The USA Women’s Sevens team caught a bad break this weekend in Atlanta. Had they finished second in the group their opponent in the quarterfinals would have been France, a good side with a fourth and fifth place finish in the first two stages of the year. Instead by winning the group they ended up drawing the two-time champions Australia who had suffered a shock loss to England on Friday. So the win over New Zealand actually gave the US a tougher matchup in the quarterfinals.

The result was a 22-5 loss to Australia while New Zealand was able to beat France 24-7. The US try came right at the end after trailing 12-0 at the half. They would rebound however with a 38-0 smackdown of Fiji in the plate semifinals behind tries from five players including two from Leyla Kelter and then a 19-7 victory over Russia to claim the plate. The US trailed Russia 7-5 shortly before the half before taking the lead on a Richelle Stephens try that would prove to be the plate winner.

It was a positive weekend for the US who will feel unlucky that they had such a tough quarterfinal matchup and feel good that they beat the New Zealand side that pushed Australia in the final and came in second. The HSBC Women’s Sevens Series will be back in action next week in Langford, British Columbia for their fourth of five events. The US has been once again drawn into a pool with New Zealand and Spain while Fiji is the other team. All three were beaten by the US this weekend. The good news is that winning the pool next weekend would result in a matchup with a third place finisher and there’s no way Australia ends up there…. right?