The 7s Eagles finished 4th in Glasgow and now look ahead to finishing things off in London with South Africa, Portugal, and France on their slate, but while 4th is nice, how they got there doesn't sit well with their coach.

South Africa has been one of the Eagles’ most common opponents this season, but familiarity doesn’t necessarily breed more success. They have struggled to beat the #2 team in the World Series standings, and right now, despite the lofty placement in Glasgow, are struggling to play consistent rugby.

“We have played better and not finished higher in other tournaments,” said USA Coach Mike Friday. “That Canada game illustrated how brutal 7's can be we were in accurate and lacked energy and paid a big price. It was a valuable lesson for them, but one we and I can do without. We simply can't allow this to happen and is a trend and trait we as a coaching team are working hard to break.”

What Friday is seeing is the 40-0 loss to Canada at the beginning of Glasgow and the 27-5 loss to Kenya at the beginning of Tokyo.

After each of those poor starts, the Eagles put in some good performances. And you get the feeling that a little better momentum early on might have made those performances a little better.

“We need to demand and expect more of each other,” added Friday. “And we were pushing Fiji all the way in that semi, and had we converted our chances as we should have done, we would have made that cup final. That is the difference in these big games, and when we watch the game again we will be disappointed in ourselves for the missed opportunities.”

And while Friday had special praise for Danny Barrett and Madison Hughes for their play, saying that he’s not sure how much more they could have done to make the all-tournament team, he still wants to see a full 14 minutes.

“That was down to individual basic errors and individuals switching off at critical times,” said Friday. “There will be some one-on-one chats happening this week, as some of the squad need to up their game come London as we build towards the Olympic Qualifier.”

So it’s the same story - Friday continues to lay down the standard and continues to work to prevent players from being satisfied with “better than last year.” That can be a tough world to live in, it’s certainly a world where you are open to criticism. He knows that, and continues to be blunt.

“I was disappointed with a number of the errors and lack of accuracy from some of the boys and in this harsh environment they are going to need to take that criticism on the chin and learn from it,” said the coach. “We can't keep accepting it as it is stopping us from progressing into the consistent team we are capable of becoming.”