At Times Good Enough, USA Men Take 4th in Dubai
At Times Good Enough, USA Men Take 4th in Dubai
Fourth place for the USA Men's 7s team in Dubai provided a little look at what a difference some of the more experienced players make.
While everyone who came back from injury is a good player, the one who probably had the greatest influence was Joe Schroeder. Winning restarts and winning the aereal battle suddenly became a lot easier with the former Royal Irish star.
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The Eagles' first game against Canada was closer than it should have been—Canada scored late in the game to make it 19-14 and had a shot to win it—but still they should have had that comfortably in hand by then. We saw some good skill and teamwork to set up tries from Licas Lacamp, David Still, and Marcus Tupuola. Lacamp deserved that try as he was involved in the movement toward the try several times, making clearouts, running in support, and operating as the halfback.
Still's was simply a charge down the sideline, but created because everyone else was pretty accurate with the ball. It wasn't flashy but it worked. Tupuola's try started back at the USA tryline and was a classic case of Perry Baker letting defenders focus on him and then freeing up his teammate.
After that the Eagles gardly saw the ball, and when they got it back everyone seemed to stand there watching Lacamp get swarmed by three defenders with no help.
After that they slammed an overmatched Japan side. The game is notable because seven different players score the seven USA tries.
And Samoa was the big surprise. They had been playing so well and the USA already had their two wins and were in the quarterfinals win or lose.
The USA started that game with a really good, patient defensive front. Once they got the ball back they could have set Baker free but Tupuola's pass was too far in front and went into touch. Still, the Eagles kept it up and then somehow Lacamp got out of a tackle and while the Samoan defenders expected him to go down he just took off to score. Samoa scored twice ate in the first half and you were thinking "OK, here we go."
But in the second half the Eagles were happy to slow the game down and avoid a track meet. They got a couple of early penalties and opted for a lineout and then a scrum. In open play they kept the ball alive and didn't get into isolated rucks. An excellent pullout and floated pass from Baker put Kevon Williams free right up the middle. That play took three Samoans out of the play and another fell over trying to grab Williams. That made it 14-12, but they was plenty of rugby to go.
Lacamp then forced a knock-on with a cheeky slap of the ball, and again the Eagles could work the clock. It was risky stuff—tey were up only two—but it was working. A penalty with 2:45 to go allowed them to work 25 seconds off the clock and twice stop the clock to bring on subs. It was a bit of gamemanship from Mike Friday to be sure but it also ensured fresh players at a crucial part of the game. Ans they finished it off working passes and not getting in position to give up penalties, and took their time when Samoa finally committed a penalty out of frustration.
It all sucked the wind out of Samoa's sails, and while the USA should have scored at the end, they did succeed in killing off the game with a slim lead.
Knockout Rounds
Winning their pool did the USA no favors as they played the Hong Kong champs and the 2021-22 World Series champs in Australia. And the Eagles beat them in a while one. They did it by striking hard, scoring in the opening minute when Lacamp poached the ball in the ruck, Baker raced off to the line and then passed to Stephen Tomasin just because.
Playing with confidence the Eagles got another try when Schroeder looped smartly to keep the ball alive and David Still showed plenty of agility in beating three defenders to score. Australia answered but the USA closed out the half with a team try that saw every player touch the ball and 11 passes including Tupuola following his pass and getting the return offload to allow him to run back in.
Australia then scored twice to come back and with two minutes to go it seemed like they might run away with it. But Perry Baker is still Perry Baker and he unleashed an inside-out move to burn his man and ran in from 60 meters out. We don't see it every game, but we can still see it. They closed it out from there.
So what happened after that? The Eagles lost the semifinal 12-7 to Ireland and then were smashed by New Zealand 36-12 in the Bronze Medal game.
OK, maybe fatigue or just a game too far in what is always a tough tournament for the USA in terms of travel ... but Ireland? How could they beat Samoa and Australia but lose to Ireland while scoring just one try?
We talk about the Eagles being patient in defense, meaning partly that they don't try to jackal balls when the steal isn't on and they give up a penalty. But it's also about style of play. The Eagles managed to get one-on-one tackles done, but Ireland's more powerful runners demanded more than that. And ultimately it was a missed tackle on a big man that led to Ireland's first try.
They started to fall off a couple of tackles in this semifinal. And when the Eagles got the ball back with a penalty and lineout, they ended up losing a prim attacking lineout, and, when they got the ball back, a misplaced pass from Still.
It wasn't patient at all.
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Finally the Eagles did score, taking all of three minutes to go slowly through the Irish defense before Malachi Esdale dished out some physicality of his own before feeding Baker for the try that tied it up.
But the things the USA is usually good at, like winning restarts and winning rucks and being strong at the point of contact, are things Ireland is good at. So it was a frustrated USA that gave up penalties and it was a confident Ireland that exploited them. Still, the USA luckily hung on when Ireland muffed their lineout and it was overtime. (That last penalty against the USA was a bad call, and Williams, who was penaltized, was also furious that the penalty was called at 35 seconds to go but wasn't taken for 20 econds ... clear wasting time.)
In overtime the Eagles had plenty of possession but they just seemed more frantic and eventually a forward pass from Baker that he didn't need to make provided an attacking scrum for Ireland, and they scored easily.
So There You Have It
Playing with a calm confidence and barely contained furiosity works for the USA. When they don't push it and don't get into penalty trouble they beat some of the best in the world. When they started to fix a little mistake by stealing a ball they don't need to steal, or trying to break five tackles, they get into trouble.
The less experienced players were perhaps quicker to get frustrated, but not always.
It's also worth considering that Friday sometimes rides his big horses a bit too long. It's great that Joe Schroeder is back, but he probably needed his time managed so that he was there at the end against Ireland. Hard to predict when you're playing Australia in the quarters.
Overall, then, not bad for a team with still a lot of new blood. The USA is tied with Fiji at 27 points, but points difference has Fiji at 5th and USA at 6th. The other top teams—South Africa, Australia, France, Ireland—are all only a few points ahead. The chase for a top four spot and automatic Olympic qualification is still on. They just need to bottle that first half against Australia.