The USA Men’s 7s team enters Round 3 of the ten-round Sevens World Series in less than two days, and with a big task ahead of it.

First off, there’s their pool in Wellington. The Eagles are in the same pool as Samoa, England, and France. This is one of those classic pools where any team could finish 3-0 or 0-3. So what it means for the USA is that every game has to be taken seriously, and there can be no off periods.

That was, of course, one of the Eagles’ issues in Cape Town, said Coach Mike Friday.

But, there’s reason to believe that the USA team will perform more constantly well this time around. Friday said his team in Dubai (3rd place), and Cape Town (6th) was “undercooked” going into those tournaments. So the performances, with that assessment in mind, weren’t bad at all.

But the coaches and the players, and likely the fans, are expecting a lot now, so certainly there’s more to give.

The USA will be cooked a little better now, having spent the lion’s share of the last month and a half working together. That’s a given.

But the personnel changes matter, even though they are small. Folau Niua basically missed the buildup to Dubai for the Rugby World Cup (15s), and now he’s expected to be in complete 7s shape. Niua has become an excellent 7s player. We talk a lot about his job to pass to faster guys or operate the offensive aspects of the game, but his defensive leadership is important, too.

Niua is a good tackler and very useful in the breakdown. 

“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,” Friday told Goff Rugby Report. “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.”

So Niua will be even better.

Then there’s Thretton Palamo. The big center wisely opted after the World Cup to join the USA 7s team - this is a great place for him to be fitter and more dynamic as a player in both 15s and 7s. Palamo has not been working intensely at 7s for some years, but he has been now, and it will make a huge difference. Even if he gives just three or four minutes a game, it will be a dynamic three or four minutes.

And finally, there’s Danny Barrett. Not to denigrate anyone he has replaced, but Barrett is a pretty special player. He is a ferocious runner of the ball and can fill almost any role as a forward. He can play the game in tight and just bull ahead, he can make tackles and steal the ball, and he can score tries from 60 meters out. He’s dynamic and wild, and gives the Eagles a jolt.

So those are personnel reasons why the team will play better, and that’s not even touching on the Perry Baker and Carlin Isles speed two-fer, or the resurgence of Kevin Swiryn, or the continued improvement of Will Holder and Matai Leuta, or what Zack Test and Madison Hughes has been able to do. 

In the end it comes down to execution. The Eagles have all the ability to go 3-0 in Wellington and blow the doors off any opponent. But they also have shown the odd tendency to drift in games they should win big. It’s like it’s not going their way, and they’re shocked. If they can approach games exactly the same way every time, they will win … a lot.