Eagle Women Take 5th in Dubai, Show Potential for More
Eagle Women Take 5th in Dubai, Show Potential for More
The new-look USA women's 7s team took 5th in Dubai and finished 3-2, losing twice to France but overall showing a ton of potential.
After winning their pool but losing to France 14-5 on Day One, the Eagles faced France again in the quarterfinals on Day Two. They lost again, but worse, 38-12.
USA vs France
The first half against France was a bit of a disaster.
All of the French tries can be assigned to the fact that this USA team has a number relatively new players and therefore is not as unified as it will be in time.
Hann Humphreys, perhaps overeager to be aggressive in defense, slipped. Nia Toliver stepped inside to fill the space Humphreys had left, and thus France had Anne-Cecile Ciofani on the wing unmarked.
The second try was off a scrum. The USA players were too slow to guard the loosehead side and scrumhalf Perrine Fagnen raced in from 50.
Alena Olsen was running out of her 22 and sent a pass to her support. The support was too flat, ball on the ground, and Ciofani scooped up the ball and scored.
The Eagles got one back, surviving very aggressive French tacklers. They did that with hard work, and a wild pass out of contact from Kayla Canett that rolled to Nia Toliver. With a sidestep and some desire Toliver outstripped her cover to score.
In the second half France’s first try was simply good play on their part. But the thing about France is that they fly in to make tackles. Sometimes they miss, but they miss at 100 miles per hour. And their teammates fill in. The way to beat that is to either be more angry and powerful in contact, or to move the ball so quickly and accurately that the defenders take themselves out of the play.
The USA didn’t do either, conceded a scrum in their 22, and Fagnen went weak again to score.
Perhaps the most galling thing for the Eagles was that they had received two kickoffs and conceded tries each time.
Finally they looked to move the ball and stay out of contact a bit better. Toliver and Kaylen Thomas made some ground and then Sariah Ibarra snaked through from the halfback position to score from long range.
France iced the game, however, with, once again, defenders collapsing in and no one filling the gap. Marie Duouy was through.
Final score France 38 USA 12
France 38
Tries: Ciofani 2, Fagnen 2, Jason, Marie Duouy
Convs: Dezou 3, Hagel
USA 12
Tries: Toliver, Ibarra
Convs: Canett
USA vs Ireland
So that put the USA in the 5th-place final—while they lost by 26 in this quarterfinal, everyone who lost in that round lost big. The USA's overall points difference tracked them to the 5th-place playoff against Ireland, and that was key.
In the 5th-place final the USA started on fire. You could tell they had come in with a mind to attack, and with Ireland being a) made up of smaller athletes and b) a little less in-your-face the Americans could do that. Toliver started them off and quick ball movement got Thomas a chance. She was caught but they recycled well and were at Ireland’s 22 when a switch between Thomas and Toliver went to ground.
Officially it was a drop by Toliver but if Thomas had given the ball at first glance instead of dummying, they would have been fine.
Ireland put the USA under pressure with a kick that Toliver recovered nicely, but in the end it was a defensive play that gave the USA a try. Two straight tackles from Canett forced a loose ball and Thomas nabbed it and raced 70 meters to score.
The big thing for the USA is that they scored right after. Another Canett tackle forced a loose pass. Ibarra picked it up, fed Rachel Strasdas, and she did the right thing, picking a line, waiting until the outside defender turned, and then passing to Ariana Ramsey.
Plenty of room for Ramsey to run in and it was 10-0.
It wasn’t perfect. Both teams made silly errors when things were going well, and the half ended with Ibarra knocking the ball on from a scrum underneath Ireland’s posts. That, too, is about experience. With no time left in the half and a try-scoring chance on a silver platter, that’s when experienced players keep their cool and just execute the simple things. Such lessons have to be learned.
The USA’s third try was one of their best. We’ll go into detail on it because it spells out what this team can do as a group.
Scrum to USA about 30 meters from the Ireland tryline. USA wins the scrum (it was ugly and we’d like to see the USA props stay lower, but … onward). Canett passed to Ibarra positioned right behind the scrum. Ibarra ran left, got to the 22, and dummied to Ramsey before cutting between two tacklers. Ruck inside the 22; good clearout by Ramsey and Canett is there at halfback. It’s worth noting that Canett’s pass, with her weaker hand, covered about 16 meters.
Levy to Strasdos to Thomas (Strasdos ran sideways a bit much but OK). Thomas bursts ahead and offloads out of contact perfectly to Strasdos, who had followed her pass. One-handed offload from Strasdos to Levy and Levy had a chance to pass to Toliver but instead took the tackle two meters from the tryline. All of this happened in quick success—the ball being moved quickly so the Irish defenders couldn’t focus.
Then a smart move. Levy placed the ball and Strasdos was over it. The ruck was clearly run so the nearest player, Toliver, did not pounce on it to be halfback. That’s not her best roll. She slid out and Thomas came in to pass the ball. Further to this. All this work had put five Irish defenders to the right of Toliver. She slid left, one defender marked her, and Thomas passed to Toliver.
Toliver stepped out of one tackle and fended the next defender into next week. Try under the posts.
This was a beautiful team try that involved everyone.
The rest of the second half was a bit slower. Ireland had the territory for several minutes and a brilliant tackle from Autumn Locicero held them up. But Ireland scored right after. They just didn’t have enough time. A restart error didn’t help them. The Eagles could have scored one more but in the end did enough to work down the clock.
USA 17
Tries: Thomas, Ramsey, Toliver
Convs: Canett
Ireland 7
Tries: Parsons
Convs: Flood
Focus on what matters.
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) December 1, 2024
USA v IRELAND » @RugbyPass pic.twitter.com/2h5iYLiRMK
5th place then, 12 points in the standings, and it was a bit galling to see Great Britain get 4th. The struggle for the USA a couple of years ago was how they could chase and beat France, Australia, and New Zealand. They have to solve the French problem most certainly.
"We are really happy with our point differential that was able to get us into this game," said Canett after the match. "It took us a while to work out how to really get the ball moving and I think we did it really well in [the last] game. We have so many strong runners and just being able to get them into space was really our goal and I think we did that."
Australia beat New Zealand for the cup, so it's Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, and then the USA in the standings. It's a good start for a team that has a ton of talent, but just needs to be more cohesive when the pressure's on.
Head Coach Emilie Bydwell acknowledged that there was uncertainty in the team, but the players said after the tournament that they did not play to their potential.
"Things didn't always go to plan, but the way we were trying to play, fast dynamic, dictated, playing to space a bit more, it really allowed the players to play to their strengths," said Bydwell. She wants this team to play a more open "street ball" stle, because that's the type of athletes she has on her team.
