Sudamérica Sevens Series & Viña del Mar

The Sudamérica Sevens Series began last weekend at Punte del Este, Uruguay.The series resumes this weekend at the 2018 Viña del Mar 7s in Chile.

Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil are the teams competing for the final two spots at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in July at San Francisco in the Men’s competition, while also booking a place at the Hong Kong Sevens in April. The Cóndores and Uruguay have the inside track entering the Viña del Mar 7s, the second and last leg of this competition. Brazil will need a huge effort to displace one of these two teams.

At the Punte del Este 7s, South Africa Development won 21-5 over Los Cóndores in the Gold Final. France Development won 22-17 over Uruguay in the Bronze Final. Fifth place went to Germany with a 24-12 win over Brazil. In the seventh-place match, Ireland beat Argentina 21-17. In the ninth-place match, Colombia beat the USA Falcons 21-5 and Canada beat Paraguay 33-7 for 11th place.

Sudamérica Sevens Standings (After Punte del Este)
1 – 22 points – South Africa
2 – 19 points – Chile
3 – 17 points – France
4 – 15 points – Uruguay
5 – 12 points – Germany
6 – 10 points – Brazil
7 – 8 points – Ireland
8 – 7 points – Argentina
9 – 5 points – Colombia
10 – 3 points – USA
11 – 2 points – Canada
12 – 1 point – Paraguay

The USA Falcons are a developmental side that includes four players with HSBC Sevens Series experience in captain Pat Blair, Anthony Welmers, Connor Wallace-Sims, and Naima Fuala’au.The team has two U20 Collegiate All-Americans in Ben Broselle and Sam Walsh. Other players include Americas Rugby Championship Eagles squad player Alex Elkins, former Cal Bears players Anthony Salaber and Nick Bowyer, Siale Maka, Devin Short, Zach Webber and Connor Wallace-Sims.

The team went 0-3 in Pool play losing to Uruguay 21-12. France 29-5 and Brazil 29-5). In the 9th place semi-final, they beat Canada in extra-time 31-26 and then lost to Colombia 21-5 in the 9th place final.

USA Falcon Scoring Against

Uruguay – Tries: Anthony Salaber, Siale Maka; Conversions: Naima Fualaau
France – Tries: Nick Boyer
Brazil – Tries: Ben Broselle
Canada – Tries: Anthony Welmers, Alex Elkins, Sam Walsh (2), Nick Boyer; Conversions: Sam Walsh (3)
Colombia – Tries: Connor Wallace-Sims

2018 Viña del Mar 7s Pools

Group A: Brazil, Paraguay, South Africa, Ireland
Group B: Chile, Germany, Argentina, Canada
Group C: Uruguay, Colombia, France, USA

USA Falcons 7s

Pat Blair (Cap., Old Aztecs), Nick Boyer (Glendale Raptors), Ben Broselle (UCLA), Alex Elkins (unattached), Naima Fuala’au (Life West), Siale Maka (Denver Barbarians), Anthony Salaber (unattached), Devin Short (Las Vegas Blackhawks), Sam Walsh (Scots College, NZ), Zach Webber (Utah Warriors), Connor Wallace-Sims (Old Blue), Anthony Welmers (Grand Rapids Gazelles)

Head Coach – JD Stephenson
Assistant Coach – Adriaan Ferris
Physiotherapist – Ben Schuler