Women’s Eagles 7s Into Cup Semi-Finals At Sydney with Win Over Ireland

February 3, 2017

Women’s Eagles 7s Into Cup Semi-Finals At Sydney with Win Over Ireland

Doug Coil

The Eagles Women’s Sevens advance to the Cup Semi-finals at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series – Sydney Sevens with a 17-5 win over Ireland. Next they wil play the New Zealand Black Ferns at 10:04pm ET. The match will be broadcast live via The Rugby Channel.

USA v Ireland

It took the USA a little over a minute to spring Naya Tapper for a try in the corner to lead 5-0. The match had numerous knocks by both sides that interrupted the flow of the match and possession. Ireland was able to take advantage of a turnover a midfield and swung the ball wide and Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe went in to tie the match at 5 all just before halftime.

Richie Walker decided to make a change inserting Hope Rogers into the match. The combination of Rogers and Kate Zackary moved the ball inside to the Ireland 40 meters. After a penalty for a high tackle, the USA used quick ball out to Tapper who offloaded to Kelter for the try and a 10-5 lead.

On the ensuing possession by the USA, Rogers counter rucked and made three tackles before the ball was turned over to the Eagles. The ball then went wide, but the ball was lost on a knock on.

Sarah Buon0pane entered the match with two mintues remaining. The USA had possession and Nay Tapper sped by the Irish defenders for a second try. Kelter converted to increase their lead to 17-5.  Although there was some back and forth by both sides, the match ended at 17-5 to the USA.

Women’s Eagles Sevens – HSBC Sydney7s
1. Cheta Emba 2. Kristen Thomas 3. Kelly Griffin 4. Ryan Carlyle 5. Nicole Heavirland 6. Alev Kelter 7. Naya Tapper 8. Kate Zackary 9. Joanne Fa’avesi 10. Kayla Canett 11. Hope Rogers 12. Sarah Buonopane