GRR: Eagle Men
Glory almost returned to the USA Men’s 7s team, but certainly their level of play is back.
Stopped from a place in the final only thanks to a strong performance by South Africa, the Eagles finished the Sydney 7s in 3rd place, having beaten Scotland, Japan, Australia, and, finally, England; all of those victories were in a dominant fashion.
Looking better than they have in a while, the USA Men's 7s team is 2-0 going into Day Two at the Sydney 7s.
With a tournament played in blistering heat, the Eagles managed to handle it better than most, despite captain Ben Pinkelman's protestations after having to make two big runs in the worst of it.
It kind of ended up being the same story for the USA Men this weekend at the Hamilton 7s.
Play well against middling teams, and then struggle against stronger opposition.
In fact, this time the Eagles ended up struggling as they lost 26-7 to Canada in the 5th-6th playoff.
The World Sevens Series is back with the Hamilton 7s and another change in the format.
Instead of sending the top two teams from each pool to the quarterfinals, only the pool winners will go on to the Cup Semis.
Changing the formats—earlier the new plan had teams that lost in the quarterfinals get no more games—is so men and women can fit in the same venue at the same time.
Player welfare is a big part of the new LA 7s at Dignity Health Sports Park, and several changes are going to make the event more popular with the players as a whole.
1. The field is grass and full width, something the USA stop on the Sevens World Series hasn’t had since 2009.