If there was a bright spot in the disappointing tenth place finish this weekend it was Nate Ebner. The New England Patriot safety made his first three starts for the US and scored a pair of tries in a 26-0 bowl semifinal win over Portugal. Ebner is making a late push for a spot on the Olympic team and after looking decent this weekend will need to continue to show progress next month in Paris and London to solidify his chances.
The US opened Sunday with a 24-5 win over Russia where Zach Test, Danny Barrett, Make Unufe, and Perry Baker all found time for a try and a 26-0 win over Portugal behind those two Ebner tries and Test and Unufe’s second tries of the day.
A good match finally awaited the US in the bowl final against Scotland and the US found themselves down 14-0 at the half. Much like yesterday’s final match against New Zealand the US battled back and Test and Unufe once again scored tries but without conversions on the two kicks Scotland held on for a 14-10 win. The tenth place finish by the US was their worst since losing in the bowl semifinals in Dubai last year, a run of 14 straight tournaments.
Looking back at the nine-tournament run of cup quarterfinals it’s a streak of pool play success I don’t think anyone anticipated when the US started it last May in Scotland. The US had only reached the cup quarterfinals in nine of the 19 tournaments leading up to this streak. The only other countries to make each cup quarterfinal during that stretch are the big four of Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. For an upstart country like the US to pull off a stretch that long say something about how far they have come over the last couple years and why they will be medal contenders, though certainly not favorites, in Rio.
It does seem to me that while the US is missing something when Carlin Isles is not part of the team. Being able to throw out fresh legs by swapping Isles and Baker surely makes a difference in such a physically demanding two days. Hopefully he will be back for the US in Paris in May.
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