Eagles 7s vs. Chile – Silicon Valley 7s
The Eagles 7s beat Chile 29-21 in the final Pool C round at the Silicon Valley 7s at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. Both teams were 2-0 entering the match and had secured advancement to the Cup Quarterfinals tomorrow. The Eagles 7s will face Fiji at 12:56 pm PT and Chile will face Japan at 1:10 pm PT. In the other Pool C match, New Zealand won over Tonga and despite their third-place finish in the Pool, they secured the 8th seed to advance to the Cup Quarterfinals against Australia.
The Eagles 7s defeated Tonga 29-7 in their first Pool C match at the Silicon Valley 7s at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. Stephen Tomasin scored four tries and Kevon Williams added another in the win.In the other Pool C opening match, the Cóndores 7s upset New Zealand 7-0.
The second round matches had the Eagles beating New Zealand 24-12 and Chile beating Tonga 39-0. Stephen Tomasin added a try in the match against New Zealand bringing his try total to five in two matches.
All matches for the November 4-5, 2017 tournament are being streamed live by USA Sevens Rugby on their Facebook page.
Eagles 7s Defeat Chile – Recap
The USA took the early lead as Kevon Williams scored his second try of the tournament in the corner. Chile then gathered the restart, but a turnover had Maka Unufe motoring to within 5 meters of the line before offloading to Ryan Matyas for a try. After Folau Niua converted the USA increase their lead to 12-0.
The ensuing restart went to Chile, but Ben Pinkelman, who has been stellar in the breakdowns, poached the ball. After a penalty by Chile, an Anthony Welmers to Stephen Tomasin offload finally ended in Maka Unufe’s hands for a try and a 17-0 lead at the break.
Second Half
Chile struck back quickly to open the second half as captain Felipe Brangier added a try, which was converted by Marcelo Torrealba. Chile then captured the restart and once again Brangeir added a try and Torrealba converted and to narrow the score to 17-14.
This was a critical time in the match and the Eagles 7s were up to the task. Joe Schroeder found a gap and Ryan Matyas offloaded to Maka Unufe, who did a pirouette for a try increasing the Eagles lead to 22-14.
Chris Mattina, who is playing for the Eagles for the first time, scored his first try under the posts and Matyas converted to increase the score to 20-14.
With the victory in hand, Matai Leuti lost the ball into contact deep inside USA territory and Nicholas Garagulic scooped the ball and grounded it for a try. The conversion was good and the match ended with a 29-21 victory for the USA.
With the win, the Eagles 7s won Pool C and will be the number 2 seed for the Cup Quarterfinals. They will play #7 seed Fiji tomorrow at 12:26 pm PT. Chile finished second in the Pool and also advance to the Cup Quarterfinals as the 4th seed will play Japan.
Silicon Valley 7s Schedule
USA Rugby Men’s Sevens – Saturday, November 4th, 2017
United States v Tonga – W 29-7
United States v New Zealand – W 24-12
United States v Chile – 8:00pm PT (11pm ET)
Squads & Silicon Valley 7s Preview
USA: 1. Malon Al-Jiboori 2. Ben Pinkelman (C) 3. Joe Schroeder 4. Matai Leuta 5. Ryan Matyas 6. Anthony Welmers 7. Folau Niua 8. Maka Unufe Jr. 9. Stephen Tomasin 10. Chris Mattina 11. Kevon Williams 12. Martin Iosefo 13. Madison Hughes
USA Rugby Men’s Sevens Staff: Mike Friday (Head Coach), Chris Brown (Assistant Coach), Brian Green (Physio), Paul Goulding (Team Analyst), Sarah Sall (Team Manager)
Chile (Cóndores 7s): Felipe Brangier, Ignacio Silva, Francisco Urroz, Nicholás Garafulic, Pedro Verschae, Francisco Metuaze, Benjamín Devidts, Martín Verschae, Rodrigo Fernández, Lucas Westcott, Julio Blanc, Marcelo Torrealba
Eagles 7s: Silicon Valley 7s Preview
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