Walker with the USA Falcons in Vegas
This morning, USA Rugby held a virtual press conference with USA Women’s 7s coach Richie Walker and captain Nicole Heavirland ahead of the Kitakyushu tournament, the third stop on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series (WSS). A lot of important information came out of the Q&A, ranging from the team’s plans for Japan, to the academies-linked scouting set-up, to Walker’s ideology in crafting an American 7s team. There was so much information that several articles are forthcoming.
BIG THANKS go to Fresno State coach Amber Cluff, who represented The Rugby Breakdown (TRB) at the press conference. TRB met Cluff in Las Vegas, where the coach and her team were watching the LVI. The team did not travel to Vegas to play but to watch the entirety of the Women’s Elite 7s division and USA Falcons vs. Aussie Pearls series.
PART ONE: KITAKYUSHU
The three-month gap between series stops forced teams worldwide to find and add competitive fixtures. The USA Women’s 7s team deployed its Falcons to Brisbane 7s, Okinawa 7s and Las Vegas for the Aussie Pearls series. The program also hosted Canada and Japan at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. Once in range of the Kitakyushu 7s, the Eagles started honing in on day-one opponents France, New Zealand and Japan.
“We have France first in our pool and they like to do a wide-wide attack,” Walker fielded DJ Coil’s inquiry on opponent-specific game plans. “If it’s not on, they’re really aggressive, but they keep the ball alive. So against France, we know that our defense has to stay up – even if we’re not involved with the tackle or ruck area – until the ruck’s formed, because France do like to keep it alive.”
As for the attack, “ … we know that they have weak tacklers on the outside, so we’re going to really push our fast runners in the forwards and wings to really have a go on the outside,” Walker continued. “But we also have a couple of strength players with our 15s girls that can go up the middle.”
New Zealand follows, and the Black Ferns will be coming off of the Commonwealth Games that are being held this weekend. Having that more recent game time could work in teams’ favor – restarting that momentum after a few good passages of play – or work against them depending on injuries incurred.
“New Zealand, they’re a similar type [to France], but they don’t attack as aggressively as France do. They like to hold back and look for the holes and opportunities,” Walker prefaced the strategies for game two. “So for us, we need to condense more and put pressure on their line first. Because as we know, when teams sit back on New Zealand, they can really expose you from the left, to the middle, to the right.”
Host Japan will account for the Eagles’ final pool play match. The Falcons got a deeper look at Japan’s depth during the Okinawa 7s.
“We really need to play inside the 15s, because in our game plan we think we can beat them speed wise,” Walker said. “But they’re really clinical and really well structured and disciplined. … They do everything up the middle. They’re quick to the rucks, quick over the ball, they can move and do a lot of change of direction, but hardly anything on the outside.”
See the full schedule here: Kitakyushu 7s
Heavirland in Vegas
PERSINGER
A few veterans are making their ’17-’18 WSS debut, but the only uncapped player heading to Japan is Neariah Persinger. She did some good things for the USA Falcons in 2018.
“Seeing Nene on that roster has been exciting,” Heavirland responded to Cluff. “She’s got a great pass. I know she works hard. She does all the small things right. She can tackle. She gets along with the girls great. You can have a great athlete but if they don’t’ get along with us, it’s no good. She’s doing everything right and always smiling. Really excited to see her get out there and be an impactful player.”
“I’m glad I made a good decision,” Walker enthused after the captain’s ringing endorsement.
Persinger with Tiger 1823 in Vegas / Photo: Jackie Finlan
After the Falcons tours and player camps, Walker gave the Oklahoma native some work-ons for when she returned home. She put in the time and impressed the staff with her gains.
“I think she’s a genuine attacker so I made her work on her passing, which like Nicole said, really improved,” Walker said. “But also her defense [stepped up], and for us, we’ve got a good defensive group that’s on the bench and can come off and really defend for us.
“She has a high work rate, and like Nicole said, she just has a good attitude,” Walker added. “Keeping in touch with her coaches and that, and her doing her work-ons away from here – that’s the biggest thing we can ask. If you’re not here full-time are you doing the stuff away from here? And she came into camp and really showed that.”
Stay tuned for more information on the current player pool at the CVEATC and how athletes are getting their shot at a contract.