USA Women 2-1 in Cape Town
USA Women 2-1 in Cape Town
The USA Women's 7s team finished a 2-1 day in Cape Town, ...
Canada vs USA (Hamiltons Field)
The USA started off with two solid minutes of resolute defense, biding their time to strike. They drew first blood off the base of the scrum with halfback Alena Olsen running in untouched followed by Nicole Heavirland's conversion for a 7-0 lead.
With Canada suffering from kickoff errors and the Cape Town wind providing being tough to gauge, the USA used their scrum platform to great effect, running in two more tries off the base of scrums. They scored this way twice off four possessions in the first half, with Naya Tapper running in for the Eagles' second try and a 14-0 lead.
The second half looked to be all USA again as another kickoff error by Canada led to a good scrum platform for the USA. The blistering pace and elusive stepping of of Alex Sedrick led to their third try off a scrum and a commanding 21-0 lead.
After some ill discipline at the ruck by the USA, Canada decided to hit back with good offloading to finish off edge play—Olivia Apps doing the honors. The rest of the match was all Canada, with the USA losing Ariana Ramsey to an injury. The Canadians beat the US in midfield to run in for a consolation try from Fancy Bermudez, converted by Asian Hogan-Rochester, but it was full time by then. The USA needed to put together two full halves of rugby as the day continued, but it was clear their scrum strikes are a weapon.
USA vs France (Hamiltons Field):
France looked to continue their dominance after defeating the host nation, South Africa. They start well by shifting the ball out wide and excellent footwork found the US defenders looking for parking as they were passed for the first try by the French.
Aggression in the contact area saw France walk in for their second, as the ball was ripped in contact to take the score to 12-0. We saw the USA women shift the ball extremely well and look to have time on the ball. The frustration was evident as the scrum plays (which worked so well in the previous match) looked less effective. A yellow card to Cheta Emba for a deliberate knock-on late in the first half added to the frustration.
The second half saw France look to lift the tempo as they took a quick-tap and shift the ball early, and found space next to the ruck. A miscommunication off the restart gave the French another opportunity to strike and overtracking by the USA and a late switch led to France's fourth try and a 24-0 lead. The French finished it off with a 70-meter run from Joanna Grisez to cap a thorouhgly dominating performance.
USA vs South Africa (Main Field)
The Eagles started by making their intentions known to the hosts with depth on attack, spreading the ball edge-to-edge, and running with purpose. Ilona Maher’s fend rumbled the stadium as the USA went 5-0 up early on. They found another attacking opportunity off a lineout, once again looking like they had a world of time on the ball.
After finding the edge once more a well-weighted crosskick found the hands of Sedrick, with the Eagles displaying some real class. A quick tap by the USA then saw Taper outpace her defender through the middle, taking the tally up to 19-0. The half ended on a classy try, this time coming through back-to-back offloads before Sedrick crossed the line.
The second half saw Jaz Gray open the scoring as she utilized the overlap and outpaced a couple of defenders. The Blitzbok defense had no answer to the Eagles' defensive system as they used the touchline well to their advantage. A clever reverse play by the USA off a lineout with a couple of offloads saw Emba cap it off 34-0.
Overall, then, a big win over a team that isn't strong, a close win over a better team, and an emphatic loss against a team the USA struggles against. The USA plays Great Britain Sunday mrning (1AM ET) in the quarterfinals.
Reporting and analysis by Hanno van Vuuren
