USA Women’s Falcons Second After Day One at Okinawa Rugby Sevens

Photo: USA Women’s Falcons

Doug Coil

The USA Women’s Falcons Coach Andrew Locke  led the team to the Okinawa Rugby Sevens in Japan February 18-19, with Kate Zachary captaining the side.

The Okinawa Rugby Sevens is an international women’s rugby event in which six teams from Japan, Australia, France, Netherlands and the United States competed in a round-robin style tournament, with the 5th, 3rd and championship matches held Feb. 19.

The players competing in this tournament represented their national teams or developmental teams. The tournament exposed the women to more high performance opportunities, as they continue the rugby sevens season and prepare for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018 or the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

This competition will be beneficial ahead of the HSBC USA Rugby Sevens March 3-4.

USA Rugby  noted that the “tournament organizers have not distributed any broadcast plans for the invitational tournament, Yomitan Beach Boys Rugby Football Club – a combined services and community rugby club based in Okinawa – has said it will live stream the Falcons’ games on its Facebook page.” The Yomitan Beach Boys Rugby Football Club experienced technical problems in streaming and the matches are being streamed by the Okinawa Sevens. Match results are found on Japan Rugby Football Union web page.

After day one, the USA is in second place with a win against France and two draws against Japan A & B teams. Australia is undefeated with a 3-0 record. The competition for second place is close with the USA having a narrow lead, as Japan A, Japan B and France have 1-1-1 records. Netherlands has competed well, but was 0-3 on day one.

On day two, the USA first faces the Netherlands and finished round robin play against Australia. Based on the round robin results, the final matches of the day will be seeding ones, 5th/6th, 3rd/4th, and 1st/2nd.

Schedule:
Day 1- Feb. 18 (Sat.)
9 a.m. – Australia vs. Japan B 26-12
9:30 a.m. – USA vs. Japan A 19-19
10 a.m. – France vs. Netherlands 22-12
Noon – Australia vs. Japan A 26-14
12:30 p.m. – Netherlands vs. Japan B 12-19
1 p.m. – USA vs. France 29-7
3 p.m. – Australia vs. Netherlands 21-10
3: 30 p.m. – France vs. Japan A 17-26
4 p.m. – USA vs. Japan B 19-19

Day 2 – Feb. 19 (Sun.)
9 a.m. – Australia vs. France
9:30 a.m. – USA vs. Netherlands
10 a.m. – Japan A vs. Japan B
11:30 a.m. – Australia vs. USA
Noon – France vs. Japan B
12:30 p.m. – Netherlands vs. Japan A
3 p.m. – Fifth-place match
3:30 p.m. – Third-place match
4 p.m. – Final

USA Falcons – Okinawa Sevens
1. Lilly Durbin 2. Cheta Emba 3. Megan Foster 4. Nicole Heavirland 5. Tia Blythe 6. Sam Pankey 7. Ryan Carlyle 8. Kelsi Stockert 9. Nicole Strasko 10. Naya Tapper 11. Bulou Mataitoga 12. Kate Zackary (C)

USA Falcons – Okinawa Sevens
v. Japan A – D19-19
v. France – W29-7
v. Japan B – D19-19
v. Netherlands – Saturday, Feb. 18 @ 7:30 p.m. ET
v. Australia – Saturday, Feb. 18 @ 9:30 p.m. ET

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