March 5, 2017
USA Women’s Sevens Finish Fourth at USA Sevens
Doug Coil
The USA Women’s Sevens played Canada for the Bronze medal at the USA Sevens. This was a repeat of the Cup Finals from the Sydney Sevens. Canada took the initial lead, a lead that they did not relinquish, and won 31-7. The USA Women’s Eagles need to take pride in they reached the Cup Semi-Finals finishing fourth after their Silver medal performance at Sydney.
The USA Women are on the right track and are developing a talented pool of athletes in which Richie Walker can draw upon.
USA v Canada
Canada took the early lead after a Bianca Farella offload to Ghislaine Landry resulted in a try. Landry then slotted the conversion and Canada had a 7-0 lead at the 3rd minute. Two minutes later after a crushing tackle by Brittany Benn on Naya Tapper, Kayla Moleschi offload to Landry for a try. Landry again converted and had the first 14 points of the match.
The restart was taken by Alev Kelter and Kelsi Stockert found a gap and when tackled, Kristen Thomas executed a pick and go for a try. Kelter converted and the lead was narrowed to 14-7.
The restart bounced into the hands of Caroline Crossley and Landry kicked into space. After a knock on by Canada, the Eagles lost their scrum inside their 22 meters. Natasha Watchan-Roy then found a gap after a missed tackle and was nearly caught before grounding the ball by Stokert. Landry added the conversion for a 21-7 lead at halftime.
Early in the second half Joanne Fa’avesi found a gap, but Benn tracked back for the tackle. After a penalty by the Eagles, Caanda controlled their lineout and spun the ball wide with Farella offloading to Benn for a try in the corner.
Canada then added a final try in the corner by Hannah Darling and Landry’s conversion attempt hit the post. With that, Canada earned the bronze medal and the USA was fourth.
The USA Women’s Eagles are now fifth place in the World Rugby Women’s Sevens standings with 34 points, tied with Russia and only two points behind Fiji. They will have the opportunity to advance when the fourth stop in the Series resumes April 22-23, 2017 in Kitakyushu, Japan.
Women’s Eagles Sevens: 1. Cheta Emba 2. Kelly Griffin 3. Kate Zackary 4. Nicole Heavirland 5. Ryan Carlyle 6. Alev Kelter (C) 7. Naya Tapper 8. Kelsi Stockert 9. Joanne Fa’avesi 10. Bulou Mataitoga 11. Kristen Thomas 12. Nicole Snyder
