Eagles 7s vs. England – Silicon Valley 7s
The Eagles 7s defeated England 27-0 to advance to the Cup Final against Australia, who beat Chile 27-0. The Final will see a battle of unbeaten teams. England and Chile will play for third place.
In the Cup Quarterfinals, the Eagles 7s beat Fiji 24-5 to advance to the Cup Semi-Finals against England, who beat Samoa 25-10. To reach the Semi-Finals, Australia beat New Zealand 38-7 and Chile defeated Japan 24-10.
The Eagles 7s were undefeated in Pool play beating Tonga, New Zealand, and Chile at the Silicon Valley 7s and advanced to the Cup Quarterfinals against Fiji. The USA was seed second for the Finals, while Fiji was the seventh seed, having gone 1-1-1 in the Pool rounds.
All matches for the November 4-5, 2017 tournament are being streamed live by USA Sevens Rugby on their Facebook page.
Eagles 7s Defeat England – Recap
The Eagles 7s had another dominant effort against England taking a 15-0 lead at the break and shutting out England 27-0 to advance to the Cup Final against Australia.
England appeared on the verge of taking the early lead, but an ankle tackle by Ben Pinkelman close to the line had the Eagles on the attack deep inside their territory. The attack was a team effort with Martin Iosefo and Stephen Tomasin leading the attack and Ben Pinkelman finished the attack with a try after a Chris Mattina offload.
Martin Iosefo claimed the restart and England was penalized. The Eagles advanced the ball to the England 5 meter line before a knock on gave England a 5 meter scrum. The USA was peanlized giving England an opportunity to clear the ball to midfield. The Eagles stole the lineout and attacked with Pinkelman reaching over the line to ground the ball, increasing the lead to 10-0.
Matai Leuta tapped the restart back into USA hands as time had expired and Folau Niua executed a chip kick that Martin Isoefo recovered for a try. At the break, the USA held a 15-0 lead.
Second Half
The Eagles 7s continued the momentum from the first half with Matai Leuta drawing in defenders and offloading to Chris Mattina in support. Mattina evaded the last defender to score his second try of the tournament. After a Tomasin conversion the lead was 22-0.
The final try developed as Ryan Matyas found a gap and the ball was spun wide to Kevon Williams, who added a fifth USA try in the corner to gain a 27-0 victory.
With the win, the Eagles 7s advanced to the Cup Finals to play Australia.
Comments
The Eagles 7s have consistently created havoc for opposing sides at the breakdown. They won numerous turnovers. The team also has had success in the restarts. The team has also excelled in moving the ball from side to side and creating space to attack. The area that needs some improvement is that some missed initial tackles has lead to several opposing team tries in the tournament.
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 – 29-21
- United States v Fiji – Cup Quarterfinals 24-5
- United States v England – Cup Semi-Finals 27-0
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)
England: 1 Ethan Waddleton 2 Yaree Fantini 3 Will Muir 4 Will Edwards 5 George De Cothi 6 Fergus Guiry 7 Charlie Kingham 8 Fin Dewar 9 Lailand Gordon 10 Harry Glover 11 Ryan Olowofela 12 Samir Khabouch
Eagles 7s: Silicon Valley 7s Preview
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