started off the Canada 7s in Vancouver even worse, getting thumped 52-0 by New Zealand. Were the All Blacks 7s on a roll, or were there problems in the USA side?
Well they rebounded. Thanks to some scrappy running and some silky running both. by Perry Baker, and a powerful run up the middle by David Still—something the fans will want to see more of—they held off Samoa 14-12.
That game saw Aaron Cumming put in a full 14 minutes. When GRR spoke with Cummings in LA he seemed primed to make a difference.
"What I'm thinking about when I'm playing is getting to the breakdown, and I think that was a problem for me at the beginning because I would go to useless breakdowns and I would get caught in rucks where I didn't need to be," Cumming told GRR. "I really worked hard on just relaxing and as of late not looking for the poach every time. I just need to stay in the line and look for my opportunity."
But it's telling that all Cummings talks about it defense; even so he made some key runs against Samoa and is becoming a physical force for a team that needs it.
Against Spain the Eagles scored right off the kickoff thanks to a jump and tip from Cummings and then a stop and burst from Malacchi Esdale. Spain responded by exposing a missed tackle. Still put on an astounding chased to make the tackle, but Spain retained and eventually scored anyway.
And then after a knock forward gave up possession the Americans were exposed again off a scrum, and it was Esdale who counter-rucked when there was no need to, leaving a hole through which the Lions rushed.
A half-break by Kevon Williams and a link through Stephen Tomasin to Baker put the Speed Stick away and a well-taken conversion from Tomasin made it 14-14.
The USA took the lead after a loop move between Baker and Marcus Tupuola. Baker was almost away but was ankle-tapped. He found Tupuola who found Williams, but the next offload was intercepted. Somehow the Eagles got the ball back and it was sent wide to Still, who cruised in past some exhausted defenders.
The kick was away and that made it 19-14. They had a chance to ice it with Baker on the run, but three defenders caught him and he was penalized for not releasing.
Another penalty with time up and Spain went wide. Now, here's where it got weird. Tomasin should have cut off the curl-around and instead went for the diving tackle. He missed and try-scorer Jaime Manteca went in under the posts. Easy conversion for Juan Martinez right?
Well ... he took too long. The Spanish players celebrated after the try and that took up most of the 30 seconds available for the kick. The referee blew full time and it was a tie.
It was hugely disappointing for the Eagles as they should have finished this off. However, they caught a break as Samoa lost big to New Zealand. A 1-1-1 record for the USA was enough to put them into the quarterfinals.
They face Ireland just after midnight Eastern Time. France plays Great Britain, Argentina plays Fiji, and New Zealand faces Australia.
