USA Men's Rugby Win Bronze at 2019 Lima Pan American Games

The Lima Pan-American Games Men’s and Women’s Rugby Sevens began July 26 and concluded July 28 at the Villa Maria del Triunfo cluster in Lima, Peru.

The USA Men’s Rugby Sevens Team beat Brazil in extra time 24-19 to win the Bronze medal, while Argentina beat Canada 33-10 to win Gold.

Men’s Rugby Sevens Recap

5th/8th Place Semifinal: Guyana vs Jamaica

Jamaica jumped to a 21-0 lead at the break and won 33-19 over Guyana. Jamaica will play the winner of the Chile-Uruguay match for 5th place, while Guyana plays the loser for 7th.

Jamaica’s Tayay Mikel Facey scored two tries, while Samuel Caven and Mason Caton-Brown had solo ones. Rhodri Adamson slotted two conversions. Guyana’s Patrick King scored two second-half tries, with Dwayne Schroeder added another. Godfrey Broomes slotted two conversions.

5th/8th Place Semifinal: Chile vs Uruguay

Chile scored three times in the first half for a 17-0 lead, with Rodrigo Fernandez, Felipe Neira, and Julio Blanc adding tries. During the second half, Uruguay’s Diego Ferres scored the Teros solo try. Chile answered back with another try by Blanc for a final of 24-5. Fernandez slotted two conversions in the match.

Cup Semifinals: USA vs Argentina

The USA struck first moving the ball wide to Travion Clark for a try. Cody Melphy converted to take a 7-0 lead.

Argentina answered with 21 points with two tries by Fernando Luna and another by Matias Osadczuk with Santiago Mare converting all three for a 21-7 lead at the break.

Argentina added another two tries by Santiago Alvarez and Tomas Vanni in the second half for a 31-7 win to advance to the Gold Final against Canada. The USA will play Brazil for the Bronze.

Cup Semifinals: Brazil vs Canada

Canada opened the scoring with a try by Phil Berna with Nathan Hirayama converting to lead 7-0. Brazil answered back with a try by Lucas Rainho to cut the lead to 7-5.

Phil Berna and Admir Cejanovic added two more with Hirayama adding the extras to lead 21-5 at the break.

Canada scored two more tries during the second half with Adam Zaruba and Harry Jones dotting down and Hirajama converting for the 35-5 win. Canada will play Argentina for the Gold, while Brazil plays the USA for the Bronze.

7th/8th Final: Guyana vs Uruguay

Uruguay scored two tries by Eugenio Plottier and Marcos Pastore, with Tomás Ubilla converting both for a 14-0 lead at the break. Guyana had one scoring opportunity with Patrick King kicking ahead, but losing the ball forward on the bounce.

Uruguay extended their lead with a try down the wide channel by Koba Brazionis,19-0. A mishandled ball by Guyana then led to a Mateo Viñals try, 24-0. That result held up for an Uruguay victory.

5th/6th Final: Jamaica vs Chile

Felipe Brangier, Martín Sigren, and Julio Blanc scored the opening tries with Rodrigo Fernandez converting for a 17-0 lead. Jamaica answered back with a try by Nathaniel Omar and a conversion by Rhodri Adamson to cut the lead to 17-7. Chile added a try by Ignacio Silva which was converted by Rodrigo Fernandez for a 24-7 lead at the break.

Chile had a fast break to begin the second half and was awarded a penalty try with Nathaniel Omar being sent to the bin for Jamaica. Vicente Tredinick

Bronze Final: USA vs Brazil

After some back and forth, Cody Melphy tapped off a penalty and Harley Wheeler finished with a try. Melphy then slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead over Brazil.

Brazil answered back with a try by Lucas Rainho Tranquez with Moises Duque adding the conversion to level the match at 7 all. With no time on the clock, Felipe Sancery added another try with Lucas Duque converting to lead 14-7 at the break.

In the second half, Dmontae Noble was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle. Brazil took advantage of the USA playing a man down with Felipe Duque scoring int he left the corner, 19-7.

The USA maintained their composure as Harley Wheeler sliced through the defenders for a try to move the team within a try after Melphy’s conversion. The team then leveled the match at 19 all after a Trevion Clark try down the wide left channel. This sent the match into extra time.

