Sydney 7s captains / Photo: Mike Lee for KLC fotos for World Rugby
The USA opened up the Sydney 7s, the third stop on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, with a 26-10 win over China. The Eagles will face Spain at 9:12 p.m. PT and hometown Australia 11:56 p.m. PT.
But the win did not evolve easily. The first half saw missed passes, ballcarriers knock-on possession while attempting to get back to their feet quickly, and four penalties. China meanwhile went to work, and two quick linebreaks saw the USA concede a high-tackle penalty while in retreat. China kept attacking, moved the ball wide to Xiaoqian Liu, who got around Ilona Maher for the try, 5-0.
Maher exited the pitch shortly afterward, and Alena Olsen came on.
But less than a minute later, the Eagles linked together a few phases and got Naya Tapper some room to flex. The wing scored her 65th try in trademark fashion, pushing off the defense for the sideline score, 7-5 with co-captain Nicole Heavirland’s conversion.
Heavirland and Cheta Emba connected on a beauty of a restart, but possession was forfeited shortly afterward. As the first half clock expired, China used a scrum and two booming kicks to touch to relocate to inside the USA’s 22 meter. Approximately 90 seconds had elapsed since the halftime hooter, so China’s Keyi Chen sent a cross-field kick behind Emba to put Liu on the chase. The flyer gathered the ball in open space and just beat Emba to the line for the roll-over try, 10-7 to China into the break.