The HSBC World Sevens Series Sydney Sevens will be held on January 31-Feb. 1, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. This is a combined Women’s and Men’s event that has modified determination of place finishes as the Quarterfinal round has been eliminated. The latter has created an uproar in the rugby community.
The USA Women began the 2019-2020 season with two straight medal finishes in Glendale (gold) and Dubai (bronze) and finished finish fifth at Cape Town and Hamilton.
Head Coach Chris Brown has made two rotational changes from Hamilton. Cheta Emba and Nana Fa’avesi will be part of the 12 person squad, while Jordan Matyas and Naya Tapper are injury reserves.
The USA Women’s Sevens will face Russia, Brazil, and Australia in Pool B for Hamilton.
- No Cup Quarterfinals will be held. The top teams in each of the three pools and highest-ranked teams after them will automatically qualify for the Cup Semifinals.
- The two highest-ranked teams remaining will face one another in the 5th Place Final while the two highest-ranked teams after them will play in the 7th Place Final. This sequence continues for the 9th place and 11th place rounds, respectively.
Russia will be up first on Friday, Jan 24 at 4:14 PM ET and are currently ranked sixth. Brazil will be next and are currently fighting against relegation with their 12th place position.
Pool play concludes against second-place Australia who has made two Cup Finals this season, losing first to the Eagles Sevens in Glendale and most recently to New Zealand in Cape Town.
HEAD COACH CHRIS BROWN
“We’re really excited about this weekend. As a group, we put a line in the sand last weekend in our final match against England, as we proved that if we remain on task and play within the team plan, we can get the results we want.
“Every stop presents an awesome opportunity to go out there and play with freedom and enjoyment. If we can do that in Sydney as we did in that final match in Hamilton, we’ll win more and more of the little moments along the way.”
USA Women’s Eagles Sevens Squad + Tournaments Played
1 Stephanie Rovetti (Flyhalf/Wing, 5) 2 Ilona Maher (Center/Prop, 11) 3 Abby Gustaitis (Co-Captain, Prop/Hooker, 11) 4 Nicole Heavirland (Hooker / Scrumhalf, 23) 5 Alev Kelter (Center/Prop, 33) 6 Lauren Doyle (Flyhalf/Wing, 29) 7 Cheta Emba (Prop/Wing, injury reserve, 15) 8 Nana Fa’avesi (Scrumhalf, 8) 9 Eti Haungatau (Prop, 3) 10 Kayla Canett (Scrumhalf/Flyhalf, 9) 11 Kris Thomas (Co-Captain), Hooker/Center, 25) 12 Kristi Kirshe (Center/Wing, 8) + Injury reserves 13 Jordan Gray-Matyas (Prop, 12), 14 Naya Tapper (Wing/Prop, 20)
USA Women’s Eagles Sevens Staff
Head Coach Chris Brown, Strength & Conditioning Matt Long, Performance Analyst JD Stephenson, Athletic Trainer Nicole Titmas, Team Manager Liz Strohecker
SYDNEY SCHEDULE
vs Fiji | Fri, Jan 31 – 5:30 PM ET
vs Brazil | Fri, Jan 31 – 11:08 PM ET
vs Canada | Sat, Feb 1 – 5:07 PM ET
Knockout rounds begin at 10:08 PM ET on Sat, Feb 1
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