During extra time, the USA had chances to end the match. A Cody Melphy attempt to secure the win with a penalty goal was wide. Travion Clark then knocked on as the ball went wide right that would have resulted in a try if caught. Marcus Tupuola finally ended the match as he shot a gap and motored in for a long try and a 24-19 victory to claim Bronze.

Gold Final: Argentina vs Canada

Canada struck first in the Gold Medal match with Josiah Morra dotting down for a 5-0 lead.

Argentina answered back with a try by Luciano Gonzalez and a conversion by Santiago Mare to take a 7-5 lead. Gonzalez then intercepted a pass for a try under the posts with Mare connecting, 14-5. German Schulz added another with Mare slotting the conversion to lead 21-5 at the break.

Early in the second half, frustration set in for Canada with Nathan Hirayama being sent to the bin. Argentina took advantage with a Franco Sabato try and a Mare conversion to push the lead to 28-5. Lautaro Bazan Velez then added another, 33-5.

With the match in hand to Argentina, Sean Duke scored a final try for Canada. Argentina claimed Gold after the 33-10 victory, while Canada earned Silver.

Men’s Rugby Sevens Squads

Argentina: 1 Fernando Luna, 2 Felipe del Mestre, 3 Germán Schulz, 4 Francisco Ulloa, 5 Tomás Vanni 6 Santiago Álvarez (C), 7 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 8 Gastón Revol, 9 Matías Osadczuk, 10 Santiago Mare, 11 Luciano González, 12 Franco Sábato,

Brazil: 1 André Arruda, 2 Stefano Giantorno 3 Robert Tenório 4 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 5.Lucas Duque, 6 Moisés Duque 7 Lorenzo Massari, 8 Felipe Sancery, 9 Daniel Silva, 10 Lucas Tranquez11 Daniel Sancery, 12 Joshua Reeves

Canada: 1 Sean Duke, 2 Admir Cejvanovic, 3 Brennig Prevost, 4 Phil Berna, 5 Luke McCloskey, 6 Cooper Coats, 7 Josiah Morra, 8 Joshua Thiel, 9 Nathan Hirayama (C), 10 Pat Kay, 11 Harry Jones (C), 12 Adam Zaruba

Chile: 1 Felipe Brangier (C) , 2 Felipe Neira, 3 Martín Sigren, 4 Marcelo Torrealba, 5 Rodrigo Fernández, 6 Nicolás Garafulic, 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Francisco Neira, 9 Francisco Metuaze, 10 Francisco Urroz 11 Julio Blanc,12 Vicente Tredinick

Guyana: 1 Vallon Adams, 2 Richard Staglon,3 Dwayne Schroeder, 4 Selwyn Henry 5 Lancelot Adonis,6 Jamal Angus (C) , 7 Patrick King, 8 Ronald Mayers 9 Osie McKenzie, 10 Peabo Hamilton, 11 Claudius Butts, 12 Godfrey Broomes + Coach Sherlock Sam

Jamaica: 2 Omar Dixon, 3 Sam Caven, 4 Linval Green, 5 Rhodri Adamson, 6 Conan Osborne, 7 Mikel Facey, 8 Oshane Edie, 9 Ashley Smith (C), 10 James Gordon, 11 Tyler Bush, 12 Mason Caton-Brown,13 Reinhardo Richards

Uruguay: 1 James McCubbin, 2 Marcos Pastore, 3 Santiago Piñeyrúa, 4 Tomás Ubilla, 5 Juan Passadore, 6 Diego Ardao, 7 Mateo Viñals 8 Manuel Castro, 9 Eugenio Plottier, 10 Mateo Soneira, 11 Koba Brazionis 12 Juan Bautista Hontou,

USA: 1 Ben Broselle, 2 Harley Wheeler* ,3 Joe Schroeder (C) ,4 Jake Lachina*, 5 Marcus Tupuola, 6 Travion Clark*,7 Cody Melphy (C), 8 Maceo Brown, 9 Naima Fuala’au, 10 Anthony Welmers, 11 Lorenzo Thomas*, 12 D’Montae Noble*