The USA opens up the Cape Town 7s Saturday with the first game of the entire event, playing Wales.

As always, it’s an important game in an important tournament, but since the USA is coming into Cape Town ranked 3rd in the World Series, maybe, for once, they’re not chasing the game.

Head Coach Mike Friday said his team seemed a bit undercooked going into Dubai, and maybe that could explain a somewhat disappointing loss to France. But it doesn’t explain the Day One win over New Zealand, or the Day Two wins over South Africa and a bruised but still strong New Zealand.

“It was great to finish 3rd and to get the New Zealand monkey of our backs,” Friday told Goff Rugby Report. “But the semifinal was immensely frustrating at the time, and even more so having watched the video. We have come a long way in terms of self belief, character, and resilience, which is great to see. We have also continued to develop our game and variety in attack and becoming more consistent in defense, so we’ve made real, positive steps.”

Friday said he liked the work ethic and desire of the players. He said the players are humble and putting the team first, and not taking any opponent lightly. 

“We must carry this through this weekend,” added the coach.T”he little things are hurting us, and their are a few themes we have identified that we will work on this week to hopefully be better at this weekend. We want that consistency in performance.”

Well, the Eagles have been pretty consistent, making the top four in the last three World Series events, but Friday wants it to happen again.

“Resilience and a refusal to fail are things we are trying to deliver on within the culture, and we talk a lot about it as a group. If we want to be high performing, we have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I am hopeful that we will continue to grow in this area and continue to learn from the positive and negative experiences as we build through the series and into the Olympics.”

Do you get the feeling that Friday has had a tough time shaking off the loss to England in the semis? You’d probably be right. Friday, of course, coached England, and has a good rivalry with   England Coach Simon Amor, who played for Friday. But while it seems to be all smiles off the field, on the field, Friday hates losing, and hates losing to England hove all (except possibly Ben Ryan-coached Fiji - that’s another weird dynamic).

But Friday is also annoyed at the loss to France, one that included two tries that were “very much avoidable.”

Minor errors led to big problems. And even so the teams were tied 21-21 late in the game. Friday points to a call in the ruck that went against his team that hurt.

Against England, “We were again in control but silly errors gifted them 12 points,” explained Friday.

So the job for Cape Town is to beat Wales at 10:15am on Saturday (3:15am ET), Portugal at 1:36pm (5:36am ET), and Australia at 5:19pm (9:19am ET). Then they’d win Pool C and play South Africa (again) or England (again!) in the quarters.

It’s a team that can do that job. Perry Baker has been outstanding, and he and Carlin Isles are a try-scoring tandem that any team would want. Certain players’ profiles are dropping, not because they are playing poorly, but because others are playing better. Zack Test doesn’t have to do everything, and neither does Maka Unufe. They are better, overall, as a result.

The role players - Will Holder and Kevin Swiryn, for example - emerged as able to carry the load. Madison Hughes was clutch. And Folau Niua was perhaps the USA’s best performer in Dubai.

“I thought he was outstanding,” said Friday. “He does so much of the nuts and bolts in attack as well as getting through so much work in defense and in the contact area. People seem to just focus on his restart ability but the rest of his game and selfless work rate does not get the accolades it deserves. Yes he will make the odd decision or mistake, but that is because he is always trying to find a way for the team, and that is a courageous trait which we just need to channel so we manage the risks he takes sometimes.”