March 11, 2017
Eagles Secure Quarterfinal Spot at Canada Sevens after win over France
Photo: All World Photo
Doug Coil
After their initial Pool C 52-0 win against Japan, the USA Men’s Eagles beat France 31-19 to improve their record to 2-0 and will move to the Cup Quarterfinals at the Canada Sevens tomorrow. They will face Australia to determine who wins the pool at 5:08pm PT (8:08pm EDT)
USA v France
The USA Men’s Eagles Sevens continued their lightning start at the Canada Sevens as Folau Niua took the opening restart inside the France 22 meters. Danny Barrett then offloaded to Madison Hughes who shot gap for a try, which he then converted for a 7-0 lead.
The restart bounced into touch and the lineout to France was stolen by the USA. This resulted in a Martin Iosefo try from a pop pass. Hughes conversion went wide, but the Eagles increased their lead to 12-0.
France then went on the attack and Danny Barrett saved a try as Julien Candelon was tackled just prior to the try line and knocked the ball on in the process. On the ensuing 5 meter scrum to the USA, a Niua intended pass to Hughes was intercepted by Alexandre Largarde for an easy try. Terry Bouhraoua then converted to narrow the lead to 12-7.
The Eagles Sevens came right back after a penalty by France at the breakdown. France was marking Perry Baker and by doing so, Martin Iosefo found a gap for a try and Hughes converted for a 19-7 halftime lead.
The Eagles were hoping for a quick try to begin the half so they could rest some players. That did not happen, as the ball did not go 10 meters. Terry Bouhraoua made the Eagles pay for this mistake with a try to narrow the lead to 19-12.
France kicked booted the restart long to Niua. Maka Unufe sparked the team finding a gap and offloading to Perry Baker for his fourth try of the tournament. After Hughes converted the lead was 26-12.
On the restart, Folau Niua executed a fend and broke down field and after a one handed offload, Andrew Durutalo scored his 35th career try to lead 31-12.
With the result in hand, after a penalty by the USA for being offsides at the breakdown, Jean Pascal Barraque went inside the reaching arm of Unufe for a final try. Baouhraoua converted to narrow the final score to 31-19 in favor of the USA.
Men’s Eagles Sevens – HSBC USA Sevens
1. Pat Blair 2. Ben Pinkelman 3. Danny Barrett 4. Matai Leuta 5. Walt Elder 6. Andrew Durutalo 7. Folau Niua 8. Maka Unufe 9. Stephen Tomasin 10. Madison Hughes (C) 11. Perry Baker 12. Martin Iosefo
Men’s Eagles Sevens – HSBC Canada Sevens
v. Japan – W52-0
v. France –W31-19
v. Australia – Saturday, March 11 @ 8:08 p.m. ET
