When the USA Sevens team was last in action, a couple weeks ago in Las Vegas, they had a very favorable group with France, Argentina, and Spain. They couldn’t take advantage of it though and lost close decisions to France and Argentina and couldn’t reach the cup quarterfinals.
Well the story is similar for the US in New Zealand today. They are in a group with Argentina, Scotland and Canada. The highest ranked of those teams this year is Argentina in seventh. Scotland is 12th and has only been in the cup quarterfinals once. Canada is 11th and hadn’t reached the cup quarterfinals this year until a third place finish in Las Vegas.
Photo Credit: tedkerwin via Compfight cc
Are these teams easy wins for the US? No. They’ll be good opponents… but Portugal (right above the US) drew England (fourth), South Africa (first), and Wales (10th). Spain (right below the US) drew New Zealand (second), France (ninth), and Fiji (third). You see why the draw is so favorable now?
To reach the cup quarterfinals the US is going to have to beat some teams they know they can beat. The US was playing great rugby near the end of last season and even in Las Vegas they were neck and neck with Argentina and France. They just need to finish a game or two off tonight and get two wins. Two wins and they should be in the cup quarterfinals and make sure they take home at least ten points this weekend.
The US isn’t in big trouble in terms of the full year standings yet. They are 14th, but Spain in 15th has just six points to the 12 of the US. Spain hasn’t even won the shield yet this year. If the US continues to play at a poor level they’ll probably be okay, but it’d be great if they made it quite clear they won’t be the 15th place team and lose their spot on the world series tour for next year. They can start to make that happen with a big today in New Zealand.
Schedule:
All times ET
Thursday:
Group Stage – USA vs. Argentina – 7:21 PM
Group Stage – USA vs. Canada – 9:48 PM
Friday:
Group Stage – USA vs. Scotland – 12:56 AM
You should be able to watch online for free at the USA Sevens website. It’s worked for the last few events so I trust it will again.
Roster:
Two things to note here… one is the appearance of Carlin Isles. Yes in Las Vegas it sounded like his rugby career was over as he’d prepared to leave for the Detroit Lions, but he is still with the team this weekend. I’m not going to read into this anymore than that he is with the US this weekend.
Nothing has been reported claiming he won’t be joining the Lions at some point and if they are willing to sign him to a contract that could be much more lucrative than rugby, I’d be surprised still if he’d turn it down. It is clear though that he loves rugby, knows that he has great potential in the sport (especially for the US) and does not want to give it up easily. We’ll see where this goes but know that we should see him this weekend for the US and his speed could be a difference maker.
Second is the debut of Madison Hughes on the team for the US. Hughes is a junior wing/fullback for Darthmouth’s rugby team and it’s nice to see another young American make their debut.
| Player | Shirt |
|---|---|
| Carlin Isles | 1 |
| Nick Edwards | 2 |
| Danny Barrett | 3 |
| Garrett Bender | 4 |
| Zack Test | 5 |
| Brett Thompson | 6 |
| Folau Niua | 7 |
| Andrew Durutalo | 8 |
| Ryne Haitsuka | 9 |
| Shalom Suniula | 10 |
| Madison Hughes * | 11 |
| Ryan Matyas | 12 |
Look for a recap of the first day of action sometime tomorrow with a preview of what the US is facing in the knockout rounds.
