Difficulties continue for the USA Men’s 7s team, with the Eagles finishing 1-2 in Pool Play in Cape Town and looking at the bottom eight for the first time since Singapore in 2018.

Head Coach Mike Friday has been experimenting with his lineup, He has had to what with two key members of the outfit, Ben Pinkelman and Folau Niua, back home. But you get the feeling Friday would be experimenting anyway. With a spot in the 2020 Olympics assured, Friday has to be thinking about keeping his stars fresh, and giving time to tomorrow’s stars, as well.

See the world’s best in an Olympic Year as the Men’s Sevens World Series comes to Los Angeles.

The LA 7s will be held at Dignity Health Sports Park February 29-March 1. With attractions for the kids, an ambitious LA Invitational, world-class beaches, and superb nightlife all on your doorstep, the LA 7s offers something for every rugby fan.

Go to LASevensRugby.com For More

The result was some errors and confusion. Several times the Eagles tried to connect but a pass ended up squirting back 20 meters. Only some desperate rescue play by the veterans, Madison Hughes especially, prevented disaster.

Against Fiji, the Eagles were in a good position to compete, and had a 7-on-5 because of two Fijian yellow cards, but Maceo Brown, clearly eager to catch the ball and send it wide to Carlin Isles for a sure try, rushed himself and dropped the ball.

That’s the sort of harsh lesson Friday was expecting to teach.

From that drop Fiji covered the length of the field to score, and the momentum was well and truly snatched back. 

Against Japan, the going was tough early but the USA finally got going and scored some nicely-taken tries. But they were guilty of the old crime of running Isles out of space before giving him the ball, rather than straightening up the line of attack. As a result, often success was found cutting back inside for the likes of Danny Barrett or Stephen Thomasin.

Isles did get his tries, and so did Perry Baker, although he then produced a brain-freeze moment that epitomized the USA’s effort.

Clear away for a try Baker lofted a ball to a teammate so he could get the try. Only the teammate was actually the ref. Japan pounced on the ball, but later lost it (the game was well in hand for the USA), and Kevon Williams restored order.

The loss to Fiji meant the Eagles had to beat hosts South Africa. They did pretty well there for a while, but little errors and a couple of lineout miscues. Basically stuck in their end and defending much of the first half, the Eagles fell behind 14-0, but set Isles free just before halftime to claw back. 

Mistakes in the opposition end led to a South Africa try, and while the Eagles did well to put Matai Leuta and then Baker (with a superb run) in, all of the tries were out wide and they couldn’t hit the conversions.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Fiji and South Africa had the points difference drop on the Eagles had they beaten the Blitzbokke, so third in the pool it is.

USA 14 Fiji 28

USA 42 Japan 0

USA 15 South Africa 24

No time to panic. But this is a team that’s struggling to link all the pieces together, and just needs to brush off the frustration and play with a bit more unity.