August 9, 2016
Team USA Men’s Rugby Sevens Beats Brazil, Evens Record at Rio Olympics
Photo: Team USA Men’s Rugby Sevens
Doug Coil
After an opening loss to Argentina 17-14 with no time, Team USA Men’s Rugby Sevens beat Brazil 26-0 to even their Pool A record to 1-1.
The match scoring was all USA against Brazil. The USA took the early lead as Ben Pinkelman offloaded to Folau Niua for a try that was converted by Madison Hughes for a 7-0 lead. A yellow to Moisés Duque for being off sides, resulted in a Nate Ebner try from a Madison Hughes off load. Hughes converted and at halftime it was 14-0 to Team USA.
The second half had Perry Baker taking the restart and Ben Pinkelman executing a fend and then offloading to Nate Ebner to run deep into Brazil territory. Chris Wyles then picked up the ball and ran to within 8 meters before a pass was knocked on.
Nate Ebner was sent to the bin with less than three minutes remaining in the match for a no wrap hit. Lucas Duque joined him shortly and the USA took advantage as Carlin Isles took his first touch of the ball from Unufe and raced around the defenders for a try in the corner.
With no time on the clock, the USA turned over the ball off a tackle and Maka Unufe added a last try under the posts. Madison Hughes slotted the conversion for a 26-0 win over Brazil
The first round of Olympic Men’s Rugby Sevens produced several upsets on the day.
- Australia 14-31 France
- South Africa 24-0 Spain
- Great Britain 31-7 Kenya
- New Zealand 12-14 Japan
- USA 14-17 Argentina
- Fiji 40-12 Brazil
Round 2 did not produce the additional upsets as the higher seeded teams won.
- Australia 26-12 Spain
- South Africa 26-0 France
- Great Britain 21-19 Japan
- New Zealand 28-5 Kenya
- USA 26-0 Brazil
- Fiji 21-14 Argentina
The final round of Pool play will be tomorrow and will determine Quarterfinal and Place matches.
- France v Spain – 10:00am ET
- South Africa v Australia – 10:30am ET
- Kenya v Japan – 11:00am ET
- New Zealand v Great Britain – 11:30am ET
- Argentina v Brazil – Noon ET
- Fiji v USA – 12:30pm ET
Pool Day 1 Results and Standings
Team USA Rugby Sevens Squad – Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games
1. Carlin Isles 2. Ben Pinkelman 3. Danny Barrett 4. Garrett Bender 5. Zack Test 6. Andrew Durutalo 7. Folau Niua 8. Maka Unufe 9. Chris Wyles 10. Madison Hughes 11. Perry Baker 12. Nate Ebner
USA Starters v Brazil: Baker, Bender, Ebner, Hughes, Niua, Pinkelman, Wyles
USA Substitutions: Isles, Barrett, Test, Unufe
Team USA Rugby Sevens – Traveling Reserves
Nate Augspurger, Martin Iosefo, Shalom Suniula
Team USA Rugby Sevens Squad – Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games
v. Argentina –Recap L17-14
v. Brazil – Tuesday, Aug. 9 @ 5 p.m. ET – LIVE on CNBC & online
v. Fiji – Wednesday, Aug. 10 @ 12:30 p.m. ET – LIVE on USA & online
Preview article: Team USA Men’s Rugby Opens Rio Olympic Sevens Against Argentina
View the Olympic Rugby Squads!
