Alex Ho Photo (hoiho.net)
The USA Women’s 7s team returned to the Madrid 7s pitch for Round 2 of the tournament, which no longer includes France. The Eagles are up by two wins and will play its third game of the day against Kenya at 11:34 a.m. Eastern.
The day began with a 32-5 win against host Spain. Kristen Thomas and new cap Jaz Gray scores a brace of tries apiece, while Kristi Kirshe and Cheta Emba added a try each. Nicole Heavirland kicked the conversion.
Kasey McCravey hung the opening kickoff and Abby Gustaitis’ tap-back fell right in Lauren Doyle’s hands. The USA lost possession with a not-releasing penalty only to gain it back by forcing a knock-on through up-fast defense. From the scrum, the ball moved to the sideline, where Kirshe took the corner for the try, 5-0.
The USA added two more scores before the break. Emba drew a not-releasing penalty, as the American defense pushed Spain backward, and hands-out found Thomas out wide for the try. McCravey then stole ball in a ruck, and Doyle attacked quickly. After a hard step to evade one defender, she hit Emba before the tackle for the try, 15-0.
Just before the break, McCravey was yellow-carded for some sort of interference with a Spanish ballcarrier, but the Eagles were still able to score from the second-half kickoff. Gustaitis secured the kick, Sui A’au moved the ball to Ilona Maher, who took contact before hitting Gray for the long-range, one-boot try, 20-0.
The subsequent restart was knocked into touch and somewhere in the reset Maher was yellow carded. The Eagles were down to five players but there was no sense of panic and nothing resulted on the scoreboard. McCravey rejoined the pitch in time for a USA scrum, and one recycle after the set piece, Thomas dummied the short pass to A’au and hit the gap for the try. Heavirland converted for the 27-0 lead.
Spain snapped the shutout after rallying out of its own end. An ill advised grubber handed the ball back to the Eagles but an errant pass allowed the defense to press and keep play in favorable territory. Slow support to an A’au burst resulted in a not-releasing penalty, and a nice skip pass to Ingrid Algar resulted in a try, 27-5.
But the final word belonged to the Americans, as Spain gave up back-to-back penalties and a yellow card, setting up a bounce pass from Maher to Gray for the try, 32-5 the final.
Poland awaited in Round 2, as did a 62-0 shutout. Thomas and Maher scored two tries each in the first half and Heavirland’s conversion but the U.S. up 22-0. Maher opened up the second half with a big fend and third try, and then McCravey, Kirshe (2), Gray and Nana Fa’avesi followed with scores. McCravey (2), Heavirland (2) and Kayla Canett kicked the second-half conversions.
The USA will retake the pitch at 11:34 a.m. Eastern. Watch the game live on FloRugby.com.