USA Rugby Falcons 4th at American Sevens, Mar del Plata, Argentina
By Sydney HarmonUSA Rugby Falcons 4th at American Sevens, Mar del Plata, Argentina
Essential to the USA Rugby Eagles Sevens team’s development is creating an expanding pool of players that can challenge for a position and step into the Eagles Sevens, as needed. This is the group that played in the American Sevens, Mar del Plata, Argentina on Jan. 9-10, 2016 and will play in the Viña del Mar Sevens, Chile on January 16-17, 2016.
The USA Falcons spent only a few days together prior to leaving on the South American tour. Several had played together in October at the Halloween 7s in Tampa, Florida, but the key to the tour will be how they progress playing against international competition.
The USA Falcons were in Pool B with Chile, Brazil and Argentina. In Pool A were South Africa 7s Academy, Uruguay, Canada and Paraguay.
In Pool play the Falcons opened against Chile who proved to be a formidable opponent losing 15-19. Brazil was next and resulted in a 19-7 win for the USA. The final pool match was against host Argentina. This was expected to be the toughest opponent and the Falcons ended up losing 5-20. This placed them third in their Pool.
In Cup Quarterfinal action, the Falcons opened day 2 against second seeded Pool B Uruguay. The Falcons showed their resolve in winning 19-12 and advanced to the Cup Semi-finals against Argentina. The Falcons had improved from day 1 and narrowly lost to Argentina 14-20. This placed them vying for 3rd place against Chile. They lost the final match 7-17, but secured 4th place.
In their Pool, Argentina won the Cup, Chile was third, the USA Falcons 4th and Brazil 5th. Other team finishes included South Africa second, Uruguay sixth, Canada seventh and Paraguay eighth.
USA Falcons | 2016 South America Tour Aaron Davis – Columbus Rugby Club / Tiger Rugby Alex Faison-Donahoe – Kutztown University Seth Halliman – Central Washington University / Men’s Eagles Sevens Tua Laei – Brigham Young University / Rugby Utah Peter Malcolm – Wheeling Jesuit University Kingsley McGowan – Trinity College Jope Motokana – Seattle Saracens / ATAVUS Academy Aladdin Schirmer – Central Washington University ConRoy Smith – Northern Virginia Rugby Club Joey Sok – Columbus Rugby Club / Men’s Eagles Sevens Mike Te’o – Men’s Eagles Sevens Anthony Welmers – Davenport University
USA Falcons | Coaching Staff Andrew Locke – Coach Brian Finn – Physiotherapist Sean Lindersmith – Manager
USA Falcons Travel To Mar del Plata & Viña del Mar Sevens