The USA Women’s 7s Team sits third in the 2022-23 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings, banking 16 points after a third-place finish in Vancouver, Canada, March 2-4. The bronze medal marked the Eagles’ fifth-straight podium appearance this series, an important pattern during an Olympics-qualifying season. [All photos: Alex Ho, Instagram: @hoiho_photo]
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“Five tournaments, five medals, you know, we’re pretty happy with that,” USA head coach Emilie Bydwell told USA Rugby. “We weren’t too happy with how we played on the first day, but we came back with some pretty dominant performances. With Ireland, it was close, but we played more how we wanted to play. And then to have that quarterfinal, to be able to have a dominant performance against Great Britain was really exciting for us. Obviously we’re disappointed about that game against Australia. With where we are as a team, we’re at a stage where we want to be able to beat teams like that back to back.”
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On day one, the Eagles beat Brazil 20-7 and then followed with a 17-12 victory against hometown Canada. Seven different players scored tries: Kayla Canett, Sammy Sullivan, Naya Tapper, Nicole Heavirland, Ilona Maher, Lauren Doyle and Cheta Emba. Alev Kelter added a conversion. On day two, the USA faced also undefeated Ireland and rallied to a 19-17 victory. Tapper (2) and Canett scored tries, while Canett and Kelter added a conversion apiece.
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The Pool C winner then lined up against Great Britain in the Cup quarterfinals and put in a dominant 24-5 performance. Kelter (2), Maher and Kris Thomas accounted for the tires, while Kelter kicked two conversions. Sunday began with the Cup semifinals, and Australia dominated the USA in a 38-0 decision.
“We were disappointed,” Bydwell said of the Australia outcome. “But at the end of the day, we’re more than a year out from the Olympics, and we’ll take the learnings from that game because it’s really important.”
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The 3rd place match is always tricky. Teams are disappointed to miss out on the final but also eager to end the tournament with a win and medal. France lost its semifinal 36-7 to New Zealand and lined up against the USA for the bronze.
“France for us has been a little bit of a monkey on our back,” Bydwell said. “[W]ith the Rugby World Cup Sevens, they had a really dominant performance there. We were able to get one over on them on in Dubai and then they had had two dominant performances on us since then. I’m proud of the players for bouncing back after that Australian defeat and committing to the plan and going after it against France, because they’re an extremely good team.”
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The USA won 19-7 as Heavirland, Sullivan and Tapper dotted down, and Heavirland and Olsen kicked the extras. The Eagles went 5-1 and took home another series medal. However, Bydwell noted some inconsistencies in play and the need for concepts to translate from the training pitch to game day.
“[W]e’re still kind of evolving in terms of how we want to play, and we’ve got a framework that the players are clear on,” Bydwell reviewed the Eagles’ progression this season. “But that’s one thing – to be clear on it either at training or on paper – but to be able to come out and execute it under pressure, you know, in tight games, that’s still something that we’re working on. So I think that the commitment to the plan and where we wanted to play, we weren’t where we wanted to be. … Now it’s time to do this. We’ve been talking about it enough, let’s take action.”
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The coach also acknowledged moments where the USA embodied the style of play to which it’s building, and going forward, it’s about stitching those moments together. Chemistry is big and will have a chance to further develop in Hong Kong, the sixth stop on the series. from March 31-April 2. The circuit ends with Toulouse on May 12-14, and the top-four teams in the standings will earn automatic berths to the 2024 Olympics. The Eagles sit in third, two standings points behind Australia and 16 ahead of France.