The USA Men's rugby 7s team at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China are in-country and ready to go.

 

After a camp in San Francisco, the squad is looking to start off smartly against a tough Kenyan team.

 

In the Youth Olympic Games, every country can send only one men's team and one women's team for team sports. So you have to pick out of rugby, soccer, hockey, handball, and basketball. It was telling that the US Olympic Committee chose to send two rugby teams, and no teams for those other team sports.

 

So the pressure's on. Head Coach Ben Gollings told Goff Rugby Report that the team is looking good after having arrived in China. They will have a lot of work ahead of them. The tournament begins Sunday, August 17 with a match against Kenya, and then Fiji.

 

On Monday (all times local, for US time is 20-23 hours behind) they will take on Japan and France, and on Tuesday they play Argentina. After those five grueling days, the teams will be re-seeded. The top four play in the semis on Tuesday and the medal matches on Wednesday. The 5th and 6th teams play-off on Tuesday and are done.

 

Still, 7s tournaments are normally two days, and this one will be four days, with two games on each day except the last day, which will have one.

USA Squad