The USA Men’s Eagles Sevens traveled to Vancouver for the sixth round of an Olympic qualifying season at HSBC Canada Sevens Mar 9-10. The team enters the Canada Sevens in first-place after winning the USA Sevens Cup Final for the second consecutive year.
The USA has earned Gold after four consecutive silvers to open the season. At the end of the HSBC Sevens Series, the Top 4 teams will automatically qualify for the Olympics in Japan in 2020. All matches will be streamed live on watch.espnplus.com.
USA vs Wales
Luke Treharne of Wales gathered the opening restart with Wales going through 17 phases before Afon Bagshaw touched down in the right corner. Davies then slotted the kick for a 7-0 lead.
The USA answered back after a Matai Leuta offload led to a Carlin Isles try. Kevon Williams slotted the conversion to level the match at 7 all. The USA then pushed the lead to 14-7 with Leuta offloading again to Isles for a try and then Williams converting.
The Eagles Sevens added another try by Martin Iosefo with Folau Niua converting to take a 21-7 lead into the break.
Wales began the second half like the first, as Daf Smith scored a try and Treharne converted to cut the lead to 21-14.
The USA answered back with a break by Martin Iosefo and an offload to Carlin Isles for his third try of the match. Stephen Tomasin then set up Madison Hughes with a try, which Hughes then converted for a 33-14 lead.
Marcus Tupuola entered the match and on his first tough, raced in for a long try. Hughes then slotted the conversion for a 40-14 win.
In other Pool A action, South Africa beat Chile 43-0.
USA vs Chile
Chile opened the match with two tries by Benjamin De Vidts to take an early 12-0 lead. The Eagles Sevens answered back in the 5th minute when Kevon Williams broke downfield for a try under the posts. Madison Hughes then slotted the conversion to cut the lead to 12-7.
Just prior to the break, Rodrigo Fernandez added a try and conversion to push the lead to 19-7.
After the break, the USA came back with a quick try by Ben Pinkelman and another by Carlin Isles to level the score at 19 all. They then took the lead after a strong run by Maceo Brown and a finish by Isles, 26-19.
The team extended the lead after Stephen Tomasin ran almost the length of the pitch for a 33-19 win. This secured a Cup Quarterfinal spot for the sixth consecutive Series stop.
In other Pool A action, South Africa beat Wales 19-12 to set up a pool final match between 2-0 teams.
USA vs South Africa
The Blitzboks struck first with a try by JC Pretorius and a conversion by Zain Davids for a 7-0 lead. They pushed the lead to 14-0 with a try by Stedman Gans after a USA pass went forward.
Prior to the half, the USA advanced the ball to within 5-meter of the tryline from a break by Stephen Tomasin but were called for a holding on penalty to negate their effort.
Early in the second half, the USA scored a try after a Carlin Isles break and an offload to Tomasin for a try and a conversion by Madison Hughes to cut the lead to 14-7.
The Blitzboks answered back with a break in the wide channel by Pretorius for the 19-7 win.
The Eagles Sevens will play England in the Cup Quarterfinals with kickoff set for 2:52 pm EDT. The match will be broadcast live on watch.espnplus.com.
USA, South Africa, Chile, Wales Squads & Preview
USA: 1 Carlin Isles 2 Ben Pinkelman 3 Joe Schroeder 4 Matai Leuta 5 Brett Thompson 6 Kevon Williams 7 Folau Niua 8 Maceo Brown 9 Stephen Tomasin 10 Madison Hughes (C) 11 Marcus Tupuola 12 Martin Iosefo 13 Ben Broselle
South Africa: 1 Zain Davids 2 Phillip Snyman (C) 3 Impi Visser 4 Sakoyisa Makata 5 Werner Kok 6 Johannes Pretorius 7 Branco du Preez 8 Selvyn Davids 9 Justin Geduld 10 Stedman Gans 11 Siviwe Soyizwapi 12 Muller du Plessis 13 Kurt-Lee Arendse
Chile: 1 Francisco Neira 2 Pedro Verschae 3 Martin Verschae 4 Felipe Neira 5 Rodrigo Fernandez 6 Pablo Metuaze 7 Ignacio Silva (C) 8 Pablo Byers 9 Francisco Metuaze 10 Juan Pablo Larenas 11 Julio Blanc 13 Benjamin De Vidts
Wales: 1 Luke Treharne (C) 2 Cameron Lewis 3 Joe Goodchild 4 Ben Cambriani 5 Owen Jenkins 6 Daf Smith 7 Ethan Davies 8 Cai Devine 9 Afon Bagshaw 10 George Gasson 11 Tom Rogers 12 Ben Roach 13 Rio Dyer
Men’s Eagles Sevens Staff
Head Coach Mike Friday
Assistant Coach Anthony Roques
Strength & Conditioning Coach Jon Hood
Athletic Trainer Brian Green
Team Manager Scott Novack
HSBC USA Sevens Schedule
- vs Wales W 40-14
- vs Chile W 33-19
- vs South Africa L 19-7
- Cup Quarterfinals vs England
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