January 11, 2016
USA Rugby Falcons 4th at American Sevens, Mar del Plata, Argentina
American Sevens -Mar del Plata, Argentina Jan. 9-10, 2016
Doug Coil
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
Results
Pool B
USA Falcons 15-19 Chile J9
USA 19-7 Brazil
USA 5-20 Argentina
Argentina 26-0 Brazil
Argentina 31-14 Chile
Chile 33-7 Brazil
Pool A
Canada 14-17 Uruguay
South Africa 50-0 Paraguay
Canada 21-15 Paraguay
South Africa 45-5 Uruguay
Uruguay 52-0 Paraguay
South Africa 31-5 Canada
QFs
Uruguay 12-19 USA Falcons
Chile 10-5 Canada
South Africa 33-7 Brazil
Argentina 48-0 Paraguay
Cup Bronze SF
Canada 5-22 Brazil
Uruguay 21-0 Paraguay
Cup Gold SF
Chile 5-31 South Africa
USA Falcons 14-20 Argentina
7/8th Canada 26-0 Paraguay
Plate Final Brazil 28-5 Uruguay
3rd/4th Place USA Falcons 7-17 Chile
Cup Final Argentina 17-14 South Africa
Previous Articles
USA Falcons Travel To Mar del Plata & Viña del Mar Sevens
Eagles 7s Development To Mar del Plata, Argentina & Viña del Mar, Chile