GRR: National Teams
After putting together a string of results that were, quite frankly, a pleasant surprise, the USA Men’s 7s team is just playing some bad rugby.
Gone is much in the way of variety of play. Gone is the idea that time and space are precious.
Analysis/Opinion by Alex Goff
The USA Men’s 7s team were 2nd in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series before Sydney, and then dropped to 7th.
Little issues with the team’s performance made that big change.
“It’s just ruthless,” said USA Head Coach Mike Friday. “If you get things slightly wrong, a couple of ball presents wrong, that’s the difference between winning and losing.”
Luke Gross enjoyed a rugby career as an American that is almost unprecedented in its length at the highest levels.
A basketball player at Indiana State and also at Marshall, Gross picked up the sport of rugby late, but his career blossomed with the Cincinnati Wolfhounds and with his 6-9 frame and love of contact, he soon earned notice from the USA setup.
Well we almost predicted it.
Goofing around with the Men’s World Series Standings we speculated that we might see all of the top teams tied … or at least most within a point of each other.
That second scenario is basically happening.
In a way it was a deeply head-shaking weekend for the USA Women's 7s team.
The results, in the end, did the job. They beat Canada, Great Britain (twice), and Ireland on their way to 3rd in the Sydney 7s. But they also slipped against Fiji—a talented Fiji to be sure—and found success against France fleeting.