A sweep of pool play did not result in the matchup the USA would have hoped for in Hong Kong. England had upset South Africa in pool play to win their group so instead of the USA face England they had to play one of the clear three best teams on the tour, South Africa. This matchup was always going to be a tough one and while the US were in it for a bit they never had anything close to enough for South Africa and were shutout in this one by a score of 28-0 with 14 coming in each half.
That set up a much easier plate semifinal with Wales and the US did respond with a strong 27-0 shutout of their own. The US had a 10-0 lead at the break before pulling away in the second half as Perry Baker ended up with three tries. Having wished they could have played England in the cup quarterfinals the two sides did actually meet in the plate final. And perhaps this match showed that the US was heading this way one way or another on the day because this was another shutout and not the one the Americans were hoping for. A 14-0 lead at the break turned into a 19-0 England win.
Of note, Nate Ebner did not appear for the US this weekend. This was back-to-back tournaments without Carlin Isles and while Baker has been brilliant for the US you do wonder how much having a fresh pair of rocket legs to alternate with would help the US over these long weekends. It is not yet known if Isles will be back for Singapore next weekend but since Ebner didn’t play at all you get the feeling Head Coach Mike Friday doesn’t feel he is ready to throw into the fray and Isles will be back in the squad if he is ready to go.
The US has been drawn with New Zealand, France, and Canada for the tournament which begins Friday. The US will face easier competition to advance from their pool than this weekend, but as we learned Saturday the real question is who fate has lined up for you in the quarterfinals. The pool matched up with the US includes Scotland, Kenya, Russia, and…. South Africa. So most likely the US will need to beat New Zealand or South Africa to find themselves in the cup semifinals next weekend and not the plate semifinals.
